Due to many problems including power struggles and separations
of religious beliefs during the Reformation, The Roman Empire decayed during
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This prevented the development of a
truly unified German state in Europe.
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| Emperor Charles V ruled over an empire composed of numerous territories with very diverse historical antecedents and legal structures. |
The emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and the King of
Spain was Charles V. Many of the Germanic nobles were against him and his
belief that the Empire should be controlled by the Vatican all the way in Rome.
This seemed as a poor reason to me because our country is controlled by one
president who lives many miles away from where we may be located. Politically
the situations are the same, but the Roman Empire had religious conflicts as
well. Martin Luther set off the Protestant reformation which set the Catholics
apart. This reformation only fueled the fire leading to the wars of religion, the
Thirty Years War, this only destroyed and divided the German unity further. This
war also caused a large decline in the population of Germany. The country was devastated
and it took decade to recover from the destruction. This war did more harm than
good.
Some states accepted Martin Luther’s teachings of his
theses from the reformation and others rejected them, this lead to Germany becoming
divided and the beginning of the Thirst Years War. The Thirty Years War
weakened the power of the emperor and increased the power of the princes and
Kings. In 1555 the peace of Augsburg declared that the princes could decide the
religion of their state and anyone who disagreed with the prince’s choice was
allowed to emigrate. I believe this allowed freedom to the citizens of each
state, in a way that we are given ours today. We are allowed to believe what we
want and find others who believe in the same thing as us.
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| Dutch peasants under attack from a band of pillaging soldiers. |
I have always thought of Germany as one of the more
powerful countries. After reading about their constant struggles with power and
changes throughout the empire it came to my knowledge that the culture
developed and is now strong because of these historic events. Many of their
changes throughout their history have been based off of the influence of Italy.
Germans had ideas, but many of them did not take flight until Italians did it
first. This is very similar to the way things work today. We all have our own
beliefs and ideas but also learn from each other’s mistakes. I believe Germany
built its strength by dividing and allowing the freedom to live by an individual’s
own beliefs.
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