The Peace of Westphalia
Overview
The Peace of Westphalia
The Peace of Westphalia was a series of peace treaties signed between May and October 1648. It was signed by warring parties in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. The collection of treaties ended the Thirty Years’ War.
Learning Objective
- Evaluate the impact of the Treaty of Westphalia on Europe.
Key Terms / Key Concepts
Peace of Westphalia: a collection of peace treaties that ended the Thirty Years’ War
The Peace of Westphalia
Over a four-year period, the warring nations of the Thirty Years’ War (the Holy Roman Empire, France, and Sweden) were actively negotiating at Osnabrück and Münster in Westphalia (present-day northwest Germany). The peace negotiations involved a total of 109 delegations representing European powers, including Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III, Philip IV of Spain, the Kingdom of France, the Swedish Empire, the Dutch Republic, the princes of the Holy Roman Empire, and sovereigns of the free imperial cities. The end of the war was not brought about by one treaty, but instead by a group of treaties, collectively named the Peace of Westphalia. The three treaties involved were the Peace of Münster (between the Dutch Republic and the Kingdom of Spain), the Treaty of Münster (between the Holy Roman Emperor and France and their respective allies), and the Treaty of Osnabrück (between the Holy Roman Empire and Sweden and their respective allies). These treaties ended both the Thirty Years’ War (1618 – 1648) in the Holy Roman Empire and the Eighty Years’ War (1568 – 1648) between Spain and the Dutch Republic, with Spain formally recognizing the independence of the Dutch Republic.
Terms of the Treaties
Along with ending open warfare between the belligerents, the Peace of Westphalia established several important tenets and agreements, including:
- All parties would recognize the Peace of Augsburg of 1555, in which each prince would have the right to determine the religion of his own state. This affirmed the principle of cuius regio, eius religio (Whose realm, his religion). And the options at the time were Catholicism, Lutheranism, and Calvinism.
- Christians living in principalities where their denomination was not the established church were guaranteed the right to practice their faith in public during allotted hours and in private at their will.
There were also several territorial adjustments brought about by the peace settlements. The independence of Switzerland from the empire was formally recognized. Sweden received Western Pomerania, Wismar, and the Prince-Bishoprics of Bremen and Verden as hereditary fiefs, thus gaining a seat and vote in the Imperial Diet of the Holy Roman Empire. Barriers to trade and commerce erected during the war were also abolished, and a degree of free navigation was guaranteed on the Rhine. And France came out of the war in a far better position than any of the other participants. France retained the control of the Bishoprics of Metz, Toul, and Verdun near Lorraine, received the cities of the Décapole in Alsace and the city of Pignerol near the Spanish Duchy of Milan.
The Impact of the Peace of Westphalia
The Peace of Westphalia did not entirely end conflicts arising out of the Thirty Years’ War. Fighting continued between France and Spain until the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659. Nevertheless, it did settle many outstanding European issues of the time. Some of the principles developed at Westphalia, especially those relating to respecting the boundaries of sovereign states and non-interference in their domestic affairs, became central to the world order that developed over the following centuries, and remain in effect today. Many of the imperial territories established in the Peace of Westphalia later became the sovereign nation-states of modern Europe.
The Peace of Westphalia established the precedent of having peace treaties negotiated and created by a diplomatic congress, as well as a new system of political order in central Europe based upon the concept of co-existing sovereign states. Inter-state aggression was to be held in check by a balance of power. A norm was established against interference in another state’s domestic affairs. As European influence spread across the globe, these Westphalian principles, especially the concept of sovereign states, became central to international law and to the prevailing world order.
Attributions
Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Boundless World History
"The Thirty Years War"
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-worldhistory/chapter/the-thirty-years-war/