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Peace of Westphalia
WRITTEN BY: The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica
SHORTENED BY: Ms. Stinnett
LAST UPDATED: 10-15-2015 See Article History
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 treaty of October 24,
1648, comprehended the Holy Roman emperor Ferdinand III, the other German princes, France,
and Sweden. Some scholars of international relations credit the treaties with providing the foundation of the
modern state system and articulating the concept of territorial sovereignty.
The Swearing of the Oath of Ratification of the Treaty of … Photos.com/Thinkstock
The Delegates
On June 1, 1645, France and Sweden brought forward propositions of peace, which were discussed by the
estates of the empire from October 1645 to April 1646. The settlement of religious matters was effected
between February 1646 and March 1648. The war continued during the deliberations.
The Decisions
Under the terms of the peace settlement, a number of countries received territories or were confirmed in
their sovereignty over territories.
The Peace of Westphalia confirmed the Peace of Augsburg (1555), which had granted Lutherans religious
tolerance in the empire and which had been rescinded by the Holy Roman emperor Ferdinand II in his Edict of
Restitution (1629). Moreover, the peace settlement extended the Peace of Augsburg’s provisions for religious
toleration to the Reformed (Calvinist) church, thus securing toleration for the three great
religious communities of the empire—Roman Catholic, Lutheran, and Calvinist. Within these limits the
member states of the empire were bound to allow at least private worship, liberty of conscience, and the right of
emigration to all religious minorities and dissidents within their domains.
The difficult question of the ownership of spiritual lands was decided by a compromise. The year 1624 was
declared the “standard year” according to which territories should be deemed to be in Roman Catholic or
Protestant possession. By the important provision that a prince should forfeit his lands if he changed his
religion, an obstacle was placed in the way of a further spread of both the Reformation and the CounterReformation. The declaration that all protests or vetoes of the Peace of Westphalia by whomsoever pronounced
should be null and void dealt a blow at the intervention of the Roman Curia in German affairs.
The constitutional changes made by the treaty had far-reaching effects. The Peace of Westphalia recognized the
full territorial sovereignty of the member states of the empire. They were empowered to contract treaties with
one another and with foreign powers, provided that the emperor and the empire suffered no prejudice. By this
and other changes the princes of the empire became absolute sovereigns in their own dominions. The Holy
Roman emperor was left with a mere shadow of their former power.
Sweden and France as guarantors of the peace acquired the right of interference in the affairs of the empire, and
gained a voice in its councils. For many years Germany became the principal theatre of European diplomacy
and the natural development of German national unity was delayed. But if the Treaty of Westphalia pronounced
the dissolution of the old order in the empire, it facilitated the growth of new powers in its component parts.