The Age of Religious Wars, 1559-1715 Book

For much of the second half of the 1500's, civil wars raged between Catholic and Protestant in France. What? France? Home of the world's greatest collection of Gothic cathedrals? How can this be? Yet, France was little different than many other countries in Europe in this era, continuing into the 1600's, divided by religion and locked into war with themselves and one another. The fallout from the Reformation, begun by Martin Luther and his ilk in the early 1500's, raged for a very long time. The 30 Years War alone, for example, which dragged on from 1618 to 1648, turned the collection of states that much later became Germany into a battleground involving most of the great European powers of the day. The war killed about one third of the population of that region. The outcome left Europe hardened into much the same distribution of religious boundaries we see today, although religion has dwindled to play an ever smaller role in the daily lives of the average French, German, Dutch, Belgian, Austrian, Czech, or Swedish citizen.

It wasn't religious dogma, however, that drove those bloody conflicts. It was the struggle over power and wealth, both within and between nations, to the extent that the concept of "nation" even existed in the minds of many of the participants. Thus, it was important to a Protestant German prince, for example, to be able to dictate the religion of his people for simple reasons of consolidating his power and controlling the wealth of the church -- which required denying the authority of a distant Catholic emperor or pope. For this, millions died.

The author's discussion of this period of a century and a half of European history is remarkably broad, embracing politics, war, religion, scientific developments, intellectual currents and even literature. It's not a quick, simple read.

The geographic breadth is equally great. Though the book focuses more on Western Europe -- with which I am more familiar -- there is also extensive coverage of Eastern Europe as well, particularly of the conflict between the Ottoman empire and its neighbors, especially the Austrians. During this era, the Ottomans went from dominating the whole of the Balkans and almost conquering Vienna itself in 1683 to finding themselves in rapid retreat and giving up huge chunks of territory in Hungary, Romania, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and elsewhere. The Ottomans would never recover. The rise and fall of Sweden (yes, the Swedes were once a great European power) vs. many other players, particularly the Russians, is another surprising saga.

Overall, I highly this recommend this work as an excellent survey of European history of the era. You will walk away with a much better understanding of why some powers, such as Spain and the Ottomans, went into steep long-term decline and why others, such as England, France and Russia ended this period far stronger. You will also have much greater respect for why the European Union is such a great gift to Europe today, helping to ensure that countless centuries of European warfare of bygone eras will stay just a bloody memory. Pity some Europeans are forgetting that lesson (yes, Brexit is almost here).