often fought. The Peace of Augsburg in 1555 divided the Empire into Catholic and Protestant states, with rulers choosing their subjects’ religion. The worst conflict was the Thirty Years’ War (1618–48), which began as a religious war between Protestant and Catholic German states but soon became about territory, wealth and power. Sweden, Denmark, the Dutch Republic, Spain and France joined, driven by greed. Soldiers committed atrocities like rape, mutilation and murder. The war caused 4.5–8 million deaths, including those of 3.5–6.5 million civilians, who also died from diseases such as typhus and bubonic plague, and famine due to soldiers stealing their food. The war ended in 1648, but Germany didn’t unite until the late nineteenth century.
SkillBuilder discussion Chronology 1. What do you think was the most significant event of the Thirty Years’ War in 1631? 2. When did the Thirty Years’ War begin and end? 3. What year was the Holy Roman Empire of German Nations formed?
SOURCE3 In 1631, the Protestant city of Magdeburg was besieged, sacked and burned by Catholic forces during the Thirty Years’ War. This event marked a brutal attack on the city and its people.
2.5.3 France By 1500, the king controlled the French government. The Estates-General, representing clergy and nobles, gave the king the power to tax the people, which gave him absolute power. Religious wars between Catholics and Calvinists (called Huguenots) lasted from 1562 to 1598. The most famous event was the St Bartholomew’s Day massacre on 24 August 1572, when Catholics killed around 20 000 Huguenots in a planned attack across several cities. Despite this, France joined the Thirty Years’ War on the Protestant side in 1635, due to its rivalry with the Catholic Spanish and Austrian Hapsburg dynasties. 2.5.4 England English rulers didn’t have absolute power as England had a Parliament, which represented the privileged classes. Henry VII (1485–1509) replaced rebellious nobles with officials. His successor, Henry VIII, had a strong central government but used Parliament to maintain power. In 1533, Henry VIII defied the Pope, divorced Catherine of Aragon and married Anne Boleyn. When the Pope excommunicated him, Henry broke from Rome and founded the Church of England, of which he declared himself the head. He dissolved monasteries, selling their lands for his own wealth. Henry became King of Wales through the Acts of Union (1536–43) and King of Ireland in 1541. He was a brutal ruler, executing Anne Boleyn and later his fifth wife, Catherine Howard. When Henry VIII died in 1547, his ten-year-old son, Edward VI, became king but died six years later. He was succeeded by Mary I, daughter of Catherine of Aragon, a devout Catholic. She tried to restore Catholicism and executed over 300 Protestants. Mary died without an heir in 1558.
TOPIC2 Emergence of the modern world in Europe 33
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