By Ethan Hollander, Wabash College
In 1618, a seemingly minor incident in Prague touched off a massive war that involved players from all over Europe for the better part of 30 years. This was the Thirty Years’ War, which ended in 1648 with the signing of the Treaty of Westphalia.
Rise of the Modern State
The real significance of the Treaty of Westphalia is that it ushered in the modern era, in part because it established the idea that kings would have sovereign authority over their territories. From then on, political authority would be exclusive and territorial in nature: within a given territory, one entity (the state) would have complete say over what went on.
The modern state was born.
Rise of the Absolutist Monarchs
This is also the era when we see the rise of absolutist monarchs: monarchs who had absolute power and didn’t share it with the pope or local lords. Louis XIV of France was the quintessential absolutist monarch, and he ruled from the mid-1600s until 1715—that is, just as the consequences of the Treaty of Westphalia were beginning to take shape.
You also see a precursor of this in the 16th century, with England’s Henry VIII. He’s the one who was constantly butting heads with the pope because he wanted to get divorced and the pope wouldn’t let him.
On the surface level, Henry wanted his divorces because he blamed his wives for not giving him a male heir, and the church forbade divorce. But if one looks at the story in historical context, they can see it as a political power struggle about who had the authority to govern religious affairs within English territory. Henry’s success at resisting the pope and laying the foundations for a separate church (the Church of England) demonstrate that this was an era when political authority (the state) was starting to eclipse its alternatives.
This article comes directly from content in the video series Democracy and Its Alternatives. Watch it now, on Wondrium.
Factors That Led to the Rise of the Modern State
There were many other underlying conditions in place to explain the emergence of centralized, sovereign states, and why a catalyst like the Treaty of Westphalia would become such a defining feature of European history.
Remember, in the Middle Ages, communication and transportation were very difficult. So, even if a king wanted to enforce a monopoly on the use of force, there was no guarantee that he’d be able to—especially at a long distance, and especially if the most powerful weapon the king had to dislodge a disobedient lord was a catapult.
But over the course of the 16th and 17th centuries, things started to change in ways that gave the advantage to central powers over local lords. And a lot of these changes were military in nature.
For example, the cannon was coming into wider use in Europe at just about the same time as the Treaty of Westphalia.
Whereas a castle or a fort used to be a very powerful defensive weapon for a local lord, the cannon was a really powerful offensive weapon for the king. With it, a king might be able to discipline a disobedient vassal, and ultimately enforce his monopoly.
Advantage to the Centralized State
There was also an increased use of foot soldiers, rather than men on horseback. Firepower was coming into wider use. And this meant the development of things like muskets and eventually rifles in place of swords and horses. This gave an advantage to big, centralized states over localized, feudal fiefs.
Why? Well, muskets were easier to use than swords, and almost anyone could be taught how to use one, whereas a sword required years of training. So, the modern army was bigger than the medieval one.
It wasn’t just a few elites squaring off on horseback in shining armor. In the modern day, you were better off if you commanded a large army of citizen soldiers, something which the new weaponry made possible.
This also changed the way that military forces were financed. In medieval times, each knight armed himself. By contrast, the mass army had a uniform. And the guns were better if they were mass-produced, ensuring that the same training and the same ammunition went into making them work.
This kind of large-scale production gave the advantage to centralized states, with their unrivaled power to levy taxes and people and to press them into military service in large numbers at short notice.
Cultural and Religious Factors
There were cultural changes, too—changes that created clearer lines of authority and thereby enabled modern rulers to claim a monopoly on the use of force over large areas.
This was an era of increasing secularism, when religious authority—especially papal authority—was in decline. In the old days, if the king and the pope both demanded your loyalty, it wasn’t always clear who you were going to obey. The king could throw you in jail. But as far as you were concerned, the pope could throw you into hell! And that might be worse.
In the modern era, the king’s threats were more credible than the pope’s. This was an advantage for secular authorities over religious ones, and it had the effect of clearing up lines of authority that had previously been more ambiguous.
In sum, a confluence of military, economic, and cultural factors combined to make the late Middle Ages a time when feudalism was becoming obsolete, and when strong, centralized, sovereign states became the norm.
Common Questions about the Rise of the Modern State
The Treaty of Westphalia ushered in the modern era, in part because it established the idea that kings would have sovereign authority over their territories. From then on, political authority would be exclusive and territorial in nature: within a given territory, one entity (the state) would have complete say over what went on.
This era saw the rise of absolutist monarchs: monarchs who had absolute power and didn’t share it with the pope or local lords. Louis XIV of France was the quintessential absolutist monarch, and he ruled from the mid-1600s until 1715.
A confluence of military, economic, and cultural factors combined to make the late Middle Ages a time when feudalism was becoming obsolete, and when strong, centralized, sovereign states became the norm.
