Before diving into Hagen Schulze’s,
Germany: A New History, I held limited knowledge regarding the rich history of
Germany. The only concepts that came to mind when I thought about German
history were the Holocaust and the German army. Though they are a small
country, during Hitler’s reign of terror, their military was a dominant force
that could not be stopped. With the use of propaganda, Hitler was able to
persuade individuals to follow in his direction. With that support, Germany was
able to create one of the most dominant military forces of all time. Prior to the actions previously mentioned,
Germany was far from the powerful force that it eventually became. A lot of
which had to do with their lack of political and economical structure.
While reading the first few chapters of
Schulze’s book, the Thirty Years’ War and the Peace of Westphalia caught my eye.
I recall learning about the Thirty Years’ War in the past, but the key details
involving the war have slipped my mind. The Thirty Years’ War was initially
between the Protestants of the Bohemian Estates, and the Catholics of the Holy
Roman Empire. Then gradually started to include major powers in Europe, such as
Sweden, France, Great Britain, Spain and Austria. This series of wars
approximately lasted from 1618 to 1648. It came to an end when the Peace of
Westphalia, also known as the “Peace of Exhaustion” came into play. This series
of peace treaties was signed in Osnabrück and Münster, to help ensure the stability
of the European nation-state system, and generate progressive awareness amongst
each of the European states.
I found that in 1641, the parties
involved in the Thirty Years’ War agreed to start looking at terms of the peace
of Westphalia. But obviously didn’t come to an agreement until 1648. So in
essence, it took seven years for the Peace of Westphalia to actually become
established. If you think about it, whole wars such as WWI and WWII were fought
in less time than it took for the parties to finally come to terms. With that
in mind, it made me think, why exactly did it take so long for the parties to
come to terms for this treaty? Was there a significant lack of trust? Was their
talk of other treaties coming into play? Was their a certain party holding the
entire process back?
The
promulgation of the peace of Westphalia in Antwerp on June 5th, 1648.
Painting by Hollar Wenzel. Retrieved from Google images.
At this point, I did more research and
found that the Peace of Westphalia didn’t exactly end the Thirty Years’ War in
1648. Tension continued to occur, such as altercations between the super powers
of France and Spain, which continued until 1659. Another significant battle
broke out in the Baltic Sea, Between Sweden, Denmark, Poland, Brandenburg and
Russia, known as the Deluge, which eventually ended in 1667. This goes to show
that the Peace of Westphalia had little to no significance. With these
findings, I go back to my earlier question(s) about the treaty. It may sound
vague, but I truly believe that the reason the Peace of Westphalia wasn’t
successful was because of the overlying lack of trust. This goes to show that
when it came to push comes to shove, these European states could only trust
themselves. With everything occurring in that day and age, I find it to be
understandable. This can be very relatable to the world we live in now in the
United States. Today, we face issues of our own. Such as the tragic events that
occurred in Ferguson, or multiple terrorist attacks that have brought down our
country’s moral. Which makes it difficult for some of us to trust others,
whether it’s a neighbor or a friend, each and every day. Though as Americans,
we cannot say we suffered through a war that lasted over thirty years, I think
it is important that we reflect on what the people of Germany went through
during that time and how we can learn from them.
