Question

Evaluate the extent to which the Thirty Years' War marked a change in the behavior of European monarchs, analyzing what changed and what stayed the same from the period before the war to the period after it.

Answer 1

The correct answer to this open question is the following.

The Thirty Years' War marked a change in the behavior of European monarchs in that it impacted all the structures of the government and social life in Europe to the extent that the Holy Roman Empire, the House of Bourbons, and the House of Austria invested time, money and soldiers in a war that started in 1618 and ended in 1648.

Many changes surged during these conflictive years in Central Europe. Martin Luther had been promoting his ideas written in the influential document "95 Thesis," creating the big division between Protestants and Catholics. This generated too much tension between the monarchy of France and the Catholic pope.

The Thirty Years' War initially tried to protect the freedom to choose a form of religion, the Holy Roman Empire sought to impose and maintain the Catholic religious teachings in Central Europe and this derived in political interests and confrontations that aggravated the situation. During these moments, political factions seek protection in order to maintain power and control in their territories.