3. On October 24th 1648, the Treaty of Westphalia was signed, marking the end of the Thirty Years' War.
4. France is the undisputed winner of the Thirty Years War, and in particular the policies of Cardinal de Richelieu. At the end of the war, Germany was put out of commission for two hundred years and the specters of German unification as well. France emerged as the dominant power in Europe, setting the stage for the century of Louis XIV. The realpolitik view of international relationship of Cardinal Richelieu also won the day, and the era of "la raison d'état" began.
5. Peace of Westphalia, European settlements of 1648, which brought to an end the Eighty Years' War between Spain and the Dutch and the German phase of the Thirty Years' War. The peace was negotiated, from 1644, in the Westphalian towns of Münster and Osnabrück. The Spanish-Dutch treaty was signed on January 30, 1648.
6. Cause
6.1. The Thirty Years War began as a religious civil war between the Protestants and Roman Catholics in Germany that engaged the Austrian Habsburgs and the German princes. The war soon developed into a devastating struggle for the balance of power in Europe.
7. One result of the war was the division of Germany into many territories — all of which, despite their membership in the Empire, won de facto sovereignty. This limited the power of the Holy Roman Empire and decentralised German power. The Thirty Years' War rearranged the European power structure.
8. France is the undisputed winner of the Thirty Years War, and in particular the policies of Cardinal de Richelieu. At the end of the war, Germany was put out of commission for two hundred years and the specter of German unification as well.
