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Languages & Literature
Pakistan
World & History
The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) began as a religious conflict between Catholic and Protestant states and devastated central Europe. The peace treaties let each ruler decide the religion of their territory, recognized the independence of the Dutch Republic and Switzerland, and established the idea of sovereign, equal states that do not interfere in each other's affairs.
The Holy Roman Empire, France, Sweden, Spain, the Dutch Republic and German states
Ended the Thirty Years' War; seen as the origin of the modern system of sovereign states (the 'Westphalian system').