Treaty of Westphalia: The principle of non-interference in national sovereignty was established. The Treaty of Westphalia was signed, ending the Thirty Years’ War and radically shifting the balance of power in Europe. The Thirty Years’ War, a series of conflicts fought by various European countries for various reasons, had broken out in 1618 following the attempt by the King of Bohemia (the future Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II) to impose Catholicism throughout his dominions. Protestant nobles rebelled, and by the 1630s, much of continental Europe was at war. As a result of the Treaty of Westphalia, the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved, Sweden gained control of the Baltics, the independence of the Netherlands from Spain was fully reaffirmed, and France was recognized as the leading European power. The war had ravaged the continent, especially Germany, where armies of unpaid mercenaries raided and pillaged cities, villages and farms.
