Olga Nagornyuk

Peace of Westphalia: a win for the losers

The name “Peace of Westphalia” was given to two peace treaties concluded in 1648 in the cities of Osnabrück and Münster, located in the Duchy of Westphalia. The signing of these agreements marked the end of the Thirty Years' War and another redistribution of spheres of influence. But these documents also had other consequences. This is discussed in our article.

Peace of Westphalia - end of the Thirty Years' War

The Thirty Years' War became the first pan-European armed conflict in the history of mankind. The reasons that led to its beginning were political and religious contradictions that worsened in the first decade of the 17th century. This period is characterized by the decline of feudalism and the emergence of capitalism. There was a gradual change in historical formations, affecting not only politics and economics, but also the religious sphere.

Catholics, who supported the feudal system, were forced to give up their hegemony to the growing Protestants, supported by the young bourgeoisie. This state of affairs did not suit Catholic Spain and Germany, led by the Habsburgs, who were looking for a reason to launch an open attack on the adherents of Protestantism. This pretext was the Prague Uprising of 1618, when protesters threw imperial officials out of windows.

As a result, the Thirty Years' War broke out, affecting almost all European countries. On the side of the Catholics were Spain and Portugal, the Catholic principalities of Germany, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Papal Throne. The interests of Protestants were defended by Sweden, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Transylvania, the Protestant part of Germany and Catholic France, which later joined, which understood that a redistribution of spheres of influence was beginning in the world.

The war, which lasted three decades, brought famine, epidemics and devastation, which hit the economies of the warring countries painfully: they were exhausted, which forced them to begin peace negotiations. Since the anti-Habsburg (Protestant) coalition was in a more advantageous position, it dictated the terms of the treaty. How did the Peace of Westphalia turn out for both sides?

Terms of the Peace of Westphalia

135 delegates representing the interests of all countries participating in the war gathered for negotiations in Osnabrück and Münster. On the agenda were issues of the rights of Catholics and Lutherans, amnesty for war participants and territorial claims. France wanted to get part of Germany, breaking the encirclement of the Austrian and Spanish Habsburgs, Sweden sought sovereignty and gaining a leading role in the Baltic, Spain and the Holy Roman Empire tried to defend their integrity by making minimal territorial concessions.

The Peace of Westphalia brought:

• Catholics and Protestants have an equal right to religion. This meant an end to the persecution of Christians of other faiths. The Peace of Westphalia equalized the rights of representatives of both religious movements;

• Christians - freedom of religion regardless of place of residence. Beginning in 1648, Catholics and Protestants were exempted from the mandatory practice of the official religion of the principality in whose territory they lived;

• The Swiss Confederation and the Republic of the United Provinces (Holland) gained independence. They became sovereign states, neither part of the Holy Roman Empire nor subject to the Spanish Crown;

• France gained new territories: the bishoprics of Toul, Metz and Verdun, which previously belonged to the possessions of the Duke of Lorraine, and the free cities of Alsace;

• part of Pomerania, the bishoprics of Bremen and Ferden and the port city of Wismar went to Sweden, which a century and a half later the Scandinavians mortgaged for 1,258 Reichstalers with the right of redemption to the Dukes of Mecklenburg, but never bothered to return the property obtained as a result of the war that lasted 30 years;

• Brandenburg-Prussia expanded its borders to include Eastern Pomerania, the bishoprics of Magdeburg, Minden, Kammin and Halberstadt.

The signing of this document had far-reaching consequences for European states, which we will discuss later.

Peace of Westphalia: consequences

The Peace of Westphalia significantly undermined the authority of the Habsburgs and put an end to their plans to strengthen and expand the Holy Roman Empire. The emperor, whose rank was previously higher than the status of kings and princes, became equal in rights with them, and the states moved to a new model of governance - national. The conclusion of this treaty had far-reaching consequences for the world:

1. The church was losing its position in government, dynastic marriages between royal families, which previously led to the unification of states, also fell into oblivion. A new model of the world was born - a state-centric one, which gave each sovereign state the right to independently determine its foreign and domestic policies.

The Westphalian model of the world lasted until the twentieth century, when economic globalization began after World War II, and international organizations emerged to influence independent countries and suppress their sovereignty.

