Western Civilization.p

(Jacob Rumans) #1
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



  1. 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

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