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Peace of Westphalia

Treaties and International Agreements

The Peace of Westphalia is the set of 1648 treaties, negotiated at Munster and Osnabruck, that ended the Thirty Years' War and reshaped the political order of the Holy Roman Empire. It is widely referenced in political thought as an early landmark in the development of state sovereignty.

Facts
Year
1648 1
Key Provision
The 1648 treaties of Osnabruck and Munster that ended the Thirty Years' War established the principle that each state holds exclusive sovereignty over its own territory, free from outside interference in its internal and religious affairs, a principle historians and international relations theorists have long treated, with some qualification, as the founding moment of the modern state system of formally equal sovereign states. 1
Classification
Document Type
Treaty 1
Original Language
Latin 2
Connections

Influenced

Sovereignty, Political Concepts

The Peace of Westphalia is conventionally cited as the origin point of the modern sovereign-state system.

Source Treaty of Westphalia Text (Avalon Project, Yale)
The State, Political Concepts
Source Treaty of Westphalia Text (Avalon Project, Yale)
United Nations, Institutions

The 1648 settlement's principle of sovereign, non-interfering states underlies the UN Charter's sovereign equality and non-intervention provisions.

Source History of the United Nations (UN)
Sources
1. Treaty of Westphalia Text (Avalon Project, Yale)
The Avalon Project, Yale Law School
  • Document type, description
    The Peace of Westphalia is the set of 1648 treaties, negotiated at Munster and Osnabruck, that ended the Thirty Years' War and reshaped the political order of the Holy Roman Empire.
  • Influenced: Sovereignty
  • Influenced: The State
View the Source
2. Peace of Westphalia (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIn Group: Treaties and Agreements Before 1900, Lead paragraph
Quote, In Group: Treaties and Agreements Before 1900, Lead paragraph
The Peace of Westphalia (German: Westfälischer Friede, pronounced [vɛstˈfɛːlɪʃɐ ˈfʁiːdə] ) is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster.
View the Source
Wikidata: Peace of Westphalia
Wikidata Q150995, class allow-list match, case-insensitive label variant (w-bbfill-smallsix2-0926/resolve_ci.ps1)View the Source
History of the United Nations (UN)
United NationsInfluenced: United NationsView the Source
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