The Crisis of Western States
AP European History
Mr. Moravek
Peace of Augsburg: established the local authorities responsibility to select the religion of the area, one faith one king
- Created confusion as princes converted back and forth
- Left no room for moderates
- Both sides philosophical outlook was absolute
- Left no room for moderates, attacked by both sides
- Extremists dominated European politics
1550-1650 time of internal and external conflict throughout Europe
French Wars of Religion
- Civil War, particularly destructive to the development of the nation
Background:
- As a result of Reformation France had a Catholic Monarchy, but a divided population between Calvinists and Catholics
<!--[if !supportLists]-->- <!--[endif]-->Both beliefs became highly MILITANT
<!--[if !supportLists]-->- <!--[endif]-->Protestants led by the Bourbons (Henry of Navarre)
<!--[if !supportLists]-->- <!--[endif]-->Catholics led by the Guise
Huguenots: French Calvinists who were persecuted
<!--[if !supportLists]-->- <!--[endif]-->Came from all levels of society
<!--[if !supportLists]-->o <!--[endif]-->Mostly tradesmen and artisans, nobility (40-50%) including the Bourbon line (related to kings)
<!--[if !supportLists]-->o <!--[endif]-->Made them a powerful political threat, despite representing 7% of population
<!--[if !supportLists]-->o <!--[endif]-->Centered in growing towns and cities which also represent a challenge to growth of Monarchical power
Opposed by Catholic Monarch and rise of “Ultra-Catholic” party
<!--[if !supportLists]-->- <!--[endif]-->Ultra-Catholics get support from pope and Jesuits
French Monarchy:
- King Henry II died (Jousting)
- Francis II became king
- House of Guise became influential
- Sought to persecute Henry of Navarre
- Charles IX (Catherine de Medicis was Regent)
- Guise eliminated Protestant influence at Court and began to attack protestant areas
- Protestants fought a defensive war
- War worsened with the assassination of duc de Guise
- Both sides brought in mercenary help (Spain, Swiss)
- St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre
- Guise used arraigned marriage of Henry of Navarre as an opportunity to kill the entire protestant leadership
-Impacts:
1. Deepened hatred and divisions
2. Prolonged the civil war
3. Medici blamed, monarchy seen as on the Catholic side
Theory of Resistance: Lawful to resist a monarchy acting in an unlawful manner
- Protestants
- Politiques: Catholics who joined w/ protestants as a protest against the massacre
- Catholic League: Collection of Catholic towns that opposed Protestantism
- War of the Three Henry's: King Henry III, Henry Guise & Henry of Navarre
- King Henry III could not control the Ultra-Catholics
- Assassinated Henry Guise and his Brother
- Henry III driven out of Paris by the Ultra-Catholics
- King Henry III and Henry of Navarre made a pact to defeat the Ultra-Catholics
- Henry III was assassinated by a priest
- Henry of Navarre became king (Henry IV 1594)
- Drove out the Spanish, united France
- "Paris is worth a Mass"
- Edict of Nantes: religious freedom, right to fortify cities
- Extremists continued to fight, Henry IV eventually assassinated
- Restored the place of the monarchy and unity of the French
Spain and Philip II
Charles V of Germany retired:
- Left German Empire to Fredrick I
- Left Spanish Empire to Phillip II
- Mid 16th Century Spain was the greatest social and econ. Power of Europe
- Spain, Netherlands, Milan, Naples, Portugal and New World
- Great Naval power (Sp. + Port.)
