EUROPE. 289 EUROPE. Empire and dismembering Germany, made this country, too, a plaything for the ambition of other powers; il shifted the centre of European intrigue and conflict from southern to northern Europe. The expansion of firmlj governed na l imis at the expense of nations lacking a strongly centred authoritj i- perhaps the most marked feature of the succeeding period. Thus France and Sweden grew at the expense of Germany, and later Prussia, Austria, and Russia grew at die expense of Poland. The election of Charles I. of Spain as Emperor in 1519 led to a protracted war with Francis I. of France. In view of the overwhelming power of Charles, who, in addition to (lie Imperial title, united in himself the sov- ereignty of Spain -with Naples and Sicily, the Austrian possessions of the Hapsburgs, and the enormous wealth of America and the Low Coun- tries, the war assumed for Francis the character of a struggle for self-preservation. (See CHARLES V.; Francis I.) The odds against, the French King, however, were not so great as they seemed, lie could depend upon the united strength of a firmly jointed nation; whereas Charles's multifa- rious interests and the very extent of his do- mains exposed him to attack from many sides. The Turks, the Protestants, the Pope at different times prevented Charles from bringing all his resources to bear against France, and that coun- try, though defeated in four wars, suffered little Ins- in the end. The nature of the Reformation Charles in the beginning entirely failed to under- stand, and he neither made himself the leader of it nor did he consistently attempt to repress it. Protestantism, unmolested before 1530, spread rapidly over northern Germany — originating, no doubt, in the prevalent abuses and laxness of discipline in ecclesiastical affairs, but find- ing favor, too, with the princes and knightly classes, whose anarchic ambitions it tended to confirm. After 1530 all efforts on Charles's part to stamp out the progress of the Reformation were vain ; and though the victory of Miihlberg ( 1547 ) seemed for a moment to make him master of the Empire and of western Europe, he was compelled during the last years of his reign to make his peace with the Protestants (Passau and Augs- burg) and to seethe French King actually the mas- ter of German soil (Metz, Toul. Verdun. 1552 1. With his abdication his huge empire fell apart. The Imperial dignity was assumed by his brother Ferdinand, and the throne of Spain with its pos- si.ms in Italy and the Netherlands went to Philip II. With the overweening power of the Haps- burgs reduced and the fabric of the Holy Roman Empire crumbling under the progress of the Reformation, France's opportunity seemed to have come. But France itself fell a victim to religious strife and exhausted its energies in civil warfare (see Huguenots) ; and it was not until the genius of Henry IV. (q.v.) had reunited all factions that France was able to revive the anti-Hapsburg policy of Francis I. and Henry II. The wide-reaching plans of Henry IV. were in- terrupted by his death, but they were taken up and put into execution by Richelieu (q.v.). Nor <lid France find its opportunity gone after the lapse of sixty years, for on the part of its rivals this had been a period of steady degeneration. The bigotry of Philip II. brought on the revolt of the Netherlands ( Briel, 1572) and the loss of the northern provinces; and the strength of the Spanish monarchy was exhausted in the struggle with the Dutch and in the crusadi B ;ain I F.ng- land. | See Armada. I I n i he Empin a sion of rulers, acting in the spirit of the Counter- Re tation (Rudolph II., Matthias, Ferdinand EI.) i drove t he line of cea age bet ween I '] ants and Catholics deeper than ever, and anally, by their aggre ions on the reformed n brought on the Thirty Vfears' War (q.v.). This was Richelieu's opportunity. Originally a con lliel for religion between members of the Empire, the war, with the incursion of Gustavue ^dolphus (q.v. i . developed into a wai foi bootj on i ; of Sweden and France I ,i rope i , hits. The Treatj of est phal ia i armed the dismemberment of Germanj by re- ducing the power oi the Emperor to a shadow, by making the members oi the Diet virtuallj inde pendent, by erecting in Germany 2t;ti secular States and 65 ecclesiastical principalities. Swe- den gained extensive territorie on the outhern aore of the Baltic, and France was confirmed in its possession of the three bishoprics, received territory in Alsace, and gained a foothold on the right bank of the Rhine. Westphalia left France the strongest power in Kuro|>e, and for a time F ranee possessed in Sweden a powerful ally. Spain was forced to acknowledge the inde- pendence of the Netherlands, and, though till retaining its Italian possessions, was moribund. The Emperor recognized the independence of Switzerland, and, with the increased power oi the Diet, his authority became restricted practi eally to his persona] dominions, whose safetj was threatened by the Turks. These had become and were still the masters of the greater part of Hun garv. with its capital. Buda. Southern Italy, the Italian islands. Milan and Mantua, were ruled by foreign masters. Poland was weltering in an- archy and fast slipping to its doom. Russia had not yet found a great ruler to bring it on the stage of European history. The Period of Dynastic Wars (1648 1763). From Westphalia to Utrecht international rela- tions in Europe were dominated by the aggres- sions of France, which, after passing through a period of civil disorder (see Fronde), attained under Louis XIV. (q.v.) such power as to threat- en for a time the other States of Europe with the same fate that France had feared from the powei of Charles V. The European State- were forced to unite against him: Holland. England, and Sweden in 1667; Holland. Spain. Brandenburg. and the Empire in 1672; Holland. England. Spain, Sweden, the- Empire, Bavaria, and Saxony in 1689. In the course of these wars the th y of the balance of power was worked out in great detail, and the War of the Spanish Succes- sion, in which the French armies were repeatedly worsted, demonstrated the superiority of the State system of Europe to the power of any single State, no matter how strong. The defeat of Louis XIV. carried with it the overthrow of the Swedish power in Germany. Brandenburg, strengthened by its union with Prussia (1618). and under the astute guidance of the Great Elector i 1640-88), had made common cause with the enemies of Louis XIV.. and by its victory over the Swedes at Fehrbellin (1675) had entered upon its destiny as (he successor of Sweden on the southern shores of the Baltic. While Louis XIV. was battling against the Grand Alliance, Sweden was as-ailed by Denmark. Poland, and Prussia, and, in spite of its heroic King (see Charles XII.),
