Key Events in European Diplomatic History

Question 1

The Peace of Augsburg 1555

Answer 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.

Question 2

The Council of Trent 1545-1563

Answer 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.

Question 3

The Edict of Nantes 1598

Answer 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.

Question 4

The Peace of Westphalia 1648

Answer 4

1. Ended the 30 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.

Question 5

The Peace of Utrecht 1713

Answer 5

1. Ended Louis XIV’s efforts to dominate Europe.
2. Allowed Philip 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.

Question 6

The Pragmatic Sanction 1713

Answer 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.

Question 7

The Congress of Vienna 1815

Answer 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 loose confederation of 39 German states dominated by Austria.

Question 8

The Berlin Conference 1884-1885

Answer 8

1. Established rules 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.

Question 9

The Treaty of Versailles 1919

Answer 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.

Question 10

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk 1918

Answer 10

1. Ended Bolshevik Russia’s participation in World War I.
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.

Question 11

The Locarno Pact 1925

Answer 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.

Question 12

The Kellogg-Briand Pact 1928

Answer 12

1. Outlawed war as an instrument of national policy.

2. Violated repeatedly during the 1930s.

Question 13

The Munich Conference 1938

Answer 13

1. Ceded the Sudetenland to Adolf Hitler.

2. Discredited the British policy of appeasement.

Question 14

The Nazi-Soviet Conference 1938

Answer 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.

Question 15

North Atlantic Pact 1949

Answer 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.

Question 16

The Treaty of Rome 1957

Answer 16

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

Question 17

The Helsinki Accords 1975

Answer 17

1. Ratified the European territorial boundaries established after World War II.
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.

Question 18

The Maastricht Treaty 1991

Answer 18

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