Photos

... one of the longest, most cruel and most destructive wars of European history, the Thirty Year's War, was ended in this hall. The war was fought primarily (though not exclusively) in Germany and at various points involved most of the countries of Europe. Initially the war was fought largely as a religious conflict between Protestants and Catholics in the Holy Roman Empire, although disputes over the internal politics and balance of power within the Empire played a significant part. A major impact of the Thirty Years' War was the extensive destruction of entire regions, denuded by the foraging armies. Episodes of famine and disease significantly decreased the populace of the German states and the Low Countries and Italy, while bankrupting most of the combatant powers. The problems were made more difficult still by the ad hoc nature of 17th century military financing. Armies were expected to be largely self-funding from loot taken or tribute extorted from the settlements where they operated. This encouraged a form of lawlessness that imposed often severe hardship on inhabitants of the occupied territory.

The Thirty Years' War was ended with the treaties of Osnabrück and Münster, part of the wider "Peace of Westphalia". The Peace of Westphalia resulted from the first modern diplomatic congress and initiated a new order in central Europe based on the concept of state sovereignty - under a sovereign. By this treaty for example Netherlands and Switzerland came into existence as independent states.
It's interesting - and somehow embarassing - that at the beginning of the negotiations both sides e.g. argued for years about dress code or the forms of adress while the war with all its cruelties continued until the peace treaty.

You can see an important part of the negotiation process HERE. The painting shows the Spanish and Dutch ambassadors attesting the "Peace of Münster" in this room, the council chamber of Münster's town hall. My photo was taken here yesterday. There also has been a "Peace of Osnabrück", another town in northern Germany, the venue of the Protestant ambassadors (in Münster the Catholic ambassadors met). The last and final peace treaty was signed in Münster on October 24th, 1648 - yesterday 361 years ago ...

You can read more about this most important treaty of peace which changed the map of Europe dramatically HERE.

In workshop you can see a part of this council chamber of Münster and the city hall from the outside.