The idea of Nationalism between the British North American colonies did not seem logical in the ninetieth century due to the vast cultural differences spanning from east to west. John A. MacDonald, leader of the Tories, thought otherwise. With a great understand of sociology and seeing the “bigger picture”, he was able to convince the colonies to come together. The illegal Alabama and Trent Affairs, as well as the raids by the angry American-Irishmen proved to be some of the external pressure for confederation. Political Deadlock initiated internal pressure resulting in multiple conferences to discuss this great coalition.
This continued until Henry VIII, so desperate to produce a male heir, broke Papal control over England and named himself Head of the Church that taught an offshoot of Christianity based on the teachings of Martin Luther, the Protestant Church of England. This change did not make much difference, as the main different was the head of the Church and belief about divorce. Many more changes came after Henry died in 1547 and Edward VI became king. Edward, led by his advisors, moved England completely from Catholicism and to Protestantism. He passed laws such as making churches and bishops more plain, services be said in English and creating the Book of Common Prayer in 1549 and a refined version in 1552.
To what extent was Henry’s decision to break with Rome influenced by Thomas Cranmer and Thomas Cromwell The break with Rome was one part of the reformation in England carried out by Henry VIII and his ministers. By removing the Pope’s influence from his court, Henry became more at liberty to pass laws and other reforms, as well as gaining his much sought divorce and subsequent marriage to Anne Boleyn. The break with Rome was a gradual process that began in 1529 with the ‘Reformation Parliament.’ Henry and his advisors passed various legislation and legal processes which damaged the Church financially and politically. The charge of the breach of Praemunire was a criminal charge against the clergy which was revoked after a large bribe (1530 – 1531); meanwhile, the Act in Restraint of Annates prevented Rome from its traditional practice of taking a proportion of the clergy’s pay (1532). The Act in Restraint of Appeals (1533) was a step forward for Henry – while the other legislation was primarily aimed at weakening the Church financially, this act reduced Rome’s political power by preventing people appealing to Rome against a decision made by the powers in England.
This was recognised by many minor factions within the German lands at the time and new revolutionary protestant ideas were emerging which caught Henry’s eye. Reformers such as Martin Luther inspired Henry to move away from the old regime and assert his position as king of England through reformation, which would in turn bring the country under the crown, instead of the far away and naïve Pope having jurisdiction in Henry’s lands. This showed Henry that he’d be able to cut all ties with Rome and in doing so
The Thirty Years War was becoming one of the bloodiest conflicts in Europe, as the loose collection of Germanic tribes in the Holy Roman Empire split between Catholics and Protestants. However, what had begun as a religious conflict soon turned into a struggle for European dominance between the Kings of France and the Hapsburgs of Spain and Germany[Footnote]. Gustavus was approached by the English and the French requesting his intervention in the conflict[Footnote], to aid his fellow Protestants who were finding themselves on the losing side of the conflict. Gustavus turned them down initially, but eventually decided to enter the bloody fray, not just to support the Protestant cause,
The schism ended with the election of Martin V at the Council of Constance, after rivals to the Pope all claimed to be the successor of St. Peter. Following the election, the split quickly started to take effect on the Church. The Great Schism had a huge effect on the Catholic Church and changed it in many ways. People wanted to improve the Catholic Church because it was splintered after splitting into two different churches, the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church. Changes in religious, economic, cultural, and political conditions started a need for reform in the Church, which led to the Protestant Reformation with Martin Luther, the Catholic Reformation with the Council of Trent and St. Charles Borromeo, (which “fixed” most of the problems started by the Protestant Reformation,) and lastly, the Vatican Council I with Pope Pius IX.
The tension and rivalry that existed between the two largest German states made worse the existing religious divisions and made the possibility of unification more problematic. Religion is a factor to be considered as a minor obstacle to unification, but is certainly not the most important factor. The German Princes' themselves proved to be an obstacle to unification. They did not wish to see Germany unified as they feared the loss of their personal power. They also seemed to distrust each other and would rather not lose their identity as individual states by joining with those they
How far were Louis XVI's problems of his own making? The problems Louis XVI faced during his reign were partially due to his lack of leadership ability, his poor decisions and unwise actions. He created these problems by giving too much power to his nobles and hardly utilizing his power in his Divine Right. However, he did inherit an archaic system which was on the verge of collapse in Europe in general and the government of France had many inbuilt weaknesses already. He was faced with a tidal wave of new, enlightened ideas that was also fueled by France's involvement in the American war of independence.
King Henry VIII undertook a multitude of religious changes and reforms during his reign from 1529 to 1547. In the early 1530’s, Henry took the momentous step of declaring himself Supreme Head of the Church and during and around this period he was producing policy suggestive of England heading in a more Protestant direction; however, following this came a time when many historians agree that the ‘conservative King’ began to re-implement key Catholic doctrines which contrasted completely with the Lutheran or Protestant ideals first recognised. Questions remain about whether the reforms made at the beginning of Henry’s reign held enough significance at the end to secure a Protestant status for England - even when policies were becoming ‘more Catholic’; or conversely whether the policies implemented which re-enforced the Catholic beliefs were significant enough to re-establish England as a practically Catholic country. Perhaps it could argued that England had never really become a Protestant country at all...overall, how Catholic was England at the end of Henry’s reign. A major event towards the beginning of Henry’s reign was the Act for the Dissolution of the Smaller Monasteries in 1534, with the dissolution and plundering of the large ones following on from this in 1539.
During the early 1500s there were many things that brought about religious change in Eastern Europe because of Martin Luther in Germany and King Henry VIII in England. The motives and the actions of the two were different in that Martin Luther had an intention of bringing about religious change where as King Henry VIII didn’t, having defended the church’s original catholic faith with no tolerance of opposition to it, having caused a reform because of a personal matter. Martin Luther was a German Augustinian friar who questioned not only the practices of the church, but he condemned it for teaching wrongly which ultimately lead to questioning the entire sacramental system of Catholicism in relation to salvation. He wrote and published many pamphlets that elaborated his ideas and denounced what he considered to be false teachings with motives of changing the beliefs of many into what he saw to be the proper things that should be taught and preached by the church. The publication of Luther’s German translation of the New Testament in 1523 democratized religion.