The settlement in the German states recognized Roman Catholics and Lutherans but did not do the same to Calvinists. Calvinists who had made gains in most of the states began to demand for their rights. This brought the thirty years war due to the conflict. The conflict has been one of the most complex conflicts that have been documented in the German history. The war consisted of horrifying events which devastated the battle ground of the Holy Roman Empire. The length of the struggle contributed connection between the initial cause, outbreak in the year 1618 and finally the peace in 1618. Charles V. Luther who was the new emperor put his positions and religious beliefs into writing. He later learnt that Rome had plans to issue a ban against him and bring him to trial. He wrote about the two major political manifestos about Lutheran Revolution in 1520. Luther appealed to the Germans to rebel against the oppression of the Roman church. He explained that this exploited the Germans materially and created a distinction between the lay people and the clergy. This meant that a sanction was necessary for the exploitation to be maintained (Pursell 53). According to his view the only weapon against this exploitation was to practice general priesthood to all the Christians regardless of whether they were acknowledged or accredited by the Catholic Church in Germany. In his second treaty he likened the papacy to the captivity of the Babylon kingdom according to the Old Testament which held the church found in Rome in captivity. In 1520 the excommunication that was awaited at last arrived in Germany. This made Luther to write his famous song on the liberty of a Christian man where the definition of faith is acknowledged on the basis of salvation. His defiance was as a result of Luther participating in Wittenberg in the papal decrees of the Roman church and the Canon Law. The emperor called Luther to explain and defend his views before him. He was still defiant to the emperor and uttered one of his famous words that he would not recant since it would be against his conscience. Fredrick the wise had to fake a kidnapping of Luther on his way home and took him to Wartburg Fortress where he was disguised as Knightly clothing where he remained in secret for almost one year. Luther went back and continued with his duties in the church even though he knew that he was exposing himself to danger. He ensured that some of the practices in church were changed and the foundation of the Roman Catholic Church remained untouched. Scriptures were affirmed as the ultimate authority (Pursell 67).
The actual shift from a new reformation church to the Roman Catholic Church brought with it numerous problem and questions. A conflict between different congregations should be allowed to be in the same territory or only one church should be recognized evolved. However Luther preference was that different congregations were better due to the economic limitations. It slowly emerged that each territory had only one religion which meant that people were forced to move to regions which had a religion that they preferred to practice. The Reformation church gave the clergy the right to marry and still be part of it. The Reformation church was finally established and reflected in the new hymns which Luther composed.
The extent to which the thirty years war between the protestant and catholic territories was a political feud between 1618 and 1648
The thirty years of war has been known to be one of the greatest conflicts in history. Political considerations were the reason for the alignment that underlies the conflict between Protestant and Catholic armies. Political and religion factors were the major reasons that prompted the war which lasted for thirty years. The dramatic event provoked a crisis in 1618 which the historians referred to as Defenestration throughout Europe. The war consisted both undeclared and declared wars which lasted between the years 1618 and 1648. During this period the Habsburgs was opposed by international opponents of the house of Danish, Austria and France. The international dimensions brought about a civil war which made the Germans to fight against the Habsburgs during different times in the war. Ferdinand II represented the zeal of the Catholics in the Counter Reformation while Fredrick V represented militant forces of the Calvinism. The reason why the war became complex was due to political and military conflicts. People became tired of settling their differences through violence. Charles who was a politician believed that the king was supposed to decide the state policy but the parliament refused to support some of his wars. For 10 years he ruled without a parliament and supported his armies to collect taxes from the people without their consent. The king however gave the army a great military leadership which was never defeated. The English civil were later assassinated the king which was something that was unheard in Rome. The civil war made the idea of a government to be very popular. It became customary in England and the king was expected to rule according to the stipulated law. German had lost two-fifths of its people living in the rural areas and a third of those who lived in the urban areas. The people had to come to a negotiation for the civil war to come to an end. A settlement was made in 1648 and Westphalia became peaceful. Democracy prevailed during the middle ages and the king was forced to respect the rights of the people (Noble 158).
The significance of the thirty years’ war for German history goes back to the destruction that occurred as a result of the war and the political solution that was imposed to create an agreement between Germany and France. The German people main concern became national unity. They attempted to unite Germany from the overwhelming forces that were happening in history. In the 19th century a German composer mentioned the war in his diaries and other writings and reprimanded princes who failed to take action and protect the interests of the German people. Nationalism was chose over the universalism as part of the Roman Catholicism. The settlement encouraged universal peace which brought the devastations to an end. German principalities were encouraged to sign treaties with most of the foreign powers so that they would finally become sovereign. Lutheranism, Calvinism and Catholicism became recognized as legitimate faiths in Rome (Noble 171).
Works cited
Brien, Patrick Karl. Atlas of world history. Concise Ed. New York, NY: Oxford University Press,
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Cannistraro, Philip V., and John J. Reich. The western perspective: a history of civilization in the
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Noble, Thomas F. X. Western civilization: beyond boundaries. 5th ed. Boston: Houghton
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Pursell, Brennan C. The winter king: Frederick V of the Palatinate and the coming of the Thirty
Years' War. Aldershot, Hants, England: Ashgate, 2003. Print.
