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the last couple of videos we've been
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talking about the protestant reformation
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but you didn't think all the religious
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change in europe wasn't gonna cause
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christians to start killing each other
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in the name of jesus did you don't be
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crazy so if you're ready to get them
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brain cows milk then let's talk about
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europe's wars of religion i reckon we
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ought to start in france so in the first
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half of the 1500s most of the french
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people were catholic but by the 1560s
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protestantism had spread into france
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thanks printing press and again a pretty
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strong foothold now the particular
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flavor of protestantism that had taken
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root in france was calvinism and french
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calvinists were known as huguenots now
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this wouldn't have posed much of a
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problem except that something like half
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of the french nobility were now huguenot
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and they started agitating for
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recognition and rights within france but
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the catholic majority were in no mood to
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do so and that is when charles ix took
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the throne and he was a wee lad coming
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in at 11 years old so his mother
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catherine de medici essentially ruled in
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his place until he came of age now
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catherine was a very catholic and she
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was pretty saucy about these french
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noble huguenot demanding recognition and
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writing so she decided that she wanted
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to purge france of this cranky
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non-conforming nobility not least
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because they were a threat to her power
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and so the french wars of religion began
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in 1562 with an event known as the
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massacre of vastly essentially a group
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of huguenots were at a worship service
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you know just minding their own business
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and singing to jesus when a duke of the
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catholic geese family ordered them all
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killed now the huguenot were not a
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strong enough force to take over france
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at this point but they fought
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defensively for 10 years and held their
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own until the next massacre orchestrated
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by catherine de medici namely the saint
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bartholomew's day massacre at this point
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it's 1572 and all the religious tensions
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seemed to be solved in the marriage of
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the catholic sister of charles ix and
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the calvinist henry of nevada now
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because henry was the kind of de facto
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leader of the huguenot many of them came
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to paris for the wedding big mistake
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he's family who if you will remember
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were responsible for the huguenot
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massacre of vassi convinced catherine de
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medici that all these filthy calvinists
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were a threat to catholic friends so
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under her influence charles ix went
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ahead and ordered the mass killing of
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these huguenots and that unleashed a
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three-day killing spree in which
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catholics slaughtered thousands of
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huguenots throughout paris now henry of
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navarre the champion of the huguenot
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their leader went ahead and saved his
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own life by promising to convert to
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catholicism i admire your cowardice but
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don't worry he showed true moral
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fortitude by converting back to
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calvinism just in time for the next
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phase of france's wars of religion the
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war of the three henrys now class how
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many henries do you think were involved
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in this war three that is correct so as
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the religious and political tension
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continued to build three different
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henry's vied for the throne of france by
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1574 henry iii was on the throne having
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succeeded charles ix but apparently he
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was not catholic enough for henry of
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geese who was the leader of the ultra
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catholic holy league and wanted to
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assume the throne himself so henry of
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geese with the help of the spanish
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throne took the french throne by force
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relegating henry iii to his chief
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minister as a result of that henry iii
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had henry of geese assassinated and then
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joined henry of navarre to rid paris of
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the holy league and he did it but in
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1589 a disgruntled monk assassinated
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henry iii and that left henry of navarre
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to take the throne now remember he had
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converted back to calvinism but he
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understood that such an arrangement
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would be none too popular and so he went
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ahead and converted back to catholicism
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man doesn't know principles regardless
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by the time of his ascension in 1594 as
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henry iv the french wars of religion had
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come to an end one of henry of the
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fourth major achievements was the move
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towards religious toleration in france
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embodied in the edict of nant in 1598 it
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officially established france as a
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catholic state but also provided the
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hugo no freedom to worship without the
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fear that they will be massacred or
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otherwise harassed but my dear pupils
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religious wars were not just occurring
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in france spain was a major player too
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now spain was ruled by the habsburgs who
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have been in power across europe for a
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very long time and spain was as catholic
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as catholic can be now by the time
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philip the second rose to power in 1556
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spain was having some ottoman empire
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trouble in 1453 the ottomans had
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completed their conquest of the
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byzantine empire by capturing its crown
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jewel constantinople and with that
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victory the ottomans decided that the
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next best thing to do would be to expand
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into central and eastern europe so spain
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with the help of the king of poland and
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the duke of lorraine repelled the
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ottoman forces and that put the kibosh
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on the ottoman expansion into europe now
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philip ii was pretty upset about the
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fracturing of christianity across europe
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and it's hard to overestimate just how
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much he hated protestants he decided
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that he wanted to restore catholic unity
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across europe and he set his sights on
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the netherlands and england to rid them
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of their filthy protestant influence in
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the netherlands there was a growing
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calvinist contention especially in the
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middle class now philip's dad charles v
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was relatively tolerant of this group
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and he let them do their thing but not
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phillip when dutch calvinist began
