The many German Principalities served as the hosting grounds for armies from across Europe as the small regional dispute over religion devolved into a war over what nations would be the pre-eminent powers of Europe.

Sweden intervened in order to protect the interests of the Protestant regions of Germany. When the major powers of Europe became involved in the war and Sweden was able to fight them off it served as a signal that Sweden as one of the major powers of the time.

Due to the length of time and distance from home these soldiers were, they could not be resupplied effectively from their home nations, so they instead stole the supplies they needed from cities, towns, and villages in Germany. This caused widespread starvation and destruction in Germany. There were many regions where more than two-thirds of the population was killed or fled the country.

France emerged as the pre-eminent power in Europe following the Thirty Years War. At the time of the French intervention in 1635 the war had largely fallen into stalemate with the Austrian and Spanish Hapsburgs on one side, and the Protestant Germans, English, Danes, and Swedes on the other. France entered on the side of the latter, and brought about a swift change in the fortunes of the war, and in the end led their alliance to a decisive victory.

At the time, (the 1580s) England was not in any way a power to be contended with on the world stage. So, in order to help blunt the Spanish Empire Elizabeth I granted permission to Francis Drake to become a privateer of sorts and raid Spanish Galleons and steal gold and silver for England. He was quite successful at it, and eventually earned a knighthood for his actions. The other answer options were pirates (completely unsanctioned, criminal sea-raiders), not privateers (publicly commissioned sea-raiders).

The Spanish Armada set sail in 1588 in a attempt to sail to, and invade England. They were going to attempt to remove Elizabeth I from the throne of England so a Catholic could be put on the throne in her place. As such, in 1588 Philip II gathered the Spanish fleet and sent them to Flanders to pick up an army so as to invade England, but a bad storm and English sea power stopped them.

Philip II was a devote Catholic and branded Elizabeth a heretic who was unfit to hold the Throne of England. As such, he attempted to remove her from power, but failed. Philip was especially irate about the issue as he claimed the throne of England for himself and was angered by Elizabeth, a Protestant, sitting on the throne.

As Charles II died childless and had no close male heirs it left the crown of Spain in a ponderous position. Philip of France and Charles of Austria were equally far from the crown, but Philip was named in Charles II will, thus giving him the throne. However Charles of Austria refused to accept this and decided to fight Philip for the throne.

Before the Succession of Philip to the throne of Spain there was a balance of power in Europe. With a Bourbon of France now on the throne of Spain there needed to be a new balance so the other nations of Europe sought to degrade the French and Spanish empires to the point that the balance of power was restored. Therefore the other major powers in Europe (Austria, Prussia, and England) all allied for the War.

The War of Spanish Succession was waged by the non French powers of Europe out of fear that the French were gaining too much power. They wanted to return to the pre-war balance of power, and as neither side could produce an outright victory over the other, several treaties saw that the balance was remade in order to end the war. the French Philip was recognized as King of Spain, but Spain lost control of its possessions in Italy and the Netherlands so as to weaken them sufficiently to reattain the status quo.