Shifting Powers: European Warfare in the 17th Century

The Thirty Years War started as a war between the Protestants and the Catholics in the Holy Roman Empire. Over time, it developed into a conflict between the great powers. The Thirty Years War altered the political order of European powers. The rise of the Bourbon power in France, the Habsburg ambition, and the rise of the Swedish power created a balance of power and allowed France to strengthen and dominate the late 17th century. The Peace of Westphalia ended the war in 1648. The balance of power after Westphalia helped start WWI.

The English Civil War was a political war between the Roundheads (people in parliament) and the Cavaliers (Royalists) over the way the government would run in 1642. Some of the causes are that King Charles I who had a personal rule by himself couldn’t raise money and needed the approval of Parliament. He tried by having the ship money tax and sending out a naval-war scare where the tax would pay toward the Royal Navy. The results of the war were the execution of King Charles I, the exile of Charles II, and the establishment of the republican Commonwealth under Oliver Cromwell. Oliver Cromwell abolished the monarchy and the Anglican church
Louis XIV gets involved in the Dutch wars where he is stopped by Spain and the Habsburgs, League of Augsburg where Spain, Habsburgs, Dutch, Sweden, and England stop him, and the War of Spanish Succession where England, Netherlands, Habsburgs of Austria, and Prussia stop him. However, the War of Spanish Succession changes many things in France. Because of the War of Spanish Succession, France is pushed farther behind England in terms of industrializing, England gains land in the New World, and Austria gains parts of Italy- Naples, Sardinia, and