the.com/westphalia
the 1648 peace deal that invented the idea that countries get to mind their own business.
means a german region whose name got attached to the treaties that created modern state sovereignty and ended europe's bloodiest religious war.
from named for a saxon region, but famous for the 1648 peace of westphalia — a set of treaties in osnabruck and munster that ended the thirty years war, a conflict so brutal it killed roughly a third of germany's population over turf disguised as theology.
war endedthirty years war, started 1618 over a window
key ideacuius regio, eius religio — ruler picks the religion
deathsan estimated 8 million across the war
legacy termwestphalian sovereignty still cited in un debates