Which 1648 treaty ended the Thirty Years' War and established the foundations of the modern European state system?
The Peace of Westphalia (24 October 1648) consisted of two linked treaties signed at Münster and Osnabrück. It ended the Thirty Years' War, recognized Dutch and Swiss independence, and established the principle of sovereign territorial states — the 'Westphalian system' that still names the modern international order. Versailles is 1919 (WWI); Tordesillas is 1494 (Spanish-Portuguese New World division); Augsburg is 1555 (the earlier and inadequate Lutheran-Catholic settlement).
Read the full facts →The Thirty Years' War was a religious and political conflict fought across central Europe from 1618 to 1648. It involved most of the major European powers, killed approximately 8 million people (a fifth of the Holy Roman Empire's population), and produced the Peace of Westphalia, the treaty that established the foundations of the modern European state system.
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