The Transformation of Europe

The opening of the Atlantic system may have empowered Europe, but it in no way united Europeans. Religious rivalries continued to tear at European integrity.

The Habsburgs and the Quest For Universal Empire in Europe

The Habsburgs nearly created a unified European world. Possessing enormous territorial holdings, however, the Habsburgs could not keep the empire together. Warfare from within and without led to great instability and eventual breakup. With most of the specie and land of the New World controlled by the Holy Roman Empire or Spanish Habsburgs, French, English, and Dutch interests moved to get their share. Discovering no gold or trade route to Asia, they profited by pirating Spanish ships and ports. Some, like Sir Francis Drake, received commissions from their monarchs to plunder their Spanish rivals. Rivalry on the high seas climaxed in 1588 when England’s Royal Navy destroyed the Spanish Armada in the English Channel, giving the English supremacy at sea.

The Reformation

Other divisions developed as well. The Protestant Reformation split church solidarity and forced monarchs to choose between either the Catholic or the Protestant cause. Martin Luther, following the footsteps of earlier "heretics," defied the Catholic Church and called for its reform (hence the "Reformation"). Denouncing corruption, he claimed that salvation came by faith of the individual and rested in biblical truths, not church authority. He also translated the Bible into German so common people could read it. As printing presses and ardent preachers spread his ideas, they met a receptive audience. Calvinism, Anglicanism, and other Protestant sects soon arose as well, thus offering some measure of religious diversity. Although equally committed in their opposition to the Catholic Church, rivalries between Protestants also kept them divided.

The Catholics responded with the Counter-Reformation, a move to assert Catholic "correctness" in doctrine as well as to clean out alleged corruption among its clergy. Catholics also began to emphasize individual spirituality and to more fervently engage in proselytizing efforts as represented by the Jesuits.

Religious Warfare in Europe

Religious rivalries soon climaxed in warfare, greatly weakening the Spanish while strengthening the English, French, and Dutch. As Luther’s ideas spread, monarchs and princes favored or opposed them, often precipitating peasant uprisings by offended commoners. Both sides gathered armies, leading to the creation of huge militaries comprised of common people. Decades of war allowed first German princes and then the Dutch to break away from the dominance of Catholic Spain and bankrupted the Spanish Habsburgs. Seizing initiative, the Dutch and English expanded ties to Asia and the New World, thus precipitating trade wars.

Religious conflict also broke out within countries as Catholics and Protestants massacred each other in the name of God. In France, the Protestant king converted to Catholicism and ordered some toleration to stem the violence. With time, this commitment to religion translated into commitment for this or that nation. Rather than viewing themselves as members of Christendom, Europeans identified with their king and his nation, marking another set of rivalries dividing Europe into fiercely competitive states.

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