The Thirty Years War And The Development Of The State Sovereignty Thought

The European thirty years’war and the Westphalia treaty was a product of the changing political power in Europe, and provided the sovereign states of inoculation and produced good social environment.In16th century Jean Bodin first put forward the concept of state sovereignty, from then on, the state sovereignty had become a basic factor of international law, along with the changes of the times and the concept innovation. Sovereignty is not only a legal concept, is also historical. This paper will mainly use the perspective of historical research, study each country’s main war intention and the actual changes of status in the war, to disccuss the development and evolution of the state sovereignty concept in the process of the war, and attempts to discuss the war in the national construction and forming the status and role in the process of state sovereignty. Inaddition to the introduction and epilogue.the paper is divided into four parts.The first part discusses the basic situation of the state sovereignty thought before the thirty years’war. Through this part author will show the state sovereignty thought in details, from ancient Europe to medieval Europe, especially in15th and16th. In Italy Machiavelli’s The Prince, firstly put national interests in the first place, above religious morality, in a sense can be said to be the inchoation work of the sovereign thought; While France’s Jean Bodin in his monograph Sovereignty.systemly elaborated the thought of state sovereignty for the first time.The second part focuses on the state sovereignty ideas of the powers between1618-1643. From different stages of the war. I will analyse the military movements and diplomatic strategy of each power, to discern the underlying motivation of the growing sovereignty of national interests and values. And will emphasis on the operational countries in fighting for international recognition and the efforts of the regional hegemony, and the power changes impact on national identity occurred in the thirty years’war.The third part mainly discusses the state sovereignty thought that reflected in the Westphalia Treaty.lt will be based on the diplomatic process,alliance and their respective interests in the interaction, and territorial transfer problems were discussed throughout the course of the peace meeting.In the middle of17th century,the comprehension of state sovereignty has also basically contained limited aspects,such as national identity and territorial requirements,and therefore territory became the main issues.France and Sweden was the typical representative examples,relying on strong military power and their close alliance to gain equivalent political status. All these actions just reflected each countries’ more clear ideas of the state sovereignty.The fourth part mainly writes the impact of thirty years war and the Westphalia Treaty on the idea of the state sovereignty. In the thirty years’ war, almost all major western European countries involved in the war, after the baptism of the war, countries gradually realized that to strengthen its influence in the area, one must have a strong country first. Countries at the peace meeting of Westphalia, each country "bargaining" on the respective stakeholders for a long period of time, this produce a profound impact of the future international relations. Through the analysis, it’s supposed to outline the the role and position of thirty years war in the intellectual development of the national sovereignty, and briefly discusses the development situation of state sovereignty thoughts after the Westphalia peace treaty was signed.Through the analysis we will find the difference of the state sovereignty thought before and after the thirty years’ war, the importatce of the thirty years war in the national construction, and early modern nations’various efforts for state sovereignty. But within the scope of this paper discusses, the state sovereignty thoughts still belongs to the traditional doctrine of sovereignty, its characteristics does not change obviously, but the process itself is worthy of further research.