2. Many historians view the Peace of Westphalia as the first step towards the outbreak of World War II. Germany, defeated in the Thirty Years' War, was fragmented into small principalities and experienced a protracted period of economic and political decline. This loss deeply shocked the Germans, having an impact on them similar to the effect the Opium Wars had on the Chinese. Therefore, all subsequent events in the history of Germany: the unification of the country in the 19th century and aggression against France in order to return the territories seized after the signing of the Peace of Westphalia - were caused by the desire of the Germans to return their nation to its former greatness.

The National Socialist movement, led by Adolf Hitler, according to historians, was directed not only against the Treaty of Versailles, because of which Germany lost part of its territories, but had the goal of changing the consequences of the Peace of Westphalia, because of which the country's national interests suffered.

History is a chain of events and the consequences they generate. What they will be - destructive or creative - depends on us and on our ability to draw conclusions from the lessons that history teaches.

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WESTPHALIAN WORLD- a peace treaty that ended the Thirty Years' War, concluded after complex and lengthy negotiations between the warring parties of the coalition of Austrian and Spanish Habsburgs and the opposing anti-Habsburg bloc of European powers. The negotiations took place in the German cities of Westphalia (hence the name). Consisted of two combined peace treaties signed in Osnabrück and Münster. The final version of the Treaty of Westphalia was signed on October 24, 1648 in Münster.

In 1618, one of the largest wars in European history broke out - the Thirty Years' War. In contrast to the European hegemony of the German and Spanish Habsburgs in the struggle for “Christendom”, supported by the papacy, the Catholic princes of Germany and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, an anti-Habsburg coalition was formed, a coalition of a number of European states - France, the Dutch Republic, Sweden, Denmark, Russia, Protestant German principalities, the Czech Republic , Transylvania, northern Italian principalities and partly England.

Despite the rivalry between the Austrian and Spanish branches of the Habsburgs for influence in Europe, the Spanish government believed that the victory of the Austrian Habsburgs and the Catholic reaction in Germany in the Rhine region would allow Spain to re-annex the bourgeois republic of the northern Netherlands and gain a foothold in northern Italy. The Habsburgs developed various dynastic options for the merger of the Spanish and Austrian imperial branches.

France could not come to terms with the strengthening of the Habsburg coalition and their possible joint actions in the Middle and Lower Rhine. In addition, France was dissatisfied with Spanish expansion in Southern Italy ( cm. SICILY BOTH KINGDOMS), as well as in the northern Italian regions, which are the connecting link between the possessions of the Spanish and Austrian Habsburgs.

The French king Henry IV of Bourbon began preparing for war and, before his death, managed to put together a coalition against the Habsburgs, which, in addition to the Kingdom of France, included a number of German Protestant principalities. In the fight against the Habsburgs, France also relied on the support of the Turkish Sultan.

The main focus of the brewing pan-European conflict, which resulted in the bloody Thirty Years' War of 1618–1648, was the German principalities, in which, after the Reformation and the Peasants' War, a Catholic reaction began. In 1608, the struggle between the German principalities within the Holy Roman Empire intensified. The Protestant Union, created in the Protestant duchies and principalities, led by the German Duke Frederick V of the Palatinate, pinned all its hopes on France.

In contrast to the Protestant Union, the Catholic League was formed in 1609, the head of which was a Jesuit disciple, Duke Maximilian of Bavaria, who sought to use the forces of the Catholic Union to elevate his ruling house at the expense of the Habsburgs. Maximilian of Bavaria appointed Imperial Field Marshal Baron von Thili as commander of the Catholic League army.

On the side of the Habsburg coalition was the eastern outpost of the Catholic reaction, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (the united state of Poland and the Principality of Lithuania). The Orthodox Moscow state, forced to take into account the pan-European balance of power before the start of the Thirty Years' War, concluded the unfavorable Stolbovo Peace Treaty with Sweden, joining the anti-Habsburg coalition to repel the ongoing expansion from Poland. The European powers of both opposing coalitions could not help but take into account the interests of Russia on the eastern borders of the Catholic League.

