The Thirty Years' War erupted when the Peace of Augsburg (1555) no longer seemed to be sufficient to keep the peace in the various German states; the growth of Calvinism, which was not accounted for in the previous treaty, further threatened the status quo. Lutheran princes formed a Protestant Union (1608), and Catholic princes formed the Catholic League (1609). Tensions came to a head in 1618, when Protestants in Bohemia threw the representatives of a Catholic king out of a window (the Defenestration of Prague). The war lasted for thirty years, with both the Austrian and Spanish Hapsburgs siding with the Catholic princes.

The Edict of Nantes was issued in 1598 by the French King Henry IV. It brought to an end the French Wars of Religion, which had raged violently for almost forty years. The Edict extended religious tolerance to Calvinists (known as Huguenots) within the Kingdom of France, although they were still persecuted on both a state and local level on a frequent basis. The Edict was revoked in 1685 by King Louis XIV, who issued the Edict of Fontainebleau. The Edict of Nantes can also be understood as an extension of the Edict of St. Germain, which was issued by Catherine de Medici during the period of time when she reigned as regent of the French Kingdom. The Edict of St. Germain allowed for French Calvinists to worship privately, but was widely ignored and came at the height of tensions between the Catholic and Protestant populations, tensions that would very soon break out into civil war through the French Wars of Religion.

The Peace of Utrecht ended the War of Spanish Succession (1701-1714). The War of Spanish Succession broke out when King Charles II, the last Hapsburg monarch of Spain, died childless and without a clear legitimate heir to the throne. It was Charles’ wish that the throne, and the entire Spanish colonial inheritance, be left to Philip, Duke of Anjou, who just so happened to be the grandson of the French King Louis XIV. During this time period, the Kingdom of France was growing dramatically in power and influence, and the idea of a Kingdom of France and Spain, with all their overseas holdings, all under the dominion of King Louis XIV, troubled the other ruling princes of Europe, who were worried that France would become a hegemonic power and upset the balance of power in Europe. The Peace of Utrecht allowed Philip to inherit the Spanish throne on the condition that he renounce any future claims to being King of France.

The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle was signed in 1748 and brought to an end the hostilities of the Austrian War of Succession. The Treaty was understood, even at the time, as little more than a truce, particularly between France and Great Britain, as it settled few of their disputes over North America, Europe, and the Indian subcontinent. These issues would reemerge only six years later with the outbreak of the Seven Years’ War.

The Congress of Vienna convened in 1815 to decide how to divide Europe among the major European powers in the wake of the Napoleonic Wars. All of these representatives are correctly matched except for Prince Metternich, who was the Austrian diplomatic representative. Prussia was represented by Karl von Hardenberg.

The Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 was issued by the Hapsburg ruler Charles VI to ensure that in the event of there being no legitimate male heir, his throne and the various inheritances of the Hapsburgs would pass to his eldest daughter Maria Theresa. Prior to the Pragmatic Sanction, ancient German law prevented a daughter from inheriting lands and titles from her father. Charles VI did indeed die without leaving a legitimate male hair and Maria Theresa did succeed him as ruler of Austria and the diverse Hapsburg lands, but her accession nonetheless resulted in the outbreak of conflict in 1740 with the War of Austrian Succession.

The Berlin Conference was held in 1884 and 1885. It was a formal meeting of the major European powers to regulate the wave of African colonialism that marked the era of New Imperialism. It coincided with the emergence of Germany as an imperial power with designs on control over significant portions of the African continent. Among many other things, it granted the territory of the Congo Free State to the personal control of the Belgian King Leopold II.

The Maastricht Treaty was signed in 1992 and formally created the European Union. It led to the widespread adoption of the euro as the single currency of most of the members of the European Union. It also codified laws that all members of the European Union are obligated to abide by.

The term “Asiento” is a Spanish term that in British history is used to refer to an arrangement made in the 1713 Peace of Utrecht that Britain was to be given a forty-year contract to provide slaves to the Spanish colonies of the New World. The “Asiento” was an extremely lucrative contract because it gave the British a near monopoly on the valuable sale of goods and slaves to Spanish colonists.

Both Russia and Prussia had designs on Polish territory at the Congress of Vienna. Russia, and Alexander I in particular, was determined to incorporate the whole of Polish territory into the Russian Empire. Fearing Russian hegemony in Europe, the other major European powers, except for Prussia, conspired against the Tsar, and in the end, he accepted the city of Warsaw as an independent state to be concurrently ruled by the Tsar of Russia. Prussia was granted extensive territory in Saxony, as well as the Grand Duchy of Poznan.