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Germany in 1643: For 25 years one of the most violent military conflicts Europe has ever seen has been raging: the Thirty Years' War. It devastated and depopulated entire areas of land.
Anna is only in her mid-twenties. She was born during the war and knows nothing else.
Many years prior: Since the Reformation, the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation has been divided into two religions - Catholics and Protestants. As a general rule: the sovereign decides the faith of his subjects.
In 1618, an event with grave consequences takes place in the Bohemian capital of Prague, an event, that would set Europe on fire. Ferdinand of Habsburg, the new Catholic king of Bohemia and future emperor has a problem. For the mostly Protestant population, his Catholic governors are a thorn in the side.
Emperor Ferdinand takes revenge and reconqueres rebellious Bohemia in 1620. In southwest Germany, Catholic troops conqueres the Protestant Palatinate. As a result, the Danish king also gets involved in the war. A Protestant himself, he wants to secure and expand his German territories.
In the following years, first Sweden and then its ally France join the conflict. Sweden being Protestant and France on the other hand being Catholic does not hinder the alliance. By now the war is solely about power and influence. Leaders of mercenary armies become as rich and powerful as kings. War feeds war.
After almost three decades, violence, hunger, and epidemics have wiped out large parts of the population. War weariness, exhaustion, as well as empty coffers are forcing the warring parties to the negotiating table.
They choose the predominantly Catholic city of Münster and the Protestant Osnabrück as locations for the negotiations. The first envoys arrive there in 1643. It is the beginning of the first peace congress in European history.
A marathon of negotiation begins. All decisions must be discussed with the governments. Different interests and long postal routes cause delays.
After years of work, the diplomats achieve their first partial successes. Some of them do not live to see the end of the negotiations. The lead Spanish envoy dies before an agreement is reached.
Meanwhile, the war continues unabated. Swedish troops advance to the Danube. The longer the negotiations in Münster and Osnabrück last, the more lives the war claims.
Then finally - in 1648 - the time has come. After five years of negotiations, an agreement is reached. But for many, peace comes too late. At the end of the war, almost every third person in the empire is dead.
But there is hope for the future. Because the Peace of Westphalia is the first international modern-era peace agreement. It built a peace, that lasts for over a hundred years. It also lays the foundation for the later emergence of international law. It is the beginning of a new era.
Spain makes peace with the Netherlands, which becomes an independent state. France retains the dioceses of Metz, Toul, and Verdun and gets the Alsace. Sweden gets the areas of Western Pomerania and Bremen. And the Congress creates a religious peace: equal rights for Catholics and Protestants.