Peace of Westphalia, 1648

The Peace of Westphalia was a series of peace treaties signed between May and October 1648 ending the European wars of religion. These treaties ended the Thirty Years War (1618-48) in the Holy Roman Empire between the Habsburgs and their Catholic allies on one side, and the Protestant powers (Sweden, Denmark, Dutch, and Holy Roman principalities) and their Catholic (France) Anti-Habsburg allies on the other. The treaties also ended the Eighty Years War (1568-1648) between Spain and the Dutch Republic, with Spain formally recognizing the independence of the Dutch Republic. The Peace of Westphalia established the precedent of peaces established by diplomatic congress, and a new system of political order in central Europe, later called Westphalian sovereignty, based upon the concept of co-existing sovereign states. Inter-state aggression was to be held in check by a balance of power. A norm was established against interference in another state's domestic affairs. As European influence spread across the globe, these Westphalian principles, especially the concept of sovereign states, became central to international law and to the prevailing world order

Restrictions Only for Ireland and United Kingdom

1640s 1648 Diplomatic Eighty Seventeeth Sovereignty Thirty Treaties Westphalia Westphalian

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