The Thirty Years War, 1618-1648
A.) The Situation leading to the War
Emperor Charles V. had striven hard to reconcile the German Protestant community and the Roman Curia; the unwillingness of both the Council of Trent and the German Protestants to make major concessions had lead to a confrontation of both camps; the Schmalkaldic War, as an attempt to pressure the Protestant camp into taking a more conciliatory attitude, was of only temporary success and was counteracted by Duke-Elector Maurice's Expedition against Innsbruck in 1552, resulting in the Religious Peace of Augsburg, regarded by Germany's protestant princes as a guarantee of their territorial creed, by the Emperor as a document forced upon him under humiliating conditions.
Neither the Council of Trent nor the Papal Curia were willing to accept the Religious Peace of Augsburg; Counterreformation agitation tried to undermine it. The Cologne Stift Feud of 1583 provided an opportunity; Emperor Rudolf II. sided with......
Join Now or Login to view the rest of this paper.
Approximate Word Count: 2092
Approximate Pages: 9 (260 words per double-spaced page) |