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destroying catholic religious images and
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the word for that is iconoclasm philip
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ii unleashed targeted persecution on
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them so william of orange rose to the
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leadership of the dutch calvinist and in
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1581 they declared themselves
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independent of spanish rule now spain
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also had england problems by this point
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elizabeth the first was on the throne
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and she was all about the protestantism
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she supported the dutch protestant
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rebellion that i just mentioned and to
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that philip of spain said no no you
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didn't so because of that and because
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england had been messing with spain's
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merchant ships philip sent the spanish
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armada to invade england and teach them
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a lesson but as it turns out the english
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navy gave the spanish armada a smackdown
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and that victory combined with the dutch
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protestant rebellion meant that
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protestantism was gaining a foothold in
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europe now the last religious war you
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need to know might be the most
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significant and it was called the 30
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years war and it occurred in the holy
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roman empire now in order to understand
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this you have to understand the piece of
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augsburg of 1555 which offered some
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degree of religious toleration in the
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holy roman empire this document decreed
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that the princes of the many territories
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of the holy roman empire could decide
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whether their subjects would be catholic
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or protestant but and here's the problem
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when i say protestant i mean lutheran
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now as you no doubt know by now
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calvinism and lutheranism were separate
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but related strains of protestantism and
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calvinism was exerting some major
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influence in the holy roman empire but
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since the peace of augsburg had only two
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options catholic or lutheran in the holy
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roman empire the calvinists were like
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yeah that ain't gonna work so when
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catholic ferdinand became king in the
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calves territory of bohemia things
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started getting saucy as ferdinand
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started a program of re-catholicizing
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bohemia the calvinist nobility were like
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and to emphasize their point the
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nobility threw two of ferdinand's
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messengers out a window in an event
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known as the defenestration of prague
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defenestration being a fancy word for
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throwing someone out a window now these
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officials fell something like 70 feet
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and survive catholics said they survived
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because of the intercession of the
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virgin mary protestants pointed out that
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their fall was broken by a giant pile of
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manure now whether it was mary's
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intercession or the poo i'm not
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qualified to answer but this event set
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off the 30 years war now there are four
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phases of this war you need to know and
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that can be confusing but the big idea
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to notice here is that as we go through
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the phases like as we move from phase
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one to phase four the motivations for
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fighting go from being primarily
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religious to primarily political so
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phase one the bohemian phase in this
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phase the holy roman emperor and
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catholic ferdinand ii defeated
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protestant forces led by frederick the
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first at the battle of white mountain
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the result of this phase is that the
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catholics gain the upper hand and
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re-establish catholicism across many
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places in the holy roman empire then
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came phase two namely the danish phase
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in this phase king christian iv of
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denmark you know that's the danish part
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he took up the protestant cause not
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least because he was involved in an
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anti-catholic anti-habsburg alliance
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with england you can see here the
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political motive starting to bleed in
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now despite this help on the protestant
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side the catholics still won this phase
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of the war and then came phase three the
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swedish phase in this phase the war
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begins to extend beyond the borders of
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the holy roman empire and king gustavus
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adolphus of sweden organizes the
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protestant cause and armies and scores a
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major victory for the protestants now
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one reason the protestants fared so well
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is because gustavus adolphus was a
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military genius but the other reason is
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because the protestants received no
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smaller financial help from france wait
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a minute if i remember correctly from
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the beginning of this video france was
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catholic so what in the fresh heck are
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they doing financing the protestant
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struggle against the catholics well this
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is the major turning point where we can
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see that the religious character of the
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war has clearly taken a back seat to
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political concern you see the only thing
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the catholic french leadership hated
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more than protestants was the habsburgs
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and so they didn't care that the
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protestants were fighting against them
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they just wanted to weaken the habsburg
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influence anyway the fourth and final
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phase of the war was the french phase
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and here france entered into the war on
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the side of the protestants and fought
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mainly with spain to assure that the
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habsburgs would not rebound from their
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defeats and in 1648 the 30 years war
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finally came to an end with the signing
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of the peace of westphalia and there are
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a couple of things you need to know
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about this major turning point in
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european history first it essentially
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marked the end of the religious wars of
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europe second it amended the peace of
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augsburg to include calvinism as a
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legitimate fate third with that further
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splintering of protestantism it
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officially marked the end of the
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medieval idea of a universal christendom
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and fourth it kept the holy roman empire
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weak and the rulers of individual states
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strong and in that way it hastened the
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decline of the holy roman empire i know
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that was a lot but if you need more help
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with unit 2 click here for the entire
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playlist also if you want follow along
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note guys for all my topic videos then
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click right here and all your dreams
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will come true all right i'll catch you
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on the flip-flop heimler out
