Art Transparencies
GT21 Hapsburg Europe, 1560
Use this transparency to stimulate discussion about
Hapsburg Europe at its height.
BACKGROUND
F
or 35 years Charles V, the Hapsburg king,
struggled to maintain religious unity in Europe.
He fought against both Muslims and Lutherans. In
1556, he retired to a monastery and divided his
massive empire into two parts.
Charles gave Austria and Bohemia to his brother
Ferdinand, who was later elected Holy Roman
Emperor. Charles’s son Philip II received Spain,
the Spanish Netherlands, and the American
colonies.
For the next 100 years, though, the Spanish half
of the Hapsburg Empire had more influence on
Europe than the Austrian half. Philip reigned from
1556 to 1598 and not only ruled over Spain and its
possessions but inherited Portugal in 1580. He also
controlled many Italian states and the Balearic
Islands in the western Mediterranean Sea.
Philip took actions to expand the influence and
control of his empire but thought himself a
Catholic above all else. He fervently fought for the
Catholic cause in Europe. In 1571, a Spanish fleet
crushed a large navy from the Muslim Ottoman
Empire off the coast of southwestern Greece.
However, his attempts to defend Catholicism were
not always successful. His attack on Protestant
England with his famed Spanish Armada met with
devastation in 1588.
Questions and Activities
1. Who received more territory from Charles,
Ferdinand or Philip II? (Philip II)
2. Which major western European countries lay
entirely outside the rule of the Hapsburgs in
1560? (Ireland, Scotland, England, France, and
Portugal)
3. Which Hapsburg territory do you think was easier to rule, the Spanish or the Austrian? Explain.
(Possible answer: the Austrian, because the
Spanish territory was spread out and fragmented)
4. What Spanish territories lay closest to England?
(the Netherlands)
5. How might Philip have used the Netherlands in
his attempt to invade England? (Possible answer:
The Armada could have picked up Spanish
troops there to invade England.)
N
N
Seville
Cadiz
SPAIN
Balearic
Islands
Po R.
anean
Sardinia
Mediterr
SAXONY
Rome
BL
IC
OF
V
SICILY
NAPLES
Sea
Athens
OTTOMAN
GREECE
SERBIA
0
0
iepe
KHANATE
OF THE
CRIMEA
Moscow
800 Kilometers
400 Miles
E M P IR E
Blac k Sea
CRIMEA
r R
.
RUSSIA
Spanish Hapsburgs
Austrian Hapsburgs
Boundary of the Holy Roman Empire
Route of the Spanish Armada, 1588
Constantinople
Kiev
Dn
Novgorod
Dnieste
r
BULGARIA
POLAND
Riga
HUNGARY
Danub
e R
.
Buda
BOSNIA
CROATIA
EN
IC
PAPAL
E
STATES
PU
RE
Vienna
Venice
BAVARIA
TYROL
Prague
A U S T R IA
PRUSSIA
la R.
Vistu
Warsaw
Danzig
BOHEMIA
BRANDENBURG
GENOA
TUSCANY
Corsica
Hamburg
Frankfurt
MILAN
SWITZ.
SAVOY
FRANCHECOMPTÉ
R.
Antwerp
Calais
Cologne
NETHERLANDS
Amsterdam
DENMARK
Elbe
S W E D E N
Baltic
Copenhagen Sea
NORWAY
R.
34°
Lisbon
Madrid
e R.
FRANCE
Loi r
Se
Paris
August 8
i ne
London
Tham
es R .
R.
N
Nantes
Plymouth
July 31
E N G L AN D
North
Sea
e
Rhin
42°
A TL A NT I C
OCEAN
50°
IR E L AN D
S C O T L AN D
Edinburgh
8° W
Hapsburg Europe, 1560
R.
UG
W
16°
© McDougal Littell Inc. All rights reserved.
MCDOUGAL LITTELL
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5/15/98 4:27 PM
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Hapsburg Europe, 1560