The Thirty Years' War began in 1618 with open Habsburg aggression against the Czech Republic. The war includes several periods: the Czech period (1618–1623); Danish period (1625–1629); Swedish period (1630–1635); The Franco-Swedish period (1635–1648) and the Russo-Polish War (1632–1634).

As a result of the bloody Thirty Years' War, the Habsburg coalition suffered a complete fiasco. After a series of serious defeats inflicted on the imperial troops and the threat of capture of the Austrian capital of Vienna, Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III was forced to accept the most difficult terms for Germany in a peace agreement.

The first peace treaty between Sweden, the Holy Roman Emperor and the Protestant German princes was signed in Osnabrück. The second treaty was signed with France on October 24, 1648 in Munster.

As a result of the Treaty of Westphalia of 1648, which put an end to the first pan-European war, the map of Western European states was largely redrawn.

The ambassadors of the Holy Roman Emperor at the negotiations preceding the signing of the Peace of Westphalia were Count Trautmansdorff, Count Nassau, and Dr. Vollmar. The Spanish side was represented by the Count of Perpignan. Swedish representatives - J. Oksenstierna and A. Salvius. From France - Duke of Longueville, Count d'Avo, Count A. Servieni (in direct coordination with Cardinal Mazarin in Paris).

Under the terms of the treaty, Sweden received all of Western Pomerania (German Baltic Pomerania) with the island of Rügen, the city of Stettin and a number of other territories in Eastern Pomerania. In addition, the Gulf of Pomerania with all coastal cities, the island of Wolin, the Archbishopric of Bremen, the Bishopric of Verden on the Weser and the city of Wismar went to Sweden. Sweden practically became the dominant state on the Baltic Sea. Sweden was also paid a huge indemnity of 5 million thalers.

France received Upper and Lower Alsace, Haguenau and Sundgau, the bishoprics of Metz, Toul and Vernen (on the Meuse). Strasbourg formally remained part of the Holy Roman Empire. The Netherlands and Switzerland received official international recognition as independent states. The German principalities of Brandenburg, Mecklenburg, and Brunswick-Lüneburg increased their possessions through a number of bishoprics and abbeys. The most difficult point of the Peace of Westphalia was the consolidation of the political fragmentation of the Holy Roman Empire. The German princes received complete independence from the emperor.

The monarchs of the victorious powers of Sweden, France and Russia (the Prince of Moscow) acted as guarantors of the Peace of Westphalia.

The Habsburg coalition, in its attempt to create a world “Christian” empire, suffered a complete collapse. The French kingdom became the dominant state in Western Europe for many years. The pan-European borders established by the Treaty of Westphalia remained unshakable for a whole century.

The difficult Peace of Westphalia of 1648 became a new link in the chain of disasters for the German people and deeply shocked Germany, leaving a tragic imprint on the entire subsequent moral and cultural life of the country. A number of historians believe that the consequences of the Peace of Westphalia predetermined the subsequent economic and political backwardness of Germany. At the end of the 18th century. German historiography blamed the fragmentation of Germany on French statesmen - participants in the Thirty Years' War and the subsequent Treaty of Westphalia - Cardinals Richelieu and Mazarin. Many historians are inclined to believe that the dire consequences of the Treaty of Westphalia prompted Germany to unify the country in the second half of the 19th century. and aggression against France to regain the ancestral West German lands incorporated into the Kingdom of France in 1648.

During World War II, a number of historical works were published in Nazi Germany, which argued that the National Socialist movement was a protest not only against the Treaty of Versailles of 1919, but also against Osnabrück and Münster. The founder of Prussian-German statehood, King Frederick II, the unifier of a united German Empire, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, Emperor Kaiser Wilhelm II of Hohenzollern and the Fuhrer of the Third Reich Adolf Hitler were declared the leaders of the four stages of the struggle against the legacy of the Peace of Westphalia to unify the German Empire.

The terms of the Peace of Westphalia, which ended the Thirty Years' War and made significant changes to the map of Western European states, are contained in two peace treaties - in the treaty between Sweden, the emperor and the Protestant German princes, concluded in the city of Osnabrück, and in the treaty with France, concluded in Münster (24 October 1648).

