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EUROPE: CATASTROPHE ANO
REVIVAL"&;T1?T~~/;tíil
by
Paul W. Kroll
G
u'
~
YEAR
1648 was a memo–
.l
rabie oue. Europe's devas-
tating Thirty Years' War
ended. Much of Germany lay pros–
trate. The mystical Holy Roman
Empire of the German nation was
reduced to a meaningless, mythical
and hollow name.
Within the empire, there was
squabbling amoqg many petty, and
not so petty, principalities and king–
doms. Leadership was divided be–
tween Austria and the rising state of
Prussia. Meanwhile, a new power
began to threaten the very exis–
tence of the Holy Roman Empire
from the outside. That power was
France.
We pick up our on-the-spot ac-
20
'
Jc
l
C\FI:A.R
count with the loug-reigning French
king, Louis
XIV.
The Reigo of Louis XIV (1661-
1715).
The powerful king and his
advisors continue to expand
France's in.fl.uence and control over
Austrian-Habsburg dominated Ger–
many. Louis
XIV
does this by as–
suming a "protector" role of the
rights of German princes. The
princes, of course, are almost con-
. stantly in opposition to the Habs–
burg empe.ror. The emperor finds
himself confronted by a "Rhenish
League," made . up of a powerful
combination of German princes.
The league is Ied by the elector of
Mainz and is in alliance with
France.
Economic war is in full swing.
French goods are flooding the Ger–
man market. On May 7, 1676,
Habsburg Emperor Leopold issues a
decree forbidding " the importation
of any Frencb me.rchandise into the
Empire." Meanwhile, attempts are
made to weld the economy of the
Holy Roman Empire into a self–
contained trading bloc.
Leibnitz, a leading philosopher of
the Holy Roman Empire, cails for a
national "workhouse." He envisions
a uew Germany as a manufacturing
and exporting state, beating out
France on the economic battlefield.
But Leibnitz is also a believer in
the ideal empire of the Ottonians.
He turns bis gaze nostalgically to