Diplomatic History of Europe 1500 - 2000 | Religion and Empire (Lecture 4)

Lecture 4: This lecture examines the period of 1500–1618, and the battle to rule the European continent that started to shape the modern European state system and its diplomacy. Key features of this contest were the intense rivalry between the Habsburg dynasty of Austria and Spain and the Valois royal family of France, as well as the challenge of the Protestant Reformation. We examine the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and his bid for universal empire under the Habsburgs, which was ultimately frustrated by converging factors, internal and external. King Philip II of Spain renewed the bid for supremacy, but likewise failed. The French kingdom itself also underwent a crisis and then a remarkable renewal, setting itself on a new path, with the talented Cardinal Richelieu as chief minister and diplomatic architect of shocking alliances.

Essential Reading:
Ludwig Dehio, The Precarious Balance: Four Centuries of the European Power Struggle, pp. 19–42.

Supplementary Reading:
M. S. Anderson, The Rise of Modern Diplomacy 1450–1919, pp. 149–54.