The European wars of religion were a series of wars waged in Europe during the 16th, 17th and early 18th centuries. Fought after the Protestant Reformation began in 1517, the wars disrupted the religious and political order in the Catholic countries of Europe. Other motives during the wars involved revolt, territorial ambitions and great power conflicts. By the end of the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), Catholic France had allied with the Protestant forces against the Catholic Habsburg monarchy. The wars were largely ended by the Peace of Westphalia (1648), which established a new political order that is now known as Westphalian sovereignty.

The conflicts began with the minor Knights' Revolt (1522), followed by the larger German Peasants' War (1524–1525) in the Holy Roman Empire. Warfare intensified after the Catholic Church began the Counter-Reformation in 1545 against the growth of Protestantism. The conflicts culminated in the Thirty Years' War, which devastated Germany and killed one third of its population, a mortality rate twice that of World War I.[2][4] The Peace of Westphalia broadly resolved the conflicts by recognising three separate Christian traditions in the Holy Roman Empire: Roman Catholicism, Lutheranism and Calvinism. Although many European leaders were sickened by the bloodshed by 1648, smaller religious wars continued to be waged until the 1710s, including the Wars of the Three Kingdoms (1639–1651) in the British Isles, the Savoyard–Waldensian wars (1655–1690), and the Toggenburg War (1712) in the Western Alps.

The Peace of Westphalia is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and brought peace to the Holy Roman Empire, closing a calamitous period of European history that killed approximately eight million people. The Holy Roman Emperor (Ferdinand III), the kingdoms of France and Sweden, and their respective allies among the princes of the Holy Roman Empire participated in these treaties.

The negotiation process was lengthy and complex. Talks took place in two cities, because each side wanted to meet on territory under its own control. A total of 109 delegations arrived to represent the belligerent states, but not all delegations were present at the same time. Two treaties were signed to end the war in the Empire: the Treaty of Münster and the Treaty of Osnabrück. These treaties ended the Thirty Years' War in the Holy Roman Empire, with the Habsburgs (rulers of Austria and Spain) and their Catholic allies on one side, battling the Protestant powers (Sweden and certain Holy Roman principalities) allied with France (though Catholic, strongly anti-Habsburg under King Louis XIV).

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  • Asa_the_Red [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Cw rant about the Christian DSA thing

    spoiler

    So aparently some DSA committee authorized a Christian minister to administer a prayer before one of their meetings and there was pushback from non-Christians and the minister dropped out. Now a bunch of Christians are throwing a tantrum on twitter saying that anyone who doesn't accept a public prayer cannot organize in America... and im just so amazed as to how so many Christians can go their whole lives being so painfully un-self-aware or the slightest bit critical of their own actions.

    Like, they keep calling it an inclusive "non-denominational prayer"? There is no such thing as a non-denominational prayer, especially one given by a christian. A core belief of Christianity is that God/Christ is the only true god. So any prayer given by a christian must be to their god, which excludes any other faith. Maybe you can get some wiggle room and simply not mention Christ by name so the prayer doesnt directly contradict Judaism or Islam, but its still being given by a christian. It has to exclude every religious person who isnt a member of an Abrahamic faith and every atheist, so how could it ever be "inclusive"?

    It really speaks to the chauvenism built into the faith that a lot of Christians refuse to unlearn. This idea that they should be allowed to use a secular organization as a platform to subject non-Christians to their religious rituals under the guise of it being "inclusive". Its fuckign wierd and gross. Imagine if I, a Norse Pagan, was given the floor at the beginning of a socialist organization's meeting to make a public sacrifice to Oðinn or Thor. That would make a shit ton of people extremely uncomfortable! Especially given the use of Norse symbols by fascists it would be unthinkable for me to force my faith upon other people. But there's absolutely no self reflection by these Christians as to why people might be uncomfortable with being inckuded in their religion's rituals.

    I mean no disrespect to anyone here who might be Christian, I know yall probably think this shits cringe to, I just needed to write down my thoughts.

    • JamesConeZone [they/them]
      ·
      2 years ago

      i absolutely agree that offering prayer at a DSA meeting is not the place for it, but just to add some religious context here: interfaith prayer meetings are very common among ecumenical groups and it is very common to have wiccans, muslims, jews, and christians all offer various bits of prayer to whoever or whatever they want in these meetings, and it's fine in that environment. but yeah, it's not appropriate for a DSA meeting, and i have no idea why it was even put forward in the first place (your post was the first time i'd heard of it)

      • Asa_the_Red [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        That's fine when all parties consent and importantly all faiths can participate.

        Christians (and Jews and Muslims afaik, but I dont have experience with them doing this kind of stuff) cannot hold other gods before their own, so any prayer that exclusively centers Christians cannot be inclusive of outside faiths.

        My real problem here is that they even considered this a fine thing to do with a secular gathering and especially without everyone's consent.

        • JamesConeZone [they/them]
          ·
          2 years ago

          Yes, we're in agreement that it was a weird thing to do, especially without everyone's consent.

          Respectfully, I would question your theological point that Christians, Jews, and Muslims don't worship the same God, and the point that they cannot theologically handle prayers from other faiths (as I have very literally seen this), but this is a separate discussion though, so I'll leave it at that.

          • Asa_the_Red [he/him]
            ·
            2 years ago

            Im not saying Jews and Muslims dont also worship the Abrahamic God lol sorry if my wording there came off that way.

            And yes this could quickly devolve into a debate over theology so your right lets just leave it at that.

          • Frank [he/him, he/him]
            ·
            2 years ago

            Depends on which Christians. I'm pretty sure there are entire sects that think Jews and Muslims are Satanists, or that Muslims worship the moon.