History

9 n GCSE H i stor y, you study even t s that excl usi vel y take p l ace between 1918 and

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T he m ai n cause f or the star t of the T h i r t y Year s? War was the co l l apse of the system estab l i shed by the Peace of Augsbu r g i n the ear l y si x teen th cen tu r y. T he t r eat y was si gned i n Sep tem ber 1555 between Em per or Char l es V (r ep r esen t i ng Catho l i c i n ter est s), and the Schm al kal d i c L eague (r ep r esen t i ng L u ther an i n ter est s). I t s gu i d i ng p r i n ci p l e was ?cu i us r egi o, ei us r el i gi o? (?whose r ealm , thei r r el i gi on?). I t estab l i shed a l egal basi s f or p r i n ces to choose between Catho l i ci sm and L u ther an i sm ; however , i t negl ected Cal v i n i sm and other sm al l er con f essi onal nuan ces. T he set t l em en t was al so ex t r em el y vague, a p r oduct of the need to p l ease both par t i es. T he r esu l t of th i s enab l ed two ex t r em es of i n ter p r etat i on to sl ow l y devel op , one l ed by Bavar i a and Aust r i a? the other l ed by the El ector al Pal at i nate. T he con f l i ct cam e to a head i n the Rei chstag of 160 8, i n wh i ch the Pr otestan t ex t r em e w i thd r ew af ter a r equest f or the f orm al r ecogn i t i on of the Augsbu r g

1991, wh i ch m akes i t st r ange f or m e to wr i te abou t even t s that happened alm ost 30 0 year s p r i or . H owever , ther e i s one key i dea that l i n ks 1630 and 1918: that of the bal an ce of power . T he f i r st m ajor con sequen ce of th i s i dea was the Swed i sh en t r y i n to the T h i r t y Year s? War , and i t s dom i nan ce was supposed l y ended by the T r eat y of Ver sai l l es, whose estab l i shm en t of the L eague of Nat i on s p r om oted co l l ect i ve secu r i t y as an al ter nat i ve to war . T he i dea of the bal an ce of power r ep l aced f or ei gn po l i cy d i ctated by con f essi onal d i f f er en ces, i n stead r ep l aci ng i t w i th a m or e nuan ced v i si on that p r i or i t i sed p r agm at i sm above al l el se. To under stand why th i s new, p r agm at i c app r oach was taken , i t i s essen t i al to under stand why the T h i r t y Year s? War star ted , and why i t escal ated f r om a r egi onal con f l i ct i n to a m ajor Eu r opean war .

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