Phillip II: Militant Catholic, great administrator of government
Spain under Phillip II:
- very wealthy (gold / silver from New World)
- very Catholic (used force and cruelty)
- very strong control of nobles
- Netherlands were predominately Protestant (problem)
- Phillip II was also engaged to Mary Tudor
Problems facing Phillip and Spain:
1. Wealth was based on money, not production
2. Catholicism brought them into foreign wars with the Ottomans, Netherlands and English
3. The rest of Europe saw Spain as a threat
4. Rebellion in Netherlands over taxation and religion
Philip:
- Great Administrative mind: "King of Paper"
- Stood against Ottoman expansion in the Mediterranean Sea
- Battle of Lepanto: Coast of Greece, defeated Ottoman Navy (decisive victory)
- Devout Catholic
- Inquisition
- Involvement in the French Wars of Religion
- Marriage to Mary Tudor
- Rivalry w/ England
- Religious
- Personal (Elizabeth said no)
- Economic: English "Sea Dogs" (Francis Drake)
- Military: Netherlands and France (keep others fighting, stay out of conflict)
- Spanish Armada 1588, bad plan
- Turning point, people did not know it
Results:
1. Spain’s heyday as a continental power was over
2. England ensured that it would remain protestant
3. England prepared to become a world power
4. Dutch emerge as an independent group and a commercial center of Europe
- Netherlands revolted
-17 independent provinces
- Manufacturing / banking center of Europe
- General discontent galvanized around rel. differences
- Spanish rel. policy violated the Peace of Augsburg
- Protestants resented Spanish rule
- Margaret of Parma regent (Philip II's 1/2 sister)
- Calvinists go of Iconoclasm rampage
- Put down by Margaret and Protestants alike
- Philip II still sent troops
- Duke of Alba
- Massacred protestants, deepened divisions and hatred
- Open revolt
- William of Orange key figure in resistance
- Spanish army mutinied: "Spanish Fury" at Antwerp
- Pacification of Ghent 1576
- 12 Years Truce: ended conflict and established a free / antagonistic Dutch State
Struggles in Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe and the Reformation:
- Muscovy: no reformation, remained Eastern Orthodox Christian
- Poland-Lithuania: Protestantism crept in, but tolerated
- Will fight as much as the west, difference was that their wars were dynastic
Poland-Lithuania
- 16th Century: Poland was the preeminent power in Eastern Europe
- Death of the last Jagiellion monarch threw more power to nobles
- Polish Diet: Parliamentary body
- Sigismund (Swedish) became new king, Diet limited his power
- Engaged in a series of dynastic wars
Time of Troubles:
- Began with the death of Ivan the Terrible (killed his son)
- Civil War, Boyars refused to acknowledge a strong Tsar
- Attacked by Poland-Lithuania and Sweden
- Sigismund captured Moscow and sought to make himself Tsar
- Boyars agreed on Michael Romanov as Tsar, repel invaders
- Began the Romanov dynasty
Rise of Sweden:
- Gustav I Vasa led the independence movement
- Charles IX next monarch, defended the Swedes from Sigismund claim to the thrown
- Danish King Christian IV invaded Sweden, force unfavorable treaty upon Swedes
- Develop alliances with England and Dutch
- Gustavus Adolphus: Raised to be king, very good military tactician
- Reorganized the military (squadrons and regiments), increased training
- Emphasized mobility in military
- Best military of the day
- Married into Prussian nobility
- Expanded Swedish control over Baltic trade
30 Years War:
- Europe was waiting for a major war to break out
- Tensions b/w Dutch & Spanish, Spanish and French, German Catholics and German Protestants, England and Spanish, Swedish and everyone in the Baltic Region
- 30 Years War fought in the HRE by everyone in Europe
- Spark that started the war: German succession
- Electors: 3 C, 3 P, one the emperor (as King of Bohemia)
- Kingship of Bohemia would determine the religion of the next HRE
- Bohemian Revolt:
- Mathias (HRE) appointed his cousin Ferdinand as King of Bohemia (ensure next HRE a C)
- Ferdinand (Hapsburg) violated the rights of the protestants
- March on the royal palace in Prague
- Defenestration of Prague
- Began open revolt against Ferdinand
- Mathias died, Ferdinand became Ferdinand II (HRE)
- Fredrick V (P) claimed the crown of Bohemia
- Fredrick V also controlled the Palatinate, strategically important link b/w Spanish lands in Italy and the Netherlands
- War broke out
- Catholic v. Protestant (Everyone participated)
- Battle of White Mountain
- Catholics under Albrecht von Wallenstein crush the Protestants
- Ferdinand confiscated Fredrick’s lands and cruelly persecuted the Protestants
Problem: Hapsburgs had become too powerful, posed a threat to Protestantism and the free Dutch state
- Philip III + Ferdinand = loss of balance of power
- Hapsburgs pressed their advantage, Philip III declared war on Dutch
- England, Holland, German Protestants, Danish (Christian IV) respond
- von Wallenstein won again
- Ferdinand pressed his luck, tried to eliminate Protestantism
- United Lutheran and Calvinist opposition
- Swedes join the battle / France helped pay for war
- Catholic sack Magdeburg
- Protestant forces grew under the command of Gustavus
- Protestants began to win
- Eventually were worn down (could not replace losses as easily)
France v. Spain
- Fr. under the leadership of Cardinal Richelieu (Louis XIII) declared war on Spain
- Fought in the Netherlands, signaled a shift in the war political v. Religious
- Destructive war in which Spain eventually went bankrupt and forced to settle for peace
Peace of Westphalia
- European powers lost their will to fight, the war was incredibly destructive
- Restored the Peace of Augsburg
- Settled various wars and conflicts through a series of agreements
Impacts:
1. War left HRE divided and economically ruined
- Unification will be delayed
2. Emergence of Politics over religion in foreign affairs
- France helped the protestants
3. End of massive religious wars
- Europe was worn out, 30 Y.W. was extremely destructive
