Ancient history

The Peace of Westphalia (1648), the day we changed the cross for the flag.

The historical period of the Modern Age is characterized by endless wars, pacts, treaties and peaces. Although of all these events, the Peace of Westphalia, according to a large part of historiography, marked a before and after when it came to looking for "excuses" to start a new war.

Historical context.

At the beginning of the 1640s, most European countries were immersed in fierce military conflicts. Between them; The war of 80 years, in which the Spanish Empire had unsuccessfully tried to maintain control over the territories of the Netherlands. And above all the 30-year war, which was ending the last remnants of the Holy Germanic Empire, one of the greatest powers of the Middle Ages. Both were synonymous with destruction, famine and epidemics that devastated much of Europe, with special intensity in the European heartland. Looking for a common link between the two wars, the Protestant Reformation, led by Martin Luther at the beginning of the previous century, played a very prominent role.

Hence in the early 17th century the favorite “excuse” for war was religion. The Germanic Empire had become a veritable powder keg between Catholics and Protestants. Since, despite the supposed freedom of worship, the Catholic bishops, supported by the German princes related to the religious power that emanated from Rome, decide to hinder the unstoppable rise of Protestantism, in a period where the burning of Lutheran churches had become usual. The icing on the cake was put when a Catholic, Ferdinand II, became emperor.

The triggering of the internal war was taken advantage of by the neighbors to the north. Both Denmark and Sweden, two expanding powers thanks to the rich Baltic trade, decided to take advantage of the German problems to begin annexing coastal territories. The Spanish Empire, without forgetting its viacrucis of the Netherlands is doomed to a new conflict as defender of the Habsburg territories of the day. But without a doubt the one that is best portrayed with the “excuse” of religion is France. A Catholic country in the hands of Cardinal Richelieu, who decides to intervene in protection of the Protestant principalities, undoubtedly in search of the rich territories of central Europe.

This simple analysis of the events of the 30 years war makes it clear that the desire for power is the only thing that moved all the European countries in the 17th century. Neither more nor less than what has moved the human being to war since the dawn of history, everything that has been annexed are simple excuses. What happened in this war was so evident that the European powers meeting in Münster and Osnabruck, both towns in the historic German region of Westphalia in 1648, are forced to lay the groundwork for a change of “excuse”. The religion that had been predominant throughout the Middle Ages and practically since the fall of the Western Roman Empire, had to give way to a new one, which is why those present decide to place the flags as a new excuse to start a war.

The Peace of Westphalia, territorial agreements.

Europe after the Peace of Westphalia

As was usual in peace treaties during the Modern Age, the territorial transformations, although not very large, involved important changes that will make people talk in the history of Europe.

The main territorial beneficiaries were the Swedes, who joined the former territories of the mouth of the Elbe river, after the Peace of Westphalia, the rich territories of northern Pomerania, in the another important mouth of the Oder River. Both supposed him to become the power of the Baltic. France also scratched a good number of border territories, among them the rich region of Alsace, which would become a cause of conflict between the French and Germans during the 19th and 20th centuries.

In Westphalia two new countries were born that had been claiming for a long time:The first of them Switzerland , a confederation of cantons around the north of the Alps, which had been operating with great autonomy for centuries, but after Westphalia achieved total independence from the Holy Germanic Empire. The second of them was Holland, the United Provinces that were emancipated from the Spanish Empire in 1581, and that in Westphalia finally achieved European recognition as a new country. Although of lesser repercussion at that time, but transcendental in the near future, it was the territorial reinforcement to the east of the Electorate of Brandenburg, which would end up forming the Kingdom of Prussia, the wickers of today's Germany.

Celebration in Antwerp's Grote Markt of the Peace of Westphalia

The new Europe that Westphalia was born.

The figure of the Pope of Rome, who was the great intermediary between the European Christian kingdoms, had now lost all his power with the birth of the Protestant states in Europe. Westphalia had finished with a stroke of the pen with the two great powers of Medieval Europe, the Pope of Rome himself, and the Holy Roman Emperor, who henceforth would be no more than one of the European kings. He will even end up with less power than some of these, since after the Peace of Westphalia a new concept was born also in the Germanic territories. Henceforth cities, counties, or electorates would be considered new states with independent decision-making power, in religious matters or international politics.

Peace of Westphalia commemorative stamp

The birth of an international secular policy needed new references, the supposed equality between Catholic and Protestant states had to be governed by a new estate. The need to regulate these aspects led to the birth of the New International Law that will direct the designs of Europe until the 19th century. If we were to say that said International Law is a novelty of the Peace of Westphalia, we would be missing reality, pacts between states existed since wars existed. But Westfalia laid the foundations for international consensus, so that these pacts were regulated, and not precisely by means of a cross, but by means of the new national flags.

This International Law was collected already in the middle of the 20th century, after the two world wars for the birth of the United Nations Organization. Three centuries had passed since the Peace of Westphalia. Three centuries where human beings fought with the excuse of a flag. Honestly, it makes me angry to think that a piece of cloth continues to serve so that our leaders take us to continuous wars. But let's not forget at any time that the flag is the new "excuse", since the only cause is still the excessive obsession with the power of the human being.

More Info:

The Modern Age (15th-17th centuries), Luis Ribot, Marcial Pons, 2016

Images:commons.wikimedia