Question

Why is the thirty years war considered the first modern war and the last religious war

Answer 1

Although initially caused by religious issues,by the mid 1630s the Thirty Years War had become a dynastic conflict between 2 Catholic powers,France and the Hapsburgs.As the Battle of the Boyne and the Jacobite risings the '15 and the '45 in Scotland were directly linked to religion,ideas that the TYW was the last religious war in Europe are therefore mistaken.

'The first modern war' would be more accurate.New tactics,deployments,equipment and methods were introduced in European armies which were widely adopted within a decade by almost all armies,and all further developed over the next few decades.