Western Civilization - History Of European Society

Overseas Conquest and Religious War to 1648285

to the anti-Hapsburg policies of Francis I. He pursued
the war through surrogates until the death of Gustav
Adolph forced him into the open. The Spanish were
by this time in irreversible decline, and their defeat by
the French at Rocroi (1643) marked the end of their
military power. Bavaria was ravaged by a Franco-
Swedish force in 1648, and peace was at last concluded
on October 24 of that year.
The Treaties of Westphalia brought the Thirty
Years’ War to an end, leaving France the dominant
power in Europe (see map 15.2). The Netherlands,
which had fought Spain in a series of bitter actions on
land and sea, was at last recognized as an independent
state, while the German principalities, many of which
had been devastated, were restored to the boundaries of

1618. Bohemia reverted to the Hapsburgs, but imperial
      authority as a whole was weakened except in the Haps-
      burg lands of southeastern Europe. It was a meager re-
      turn for three decades of unparalleled violence.

The English Civil War

England did not participate in the Thirty Years’ War be-

cause the early Stuart monarchs, James I (reigned

1603–25) and Charles I (reigned 1625–49), were

caught in a political dilemma from which they could

not escape. Like Denmark and Sweden, England was a

“domain” state: the regular revenues of the crown came

not from taxes, which could be levied only by Parlia-

ment, but from the royal domain. This was not neces-

Mediterranean Sea

Atlantic

Ocean

North

Sea

Baltic

Sea

Crete

Sicily

Corsica

Sardinia

Balearic

Isla

nds

SPAIN

PORTUGAL

FRANCE

ENGLAND

SCOTLAND

DENMARK

NORWAY

SWEDEN

FINLAND

POLAND

HUNGARY

AUSTRIA

SAXONYBRANDENBURG

BOHEMIA

SILESIA

PRUSSIA

SPANISH

NETHERLANDS

SWISS

CONFEDERATION

SAVOY

GENOA

TUSCANY

PAPAL

STATES

REPUBLIC

BAVARIA

UNITED

PROVINCES

KINGDOM OF

DENMARK

AND NORWAY

MILAN

KINGDOM OF SWEDEN ESTONIA

LIVONIA

PALATINATE

VENICE

OF

Madrid

Lisbon

Paris

London

Toul

Verdun Metz

Amsterdam

Berlin

Warsaw

Danzig

Bergen

Stockholm

Vienna

Budapest

Rome

Naples

Augsburg

Prague

Hamburg

Lübeck

Bremen

Westphalia

Alsace

Rocroi

1643 Nördlingen (^1634) White Mtn.
1620
Lützen
1632
Ebro R.
Seine
R.
Rhi
ne
R.
R.
Danu
be
R
Danube
Vistul
a
R.
Pyren
eesMts.
Alp
s
Mts.
Kingdom of Denmark
and Norway
Brandenburg
Kingdom of Sweden
Hapsburg—Austrian
Hapsburg—Spanish
Republic of Venice
Holy Roman Empire
boundary
Battle site
0 200 400 Miles
0 200 400 600 Kilometers
MAP 15.2
The Thirty Years’ War