Both of these cities are located in Westphalia, hence the name “Peace of Westphalia”.

In the Peace of Westphalia, as well as in the course of the Thirty Years' War itself, the political weakness of Germany was expressed, in which the princes, divided into two camps and competing with each other for the sake of their private interests, ruled.

In seeking to expand their possessions, the princes did not at all care about the state interests of their country and the integrity of its territory and committed outright treason, entering into transactions with foreign states that harbored aggressive intentions towards the lands of Germany itself.

Thus, Germany became the scene of a long and devastating war, caused mainly by the selfish interests of large German princes and great power politics associated with the papacy and other reactionary forces in Europe.

After the end of the war, Sweden and France, who inflicted defeat on the coalition forces in its last years, entered into a deal with the German princes, who acted contrary to the political interests of Germany.

Under the terms of the Peace of Westphalia, Sweden received all of Western Pomerania (Pomerania) with the island of Rügen, and in Eastern Pomerania the city of Stettin and a number of other points. The island of Wolin, the Gulf of Pomerania with all the cities on its shores, as well as, as an “imperial fief,” the Archbishopric of Bremen, the Bishopric of Verden (on the Weser) and the city of Wismar passed to Sweden.

Almost all the mouths of navigable rivers in Northern Germany came under Swedish control. Sweden thus came to dominate the Baltic Sea.

France received Upper and Lower Alsace, Sundgau and Haguenau with the proviso that Strasbourg and a number of other points in Alsace formally remained within the empire. The Empire officially declared its consent to the transfer to France of the bishoprics of Metz, Toul and Verdun (on the Meuse) occupied by it back in 1552.

Holland and Switzerland received international recognition as independent states.

Some German principalities, notably Brandenburg, increased their holdings at the expense of a number of bishoprics, abbeys and other minor sovereigns of the empire.

The most difficult condition of the Peace of Westphalia for Germany was the consolidation of its political fragmentation. German princes were allowed to enter into alliances among themselves and with foreign powers and conduct their own independent foreign policy. According to Engels, Europe guaranteed the German princes under the Peace of Westphalia “... the right to rebel against the emperor, internecine war and treason against the fatherland.”

The political decline of Germany, which took shape already in the 16th century, was then aggravated by the economic decline of the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The Thirty Years' War was a new link in a long chain of disasters for the German people, from which the defeated and enslaved peasants suffered the most.

“For a whole generation,” Engels wrote about the results of the Thirty Years’ War, “Germany was ruled far and wide by the most unbridled military that history knows. Indemnities were imposed everywhere, robberies, arson, violence and murder were committed. The peasant suffered most of all where, apart from large armies, small free detachments, or rather marauders, acted at their own peril and risk and at their own will.

The devastation and depopulation were limitless. When peace came, Germany found itself defeated - helpless, trampled, torn to pieces, bleeding; and it was again the peasant who was in the most distress.”

After the Thirty Years' War, the serfdom of the devastated German peasantry began to spread throughout the country.

The war between France and Spain ended with the Peace of the Pyrenees in 1659: The borders of France, which received Roussillon, were expanded in the south to the Pyrenees ridge. In the northeast, Artois and some other areas of the Spanish Netherlands, as well as part of Lorraine, passed to France.

After the failure of the attempt to create a world “Christian” empire under the auspices of the Spanish-Austrians, centralized feudal states began to play a leading role in international relations in Europe, developing on a national or multinational basis.

The most powerful of them became Russia in Eastern Europe and France in the West.

Austria also developed and strengthened as one of the multinational states of Europe.

After the Peace of Westphalia, the balance of power between European states and.

France changed its attitude towards it, which already needed much less support from the Turks.

In the second half of the 17th century. Individual and united actions of European states inflicted major defeats on the Turks, which undermined their military power to a large extent.

A series of peace treaties concluded between May and October 1648 in the bishoprics of Münster and Osnabrück in Westphalia, effectively ending the European Wars of Religion.

