The Thirty Years' War（1618〜1648）, which struck Europe after the Reformation, was one of the largest religious and political wars in history and was fought mainly on German soil. The Treaty of Westphalia, which brought the war to an end, established the model for the modern international order.
Course of the Thirty Years' War
- 1618 "Defenestration of Prague": Protestant nobles in Bohemia threw imperial officials out of a window, beginning the war
- At first, it was a religious war between the Holy Roman Empire（Catholic）and Bohemia（Protestant）
- Denmark, Sweden, and France（Catholic but seeking to restrain the Habsburgs）intervened, expanding it into an international war
- It is said that one-third of Germany's population was lost through war, disease, and famine
Significance of the Treaty of Westphalia（1648）
①Mutual recognition of each country's territorial sovereignty→establishment of the principle of noninterference in domestic affairs
②Effective dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire→Germany split into more than 300 small states（unification was delayed until 1871）
③Freedom of religion：coexistence of Catholicism, Lutheranism, and Calvinism was authorized
④Beginning of the sovereign state system（Westphalian system）：the foundation of modern international relations. The UN Charter also inherited the principle of sovereign equality
①Mutual recognition of each country's territorial sovereignty→establishment of the principle of noninterference in domestic affairs
②Effective dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire→Germany split into more than 300 small states（unification was delayed until 1871）
③Freedom of religion：coexistence of Catholicism, Lutheranism, and Calvinism was authorized
④Beginning of the sovereign state system（Westphalian system）：the foundation of modern international relations. The UN Charter also inherited the principle of sovereign equality
The Birth of International Law
Hugo Grotius（the Netherlands, the "father of natural law"）laid the foundation for international law, which establishes rules to be observed even during wartime, in On the Law of War and Peace（1625）.
Practice
- Give the name of the event that triggered the Thirty Years' War.
- Explain why the Treaty of Westphalia is considered the "model" for the modern international order.
- Give the name of the Dutch legal scholar known as the "father of international law."