Search Results: Westphalia

The Peace of Westphalia, the name given to the multiple treaties, marked the conclusion of the Thirty Years' War. Signed on 24 October 1648, it aimed to secure political autonomy for the multitude of small states that made up the Holy Roman...

A map illustrating the situation in Europe after the Peace of Westphalia was signed in Osnabrück and Münster between May and October 1648. The two treaties ended the Thirty Years’ War (initially a war between various Protestant and Catholic...

A 1654 painting by Jacob Jordaens, 'The Blessings of the Peace of Westphalia'. The 1648 Peace of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years' War in Europe. (National Museum of Art, Norway)

Napoleon's invasion of Russia, also known as the Second Polish War or, in Russia, as the Patriotic War of 1812, was a campaign undertaken by French Emperor Napoleon I (r. 1804-1814; 1815) and his 615,000-man Grande Armée against the Russian...

The Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648) was the last major European conflict informed by religious divisions and one of the most devastating in European history resulting in a death toll of approximately 8 million. Beginning as a local conflict...

The Treaties of Tilsit were two peace treaties signed in July 1807 by Emperor Napoleon I of France (r. 1804-1814; 1815) and the monarchs of Russia and Prussia in the aftermath of the Battle of Friedland. The treaties ended the War of the...

In this gallery of 10 maps on European history, we explore the dynamic borders and the fragile quest for peace on the continent. Witness the shifting borders and the persistent efforts of nations to achieve stability amidst the ever-changing...

The Protestant Reformation (1517-1648) refers to the widespread religious, cultural, and social upheaval of 16th-century Europe that broke the hold of the medieval Church, allowing for the development of personal interpretations of the Christian...

The Holy Roman Empire officially lasted from 962 to 1806. It was one of Europe’s largest medieval and early modern states, but its power base was unstable and continually shifting. The Holy Roman Empire was not a unitary state, but a confederation...

The Saxons were a Germanic people of the region north of the Elbe River stretching from Holstein (in modern-day Germany) to the North Sea. The Saxons who migrated to Britain in the 5th and 6th centuries CE along with the Angles, Frisians...