1648 Treaty

Peace of Westphalia

Name: Peace of Westphalia
Start: 1648

The end of the Thirty Years’ War enshrines state sovereignty and invents modern European diplomacy.

What leads to what

Declared chains of causation — debatable, like any reading of history.

Upstream

leads to Luther’s 95 Theses 1517 Cent trente ans séparent l’affiche de Wittenberg du traité qui en solde les guerres.

Downstream

echoes Congress of Vienna 1815 Deux fois l’Europe se donne un ordre après une guerre générale.

Meanwhile, elsewhere

Within twenty-five years of 1648 — the context national timelines leave out.

16 years earlier University of Tartu Estonia
same year Independence of the Netherlands recognised Netherlands
16 years earlier Gustavus Adolphus at Lützen Sweden
17 years earlier Papal recognition San Marino
22 years later Spinoza and tolerance Netherlands

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Which long period

Periods overlap: they are landmarks, not boxes.

Reformation and wars of religion 1517 – 1648 Christendom splits and Europe is redrawn.

Countries involved

Germany

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What was written of it

A day will come when all of you, nations of the continent, without losing your distinct qualities and your glorious individuality, will merge closely into a higher unity, and will form the European brotherhood.

Victor Hugo 1849

Opening address to the Peace Congress, Paris

Translated by the site, not by the author.