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Feb 5, 1558
Elizabeth Tudor ascends to the throne.
The new queen Elizabeth Tudor was not just a queen of England. She was the leader who made Britian a world power by making England the leader of Protestant countries in Europe. She also helped keep Spain and France other Eurpian powers balanced this made it so one couldn't get stronger than the other. -
Period: Feb 4, 1562 to
The French Wars of Religion
During this time French Catholic Kings persecuted Protestants but all the while the Protestant faith was still spreading. The Huguenots were French Protestants inspired by Calvinism, they were strongly opposed by the Ultra-Catholics who were an extreme Catholic party. In the end Henry IV converted to Catholicism and ended the struggle. -
Destruction of the Spanish Armada
King Philip II had planned to send a fleet of Spanish ships to attack England to try and crush the Protestant faith. The faster English ships battered the Spanish Armada forcing them to retreat along a northern route. Along the way back the Spanish fleet was damaged even more by a series of storms, this fight was the beggining of the end of Spanish power -
Henry of Navarre ascends to the Throne
In 1598 Henry of Navarre the Hguenot political leader gained the power of the throne. As a protestant he wouldn't be accepted by the catholic people of France. He then converted to Catholicism and when he was crowned was renamed Henry the fifth. He then issued the Edict of Nantes which made Catholicism the official religion of France and gave the Huguenots the right to worship and to enjoy all political privileges. this pleased both the Huguenots and Catholics solving any further conflicts. -
Peace between the Dutch and Spanish
There was a 12 year peace treaty that ended the conflict between Prince William the Silent and King Philip. The war started because King Philip, who was a Catholic, wanted to gain more power and crush the Netherlands, who were Calvinists. The Dutch showed growing resistance to the Spanish until the treaty was signed and the conflicts were temporarily ended -
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The Thirty Year War.
The Thirty Year War was a series of wars between the Holy Roman empire, Protestant nobles in Bohemia. Later other powers joined the war but not for religious purposes but to gain land and power. Some of these countries were Denmark, Sweden, France, and Spain. England was the only European power that stayed out of the war. Finally the Peace of Westpalia officially ended the war in 1648 and gave Seweden, France, and their allies new territories. It also divided 300 states of the Holy Roman Empire. -
Fredric William the Great Elector laid foundation for the Prussian state.
Fredric William, realizing that Prussia was a large and open state, created a large standoing army. This force was made up of 40,000 people. Their army was the 4th largest army in Europe. -
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Witchcraft Trials
The witchcraft trials were trials that tried people usually the poor and those without land and most woman and of those woman most were widowed and over 50 years old. People would try these people for practicing witchcraft. Under intense torture and pressure people would usually confess that they practiced witchcraft. The convicted poeple would then be put to death. -
Charles I is executed
Oliver Cromwell, a military genius, used his army to depose King Charles. Quickly they took over and removed people from the Parliament that hadn't supported him. To completely get rid of the Monarchy the executed King Charles. -
Cromwell Dies
As Cromwell had found it difficult to work with the Parliament that he set up, he disbanded them and set up a military dictatorship. He ruled until he died in 1658. Then his army, realizing how unpopular this form of ruling was, reestablished a monarchy with the son of Charles I, Charles II. -
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The Sun King rule
Louis the 14th came to power in France and wanted him to be the sole ruler of France. To do this he got rid of the nobles and princes by placing them in his court so they would be occupied by court life. To increase his wealth he made the countries imports less than their exports which made him very wealthy king. Another reason to his power was his standing army of 400,000 men. -
James II ascended into the throne.
After Charles died without a son James the second ascended into the thrown. James was a good catholic. He then put catholics into high military, university, and government officials. Religion became a cause of comflict between the Parliament and the King. -
James has catholic son
Parliament got mad at James and his policies but didn't start a rebellion because they knew that he was a old man and his daughters were protastant. But then James got a second wife who was catholic. Their son was catholic and the heir to the throne. The catholic monarchy loomed large. -
The Glorious Revolution
At this time a group of English nobles invited the Dutch leader William of Orange to come and invade England. He took this chance and brought his army to Torbay.and began marching to London. James sent his army to meet Williams but then later fled to France with his wife and son. This made the invasion go without any bloodshed. -
Building of St. Petersburg
Russia, wanting to open a 'window to the west' tried to make a port on the Baltic Sea. Unforutnately this land was owned by Sweeden. So Russia took over the land and built St. Petersburg which remained capital until 1918