Good Morning...The Treaty of Westphalia

[Okla-homey]

October 24, 1648: Thirty Years War ends

359 years ago today, the Treaty of Westphalia is signed, ending the very nasty Thirty Years War, radically shifting the balance of power in Europe, and formally establishing the principle of nation-state sovereignty.


Hall where the Treaty was inked


Signing ceremony

The Thirty Years War, a series of wars fought by European nations for various reasons, ignited in 1618 over an attempt by the king of Bohemia (the future Holy Roman emperor Ferdinand II) to impose Roman Catholicism throughout his domains. Protestant nobles rebelled, and by the 1630s most of continental Europe was at war.


Ferdinand II. Kicking it with his Hapsburg lip.

Among the acts which kinda kicked it off, Protestant nobles threw HRE officials out the window in Prague...known to historians as the "Defenestrations at Prague." ("defenestration" = verb meaning to throw out a window)


At Prague Castle on May 23, 1618, an assembly of Protestants (led by Count Thurn) tried two Imperial HRE governors, Wilhelm Grav Slavata (1572–1652) and Jaroslav Borzita of Martinice (1582–1649), for violating the Letter of Majesty (Right of Freedom of Religion), found them guilty, and threw them, together with their scribe Philip Fabricius, out of the high windows of the Bohemian Chancellery. They landed on a large pile of manure in a dry moat and survived unharmed. Philip Fabricius was later ennobled by the emperor and granted the title "von Hohenfall" (lit. translating to "of Highfall"). Roman Catholic Imperial officials claimed that the three men survived due to the mercy of benevolent angels assisting the righteousness of the Catholic cause. Protestant pamphleteers called B.S. and asserted that their survival had more to do with the horse excrement in which they landed than the benevolent acts of angels.


HRE at the height of its domain


Arms and armour typical of the period.

As a result of the Treaty of Westphalia, the Netherlands gained independence from Spain, Sweden gained control of the Baltic and France was acknowledged as the preeminent Western power.


Relative casualties. Thirty Years War, Napoleanic Wars, WWI.

The power of the Holy Roman Emperor was broken and the German states were again able to determine the religion of their lands. IOW, the Treaty formally acknowledged the notion that individual nations have the inherent right to determine their destinies and make fundamental choices like their official religion. The Treaty cast aside the notion that a crowned head could force a particular religion on a less powerful principality.


Percentage of population lost in the Thirty Years War

In the wake of the Treaty, the position of "Holy Roman Emperor" continued, however, as has been pointed out repeatedly since then, he was no longer holy, Roman, nor an emperor.

As an interesting aside, the Thirty Years War which formally ended on this day in 1648 had implications in North America.


See, these guys who sailed in the Mayflower, bailed for this part of the world in 1620 because they were oppressed over the religious beliefs in their English homeland, and since the war raged across the continent of Europe, the only place they could hope to live unmolested and remain "English" was in the boonies across the Atlantic.

[Preservation Parcels]

Yet another fascinating one, Homey. Thanks!

[TUSooner]

Nice mention of the Defenestration of Prague.

[TUSooner]

Oh yeah, I think the guy in the "arms and armor" pic (hat in hand, head back, sword hilt up) is that old hothead Henry Thurn himself (based on another painting I saw of him).

[Miko]

Agreed, I feel shorted that I don't get to use the word defenestration as often as I would like.

Awesome as always, Homey!!

[KRYPTON]

Homey wins massive points for choosing this particular event as the October 24 SOval history lesson. There are some things on this list that are almost too hard to pass up...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_24


WILD AMAZING COINKEE DINK that the first phase of the Hundred Years' War also ended this day.

[Okla-homey]

It really was a horrible period of European history. In what would someday become Germany, well over half the country lost upwards of half the pre-war population to combat and/or the consequences of having mercenary armies tramping back and forth raping, foraging for vittles and/or looting.

In short, it was unbridled lawlessness in which millions of innocents perished over whose version of Christianity was superior.

The thing that strikes me as particularly interesting is the same sort of thing is going on 359 years later in Iraq between Shiite and Sunni. The fact we appear to be getting it tamped down in the span of a few years is patently amazing.

Ultimately, the Treaty of Westphalia was the result of the fact there wasn't much left to fight over. That, and people were just tired of slugging it out.

[LoyalFan]

But...but...If you're defenestrated, you can't have any more kids and the secks kinda tapers off.
What? "Throw out the window? Not lose your...Ohhhhhh...Never mind!"

Emily Latella
Deceased