The Peace of Westphalia officially ended the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), a long struggle for religious and political power that affected almost all European countries to one degree or another. The Thirty Years' War was a religious conflict, an escalation of the confrontation between Catholics and Protestants that began with the Reformation of the 16th century. It was a struggle for dominance in Europe; France and Sweden opposed the Holy Roman Emperor, who belonged to the House of Habsburg. Finally, it was a conflict between the Emperor and the major German principalities that were seeking independence.

The Peace of Westphalia also led to the end of the Eighty Years' War (1568-1648) between Spain and the Dutch Republic, and Spain officially recognized the independence of the Dutch Republic.

The negotiation process was long and difficult. The discussion of the terms of the Peace of Westphalia took place in two different cities - between the Holy Roman Emperor with Catholic countries and France in the bishopric of Münster, and with Protestant countries and Sweden in the bishopric of Osnabrück, since neither Catholics nor Protestants wanted to hold meetings on “foreign” territory. A total of 109 delegations gathered, representing the interests of all states involved in the war.

Treaty of Westphalia.

As a result of the negotiations, three separate agreements were prepared:

• Peace of Munster - concluded between the Netherlands Republic and the Kingdom of Spain on January 30, 1648 and ratified in Munster on May 15, 1648; And
• two related agreements concluded on October 24, 1648 and ratified between November 1648 and January 1649:
  • Treaty of Munster between the Holy Roman Empire and France and its allies;
  • Treaty of Osnabrück between the Holy Roman Empire and Sweden and its allies.

Taken together, these three treaties constitute the Peace of Westphalia.

Results of the Peace of Westphalia.

The Peace of Westphalia was both a religious and political-territorial settlement. The terms of the Peace of Westphalia determined the political landscape of Europe for many years to come. Since its provisions applied to most European powers - among them Savoy, England, Denmark, Norway, Poland, the principalities and republics of Italy, the Netherlands and Swiss cities - it was truly a pan-European peace. Although little remains of the territorial order established in 1648, the results of the Reformation after the Peace of Westphalia in Europe were never revised again. The Treaty of Westphalia also contained important provisions regarding the constitution of the Holy Roman Empire, which continued to be in force until the fall of the Empire in 1806.

The long-term Munster and Osnabrück peace conferences were an important event in the modern history of diplomacy. Compromises on protocol issues, many of which were reached only after lengthy negotiations, served as a precedent for subsequent international conferences and congresses.

Religious issues.

The main goal of the Peace of Westphalia was the settlement of religious relations and confessional contradictions. Although the Treaty of Westphalia confirmed the right of princes to change at will both their faith and the faith of their subjects, they provided for certain legal guarantees. Several provisions were introduced to limit and weaken the previous power of the princes over the religious sphere.

The Treaty of Westphalia formally recognized religious freedom for Catholics living in Protestant areas and vice versa, including being allowed to pray in their homes, attend religious services, and raise their children according to personal beliefs. Dissidents were not to be "excluded from the guilds of merchants, craftsmen or companies, deprived of the right of succession, inheritance, access to public hospitals, infectious diseases hospitals, nursing homes (almshouses), as well as other rights and privileges." Moreover, the Treaty of Westphalia encouraged equality between Catholics and Protestants in the Imperial Councils and other legislative institutions of the Empire.

Territorial agreements.

The second subject of the Peace of Westphalia concerned the issue of territorial settlement, and practically, the satisfaction of the territorial claims of Sweden and France.

• Sweden received Western Pomerania with the port of Stettin, the Macklenburg city of Wismar, the Archbishopric of Bremen and the Bishopric of Ferden. These acquisitions gave Sweden control of the Baltic Sea and the mouths of the Oder, Elbe and Weser rivers.
• France gained sovereignty over the county of Alsace and confirmed its rights to the three bishoprics of Metz, Toul and Verdun, which it had captured a century earlier. Thus, France fortified its border west of the Rhine River.
• Brandenburg received Eastern Pomerania and several small bishoprics and monasteries.
• The Palatinate was divided between Protestants and Catholics into the Upper and Lower Palatinate:
  • The Upper Palatinate remained with Bavaria;
  • The Lower Palatinate, together with the newly created eighth Electorate, was returned to Charles I Ludwig, son of Frederick V of the Palatinate.

