contiguous principalities increasingly came to be known—to choose their own reli-
gion, but the Treaties also established that states had the right to determine their own
domestic policies, free from external pressure and with full jurisdiction in their own
geographic space. The Treaties thus introduced the princi ple of noninterference in the
affairs of other states.
Second, because the leaders of Eu rope’s most power ful countries had seen the
devastation wrought by mercenaries in war, after the Treaties of Westphalia, these
countries sought to establish their own permanent national militaries. The growth of
such forces led to increasingly centralized control, since the state had to collect taxes
to pay for these militaries and leaders assumed absolute control over the troops. The
state with a national army emerged as a power ful force— its sovereignty acknowl-
edged and its secular base firmly established. And that state’s power increased. Larger
territorial units gained an advantage as armaments became more standardized and
more lethal.
IRELAND
SCOTLAND
ENGLAND
Atlantic
Ocean
FRANCE
PORTUGAL
SP AIN
BALEARICISLANDS
K INGDOM OF
THE TWO
SICILIES
SARDINIA
CORSICA
AVIGNON
STAPAPAL
SWITZ.
SAVOY
WUR
MILAN VENICE
MODENAPARMATUSCANY
Ad HUNGARY
ria
ti c
Se
a
POLAND
NORWAY SWEDEN
Ba
lt
ic
Se
a
DENMARK
North
Sea
Lands administered by
Roman Catholic Church
Spain
Austria
Brandenburg-Prussia
Boundary
of the Holy
Roman Empire
ARAGON
CASTILE
PRUSSIAEAST
BRANDENBURG
MECKLEN-BURG
BAVARIA
HESSE SAXONY
LORRAINE
OVERHAN-
AUSTRIA
PROVINCESUNITED
Med iterra ne an Sea
PIEGENOA
DM
ONT
SPANIH
NETH
.
SPANIH
NETH.
WURTTEM-
STPAAPAL
S
TES
BURG
Eu rope, c. 1648
24 CHAPTER Two ■ Historical context of international relations
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