Page 90 - History of Christianity - Student Textbook

Study Section 17: 30 Years War, 1618-1648

17.1 Connect

We will see, as we continue to study church history, that the church and politics became integrated
as almost one entity. The Protestant Reformation was influential in the northern part of Europe and
in the east. But the Catholics held power in central and southern Europe and in the West. In
establishing the Holy Roman Empire, the aggressive Catholics sought to bring every person in Europe
under its political and religious power, so invaded the northern states to take control. The Protestant
states refused conversion and control, so that led to a war in Europe which lasted thirty years.

At the high end, more than 12 million people mostly through disease and famine, died in the Thirty Years War.
It had lasting effects as it killed as many people, industry suffered and so did all the infrastructure, such as it was,
in Western Europe.

Today we will begin our study of this war and see how God raised up soldiers of the Cross to continue His
redemption of men….

17.2 Objectives

1. The student shall be able to describe the reason for the Thirty Years War and the consequences of it.

2. The student should be able to give a short biography of George Fox and give reasons why he was an
important individual in the development of the church.

3. The student should be able to describe the emergence of Pietism at this time.

4. The student should be able to see how the Enlightenment was a movement away from God toward self-
independence.

17.3 The 30 Years War

The Protestant Reformation brought about almost 150 years of
religious conflict in Western Europe, despite efforts to ease tensions,
such as the Peace of Augsburg in 1555. In the late sixteenth century,
the Catholic Hapsburgs tried to create a new Holy Roman Empire by
gaining political and religious control in the north, over the Germans
and the Dutch. This led to wars of religion and conquest concluding
with the Thirty Years War (1618–1648).

From 1618 through 1625, the conflict was largely a German civil war, with
Protestant German states fighting the Austrian Hapsburgs, their German
Catholic allies, and Catholic Spain. While issues of political control were
involved in the fighting, they centered on questions of religion. The Catholic
forces were the winners in this stage of the fighting.

Even with Denmark’s intervention in 1625, the fighting was still mainly over religious issues. Denmark was a

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