An important outcome of the Peace of Westphalia was the international recognition of the Dutch Republic and the Swiss Confederation as independent states. Thus, the treaties formalized the status that these two states had already effectively enjoyed for many decades.

General amnesty.

In accordance with the Christian peace ethic, the Treaty of Westphalia declared a general amnesty for all those who participated in the hostilities of the Thirty Years' War. The amnesty was absolute and without any exceptions; there was to be "eternal oblivion" of everything said and done during the war.

Agreements on the Constitution of the Holy Roman Empire.

The establishment of the eighth electorate, granted to Charles I Ludwig of the Palatinate, meant a significant change in the provisions of the “Golden Bull” of 1356, one of the basic laws of the Empire, which, in particular, determined the procedure for electing the emperor. The Golden Bull explicitly stated that seven electors or prince-electors would choose a Roman king, who would then be crowned head of the Holy Roman Empire by the Pope.

The Treaty of Westphalia changed the voting procedure of the Imperial Assembly (Reichstag), establishing that decisions on religious issues must be made unanimously, that is, by mutual agreement of the Catholic and Protestant states. Imperial cities (i.e. those directly subordinate to the emperor) were given seats and voting rights in the Imperial Assembly. In addition to the Council of Electors and the Council of Imperial Princes, the cities formed a third council, divided into two colleges, the Swabian and the Rhine.

The Treaty of Westphalia included a provision recognizing the right of individual States “to enter into alliances with other parties for their preservation and security”, provided “that these alliances are not directed against the Emperor, the Empire, the Common Peace and this Agreement.” The right of States to enter into alliances is associated not only with the right to pursue their own foreign policy and establish diplomatic relations, but also with the right to wage war and maintain a standing army. This meant recognition of the individual princes and territories of the empire, which, although still part of the Empire, moved closer to sovereign status.

On the other hand, the Peace of Westphalia vested in the Imperial Assembly all the power that is usually associated with the exercise of supreme powers over a territory, such as writing and interpreting laws, declaring war, and imposing taxes.

The Imperial Council of 1653-1654 recognized the Treaty of Westphalia as something of a "fundamental law" of the Empire before such a concept existed. The Treaties of Westphalia were incorporated into subsequent electoral capitulations, which legal historians view as precursors to today's constitutions.

The significance of the Peace of Westphalia in the history of international law.

The Peace of Westphalia is seen by many international lawyers and political scientists as a turning point in the history of international law and international relations, separating the old European order, characterized by the religious and political unity of "Christendom" under the Emperor and the Pope, from the modern secular system of sovereign and equal states, which still exists today, or at least existed until the end of the Second World War. In the literature, the latter order is often described as the Westphalian system of international law and international relations, characterized by a clear, mainly territorial, delimitation of political power and social connections.

While it is possible to use the Peace of Westphalia as the symbolic beginning of an era of international law characterized by the predominance of sovereign states, such an assumption is nevertheless problematic from a historical point of view. It reduces to a single denominator events the gradual development of which partly began long before 1648, and partly continued for at least two hundred years. Modern international law originated not in the mid-17th century, but in the late Middle Ages, reaching a high degree of maturity both in terms of international practice and doctrine in the “Spanish period” of the 16th - mid-17th centuries. In many respects, the Peace of Westphalia presupposed the existence of a modern, secular international order, which it confirmed rather than created.

By the time of the Westphalian peace negotiations, the concept of sovereignty as the supremacy of power over a certain territory and its independence from “foreign” powers was doctrinally well developed. Therefore, Munster was undoubtedly not the birthplace of the idea of ​​state sovereignty. Moreover, the word does not appear in the long text of the Treaties of Westphalia. Both the Treaties of Münster and Osnabrück carefully avoided calling the states of the empire "sovereign". Instead, the agreements used the expression ius territoriale or territorial power, thereby emphasizing their belonging to the empire.

Thus, it would be unfair to consider the Peace of Westphalia of 1648 as the cornerstone in the development of the modern international system of states. Rather, the results of the Congress are nothing more than a further step - one might even say a rather modest step - in the gradual transition from the ideal of universal power to the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bseparate independent political units possessing sovereignty over the territories entrusted to them.