TIELIGIOUS WARS. The struggle between France and Spain for supremacy in Italy may be regard ed as the beginning of the modern period of inter national politics. The Reformation (q.v.), by completing the disintegration of the Holy Roman Empire and Germany, made this country, too, a plaything for the ambition of other powers; it shifted the centre of European intrigue and conflict from southern to northern Europe. 'rhe expansion of firmly governed na tions at the expense of nations lacking a strongly centred authority is perhaps the onmst marked feature of the succeeding period. Thus France and Sweden grew at the expense of Germany, and later Prussia, Austria, and Russia grew at the expense of Poland. The election of Charles of Spain as Emperor in 1519 led to a protracted war with Francis 1. of France. In view of the overwhelming power of Charles, who, in addition to the Imperial title, united in himself the soy 4eignty of Spain with Naples and Sicily, the Austrian possessions of the Hapsburgs, and the enormous wealth of America and the Law Coun tries, the war assinned for Francis the character of a struggle for self-preservation. (See Cim ARLES V.; FRANCIS I.) The odds against the French king, however. were not so great as they seemed. lie could depend upon the united strength of a firmly jointed nation; whereas Charles's mnitifa rims interests and the very extent of his do mains exposed him to attack from many sides. The Turks, the Protestants. the Pope at different times prevented Charles from bringing all his resources to hear against France, and that coun try, though defeated in four wars. suffered little loss in the end. The nature of the Reformation Charles in the beginning entirely failed to under stand, and he neither made himself the leader of it nor did he consistently attempt to repress it. Protestantism. unmolested before 1530, spread rapidly over northern Germany—o•iginating, no doubt, in the prevalent abuses and laxness of discipline in ecclesiastical affairs, but find ing favor, too, with the princes and knightly classes. whose anarchic ambitions it tended to C1111finn. After 1530 all efforts on Charles's part to stamp out the progress of the Reformation were vain; and though the victory of Mfildberg (1547) seemed for a moment to make him master of the Empire and of western Europe, he was compelled during the last years of his reign to make his peace with the Protestants (Passau and Angs Imrg) and to see the French King actually the mas ter of German soil (.11etz, Tool, Verdun, 1552). With his abdication his huge empire fell apart. The Imperial dignity was assumed by his brother Ferdinand, and the throne of Spain with its pos SiOnS in Italy and the Netherlands went to Philip II. With the overweening power of the Haps burgs reduced and the fabric of the Holy Roman Empire crumbling under the progress of the Reformation, France's opportunity seemed to have come. But France itself fell a victim to
religious strife and exhausted its energies in civil warfare (see litmcuENurs) : and it was not until the genius of Ilenry IV. (q.v.) had reunited all factions that France was able to revive the anti-Hapsburg policy of Francis I. and henry The wide-reaching plans of Henry IV. were in terrupted by his death, but they were taken up and Ind into execution by Richelieu (q.v.). Nor (lid France find its opportunity gone after the lapse of sixty years, for on the part of its rivals this had been a period of steady degeneration. The bigotry of Philip II. brought on the revolt of the Netherlands (Briel, 1572) and the loss of the northern provinces: and the strength of the Spanish monarchy was exhausted in the struggle with the Dutch and in the crusade against Eng land. (See ARMADA.) in the Empire a nucccs siun of rulers, in tho spirit of the Counte• Beformatimm (Rudolph II, Matthias, Ferdinand II.), drin'• the line of cleavage between Protest ants and Catholics deeper than ever, and by their aggressions on the reformed religion, brought on the Thirty Years' War (Tv.). This was Richelieu's opportunity. Originally a eon Iliet for religion between members of the Empire, the war, with the incursion of Gustavus developed into a war for booty on the hart of Sweden and France.
EuRoCE tx IGIS. The Treaty of Westphalia confirmed the dismemberment of Germany by re ducing the power of the Emperor to a shadow, by making the members of the Diet virtually inde pendent, by ereeting in Germany 266 secular States and 65 ecclesiastical principalities. Sm,ve den gained extensive territories on the southern shore of the Baltic. and Fratlee was confirmed in its possession of the three bishoprics, received territory in Alsace. and gained a foothold on the right bank of the Rhine. %V•stphalia left France the strongest power in Europe, and for a time France possessed in Sweden a powerful ally. Spain was forced to acknowledge the inde pendence of the Netherlands, and, though still retaining its Italian possessions, was moribund. The Emperor recognized the independence of Switzerland, and, with the increased power of the Diet, his authority became restricted practi cally to his personal dominions. whose safety was threatened by the Turks. These had become and were still the masters of the greater part of Hun gary. with its capital. Buda. Southern Italy, the Italian islands, :Milan and Mantua, were ruled by foreign masters, Poland was weltering in an archy and fast slipping to its dmtom. Russia had not yet found a great ruler to bring it on the stage of European history.