German Civilization: 30 years war after reformation - Essay Example

The war enhanced the rivalry between France and Habsburg for dominance in Europe. Later, the desire for supremacy led to war involving France and Spain. In the last stages of the war, Catholic France also sided with the protestant. This paper will look at the Thirty Years’ War, and how it was based on the imperial and dynastic aspirations of the leadership of the house of Habsburg in the reformation and the contribution of religion to the war. There were tremendous religious tensions all through the second part of the 16th century.

The peace of Augsburg started to loosen as the number of converted bishops declined to relinquish their bishoprics, and also as several Catholic and Habsburg leaders of Spain and the Holy Roman Empire attempted to reinstate the authority of Catholicism in the area. The Peace of Augsburg was an agreement between the forces of the Schmalkaldic League and Charles V. This was a pact of Lutheran Princes at Bavaria, Germany, previously referred to as the imperial city of Augsburg. The peace of Augsburg terminated the religious conflict between the Protestants and Catholics.

The treaty also permanently legalized Christendom in the Holy Roman Empire. This reaffirmed the sovereignty they had over their territories. Those who were not willing to abide by the prince’s decisions were allowed to move to where their religion was practiced. This was revealed in the Cologne War between 1583 and 1588 (Cramer 23). The conflict started when the city’s prince-archbishop switched to Calvinism. His position as an imperial elector could have resulted in a large number of Protestants in the college that chose the Holy Roman Emperor.

This position had been traditionally occupied by the Catholic. During the Cologne War, Spanish military forced out the previous prince-archbishop and switched him with a Roman Catholic. This made the Catholics gain pace, and the idea of cuius regio, eius religio started to be implemented more harshly in Wurzburg, Bavaria, and other areas. This compelled Lutheran citizens to choose between exile and conversion. Also, Lutheran residents saw the defection of their lords to the Calvinist religion.

In the early 17th century, lands around Danube and Rhine were mainly Catholic, while Calvinists were dominant in other regions, for example, Netherlands, Switzerland, and west-central Germany, and Lutherans prevailed the northern parts. Habsburg rulers who came after Charles V permitted the different religious dominions to expand without oppression. This annoyed people who looked for religious equivalence (Cramer 41). Religious confrontations turned into violence in 1606 at Donauworth. A riot was provoked when the Lutheran prevented the Catholics from performing a yearly Markus Procession.

Also, the leaders of the areas bordering the Holy Roman Empire also made a contribution to the explosion of the Thirty Years’ War. The Spain nation was attracted to Germany because it occupied the Spanish Netherlands territories in the western regions of the Empire and countries in Italy which were linked through the Spanish road. This made Holland rebel against the Spain supremacy. In addition, France was almost besieged by regions under the control of Holy Roman Empire and Spain, and was keen to exercise its influence over the frail German states.

These supremacy issues surpassed religious concerns and made the Catholic France fight on the protestant side during the war (Cramer 47). Also, Denmark and Sweden wanted to take control of northern