30 Years War

Before the 30 Years War began, many events led up to the conflict. One of the main reasons was that Spain felt the need to continue expansion, so they were always ready for war. After the revolt in the Netherlands, Spain wanted the Northern Provinces back, only the south had remained loyal. Also, after the English defeated the Spanish Armada, Spain knew that none of their ships would be tolerated in English waters. So they decided to use the Spanish road that bordered many other countries. None of the coutried had anything to fear because they were Catholic. The only one that was worried was France becasue they and Spain had a history of disagreement. Also, the "Road" was not safe for the Spanish becasue in many places they were very vulnerable to attacks. France wanted to be able to stop the Spanish use of the road without full on war, so they took land that could be used to threaten Milan.

Louis XIV

Louis XIV, the king of France from 1643-1715 was the son and successor of King Louis XIII. As a result of his power, he became known for both his domestic and foreign policies.

His foreign problems led his country to war many times. This caused people, like the commoners, to fight for France. It truly was a rich man's war, and a poor man's fight. Louis began what is known as the third of the Dutch Wars. This emptied the treasury that France had at the time. After this incident he settled down for ten years to work on diplomacy. In 1688 he attacked the Holy Roman Empire which ended with the Treaty of Ryswick, which caused France to lose minor territories. The final war he started was the War of the Spanish Succession which left France very weak and in a large debt. Commoners felt a heavy blow from this massive national debt.

When it came to domestic policies, Louis XIV began his rule as king very well. With the help of Jean-Baptiste Colbert the French economy was very strong. Unfortunately, the problem of taxation arose. The higher classes, who could afford to pay more taxes actually paid the least. The lower calsses, thos who could not affor taxes, had to pay the most. The commoners were left out when it came to economic issues. They were the largest in numbers because they could hardly buy enough goods to live off of and even if you had some money, the ended up losing it to taxes. Louis XIV's economic ideas destroyed much of France very slowly. The commoners had no where to go except to try to be in the army. Louis and Colbert knew that in order to keep a stable country, they had to have a strong army that could stamp down any revolt.The were Louis's ideas of how to run a country.

Luther

Martin Luther is known by many as the father of the Reformation. It was after his attacks on how the church was operated that the Reformation began. He fueled the fire against the Catholic church. Luther went against the church's practices because he believed that faith in God was the only way to earn true forgiveness, not by purchasing indulgences. The starting point for Luther and the Protestant Reformation was when he wrote his 95 Theses and posted them on the door of Castle Church in Wittenburg. This day is known as Reformation Day. On January 3, 1521, Luther was excommunicated by Pope Leo X. He was sentenced to be arrested but was intercepted by masked horsemen sent by Prince Frederick III. While in hiding, Luther translated the New Testiment of the Bible from Greek to German. This Bible sold over 5,000 copies in 2 months. Luther then decided to translate all of the Bible to German so that normal people could understand it. When Luther started the Reformation, many people who followed him broke away from the Catholic Church and were apalled by how the church was truely run. Soon after him, Calvin and Zwingli followed. Zwingli started about the same time as Luther, but when Luther was excommunitcated, it was Calvin's writings that stirred the Reformation.