While reading chapters 1 & 2 in Hagen Schulze’s Germany a New History, one topic I found most entertaining was the Thirty Years’ War. It’s interesting going from such a long period of peacetime (1555-1618) to suddenly a war for thirty years over religion. This war really stands out due to how long and gruesome it was and how it was mainly a war between Catholicism and Lutheranism. This map shows the territories at the end of the Thirty Years’ War.
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| Countries involved in Thirty Years' War |
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| Countries involved in World Wars |
However, while reading it I couldn’t help but compare the Thirty Years' War to the World Wars. Everyone in the 15th century at this point had allies and they were just waiting for a war. It is exactly what they did in the earlier half of the 20th century. Everyone started building up agreements and partnerships with other countries or territories during peacetime. Then two countries, or religions in this case, disagree. Next thing you know there is a rebellion or an invasion of some kind and everyone is at war because of the allies. Everyone is then against one another even though it is only between two countries or ideas. Just like the World Wars as well, the Thirty Years’ War also ended with a treaty. World War I ended with the Treaty of Versailles. The Thirty Years’ War ended with The Peace of Westphalia, which also almost served as League of Nations just like it did in 1919.
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| The Peace of Westphalia |
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| Treaty of Versailles
This picture shows the Peace of Westphalia, which finally ended the war. Compared to a picture from the Treaty of Versailles, one can see how similar each one of these events are. Leading me to think how many times will history end up repeating itself? Yes the time gap was five centuries, but it leads me to think if we will make the same mistakes again in another five centuries.
Word Count: 363
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Gut gemacht, Johanna!
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