Key Events in European Diplomatic History

Question 1

1. Ended the religious civil war between Roman Catholics and Lutherans in the German states
2. Gave each German prince the right to determine the religion of his state, either Roman Catholic or Lutheran
3. Failed to provide for the recognition of Calvinists or other religious groups

Answer 1

The Peace of Augsburg, 1555

Question 2

1. Reformed Catholic Church discipline and reaffirmed church doctrine
2. Preserved the papacy as the center of Christianity
3. Confirmed all seven existing sacraments
4. Reaffirmed Latin as the language of worship
5. Forbade clerical marriage

Answer 2

The Council of Trent, 1545-1563

Question 3

1. Issued by Henry IV of France
2. Granted religious toleration to French Protestants
3. Marked the first formal recognition by a European national monarchy that two religions could coexist in the same country
4. Revoked by Louis XIV in 1685

Answer 3

The Edict of Nantes, 1598

Question 4

1. Ended the Thirty Years’ War
2. Recognized Calvinism as a legally permissible faith
3. Recognized the sovereign independent authority of over 300 German states
4. Continued the political fragmentation of Germany
5. Granted Sweden additional territory, confirming its status as a major power
6. Acknowledged the independence of the United Provinces of the Netherlands

Answer 4

The Peace of Westphalia, 1648

Question 5

1. Ended Louis XIV’s efforts to dominate Europe
2. Allowed Phillip V to remain on the throne of Spain but stipulated that the crowns of Spain and France should never be worn by the same monarch
3. Granted the Spanish Netherlands (now called the Austrian Netherlands) to the Austrian Habsburgs along with Milan, Naples, and Sicily
4. Granted England a number of territories including Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and Gibraltar
5. Granted England the asiento, the lucrative right to supply African slaves to Spanish America

Answer 5

The Peace of Utrecht, 1713

Question 6

1. Guaranteed the succession of Habsburg emperor Charles VI’s eldest daughter, Maria Theresa, to the throne
2. Guaranteed the indivisibility of the Habsburg lands
3. Violated when Frederick the Great of Prussia invaded Silesia in 1740

Answer 6

The Pragmatic Sanction, 1713

Question 7

1. Enacted a settlement that was acceptable to both the victors and to France
2. Created a balance of power that lasted until the unification of Germany in 1871
3. Underestimated the forces of liberalism and nationalism
4. Used the principle of legitimacy to restore the Bourbons to the French throne
5. United Belgium with the Netherlands to form a single kingdom of the Netherlands
6. Created a lose confederation of 39 German states dominated by Austria

Answer 7

The Congress of Vienna, 1815

Question 8

1. Established rulers for dividing Africa amongst the European powers. A European state could no longer simply declare a region of Africa its colony. It first had to exercise effective control over the territory
2. Declared the Congo to be the “Congo Free State,” under the personal control of Leopold II of Belgium
3. Established rules governing the race for African colonies

Answer 8

The Berlin Conference, 1884-1885

Question 9

1. Refused to allow either defeated Germany or Communist Russia to participate in peace conference negotiations
2. Forced Germany to sign a war-guilt clause that was used to justify imposing large war reparations payments
3. Changed the map of Europe by returning Alsace-Lorraine to France and dissolving Austria-Hungary into the separate states of Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia
4. Created the League of Nations to discuss and settle disputes without resorting to war
5. Left a legacy of bitterness between the victors and Germany

Answer 9

The Treaty of Versailles, 1919

Question 10

1. Ended Bolshevik Russia’s participation in WWI
2. Negotiated by Vladimir Lenin because he was unwilling to risk Bolshevik gains by continuing a war that could no longer be won
3. Nullified following Germany’s defeat by the Allies

Answer 10

The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, 1918

Question 11

1, Recorded an agreement between France and Germany to respect mutual frontiers
2. Marked the beginning of a brief period of reduced tensions among the European powers

Answer 11

The Locarno Pact, 1925

Question 12

1. Outlawed war as an instrument of national policy

2. Violated repeatedly during the 1930s

Answer 12

The Kellogg-Briand Pact, 1928

Question 13

1. Ceded the Sudetenland to Adolf Hitler

2. Discredited the British policy of appeasement

Answer 13

The Munich Conference, 1938

Question 14

1. Created a nonaggression agreement in which Hitler and Joseph Stalin promised to remain neutral if the other became involved in a war
2. Divided eastern Europe into German and Soviet zones

Answer 14

The Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact, 1939

Question 15

1. Established the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to coordinate the defense of its members
2. Implemented Harry Truman’s policy of containing the Soviet Union
3. Forced to move its headquarters from Paris to Brussels when Charles de Gaulle withdrew French forces from the “American-controlled” NATO

Answer 15

North Atlantic Pact, 1949

Question 16

1. Created the European Economic Community (EEC), generally known as the Common Market
2. Marked the beginning of European economic integration

Answer 16

The Treaty of Rome, 1957

Question 17

1. Ratified the European territorial boundaries established after WWII
2. Established “Helsinki watch committees” to monitor human rights in the 35 nations that signed the Helsinki Accords
3. Marked the high point of Cold War detente

Answer 17

The Helsinki Accords, 1975

Question 18

1. Created the European Union (EU), the world’s largest single economic market
2. Created a central bank for the European Union

Answer 18

The Maastricht Treaty, 1991