Essay Sample on Europe in the Atlantic World

Cognizance of the Atlantic World rose after the earliest European voyages to the New World. Central Africa and the West Coast were different from one another but both played primary roles in shaping the Atlantic World and as principal sources for slave labor. Economic, geopolitical and social exchange network connected the countries and peoples that occupied the Caribbean, the Atlantic littoral of North and South America, Africa and Europe. The Atlantic world was built by empires such as Spanish, British, Portuguese, Dutch, and French. Sweden and Denmark's nations were dynamic on a minor scale.

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France, Netherlands, and England in the 16th century were competing for supremacy with Spain and Portugal. The young King Sebastian, I of Portugal, who had no heir, had been killed in the Battle of Ksar El Kebir In 1578. The issue led to the Portuguese succession crunch of 1580 which allowed Philip II of Spain to hitch the two empires under the rule of the Spanish kings for the subsequent 60 years. Nonetheless, he deserted the Portuguese colonies and avowed war to England. The conflict leads to the devastating ruin of a large part of the Spanish navy in 1588.

Various countries fought Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) in European history for different reasons such as religion, succession, and territory. Its destructive campaigns and battles arose over most of Europe and when it ended with the Westphalia Treaty in 1648 the map of Europe had been permanently altered. The war resulted in Calvinism to be put at the same level as Catholicism and Lutheranism. Previously, Lutheranism and Catholicism were the only renowned religions. Furthermore, whole municipalities, farms, and villages got wiped out as a result of the war. (Cole and Symes, 2017).

Henry VIII created a precarious religious state just because he wanted to divorce his wife, Catherine. Edward VII, after his father's death, become the king, and advisors who pushed England toward Calvinism led him. After the death of Edward in 1553 Northumberland had Lady Jane Grey to be crowned as the Queen. But, the people rose in favor of Mary, and Lady Jane Grey was confined in prison. Mary shifted religious policy toward Catholicism. The outcome of Henry's alterations: an Anglican/Catholic/Puritan division that ultimately steered to religious civil war.

The wars in the 16th century throughout Europe was claiming territories through inheritance agreements, conquest, and marriage alliances. Alliances made with England, France and England led Netherland to be divided up with Calvinism practiced in the north and Catholicism in the Spanish controlled South. In 1618 and 1648, Cardinal Richelieu headed the Thirty Years' War against the Huguenots, with France against Spain and Australia and with Germany getting the effect of the victims. In 1540, the emergence of printing helped the spread humanist writings. (Cole and Symes, 2017)

The war in Europe began when Ferdinand II, the future Holy Roman emperor, in his role as king of Bohemia tried to impose Roman Catholic autocracy on his territories. In addition to the Protestant nobles of both Austria and Bohemia rose up in uprising. The balance of power had been changed when the resisting forces met in the German province of Westphalia to end the war. France became the chief western power, and Sweden had control of Baltic. Spain had also lost both Netherlands and position in a dominant position in Western Europe.

References

Cole, J., and Symes C. (2017). Western Civilizations Volume I. 19th Edition