No one said Westphalia made Europe peaceful, but the point is that in accepting that each unit was rightfully soverign, it removed one huge aspect for war, which is the claim of any ideological party that they had complete and final soverignty-that they were the final sole sovereign. That idea of some absolute principle that should rule all is a dangerous idea, in so far as it leads to a lot of violence. Just look at people like Bin Laden, who do claim there to be a single source of universal legitimacy.
Wars for power are never as nasty as ideological wars, because its much simpler to beat armies than it is to end ideas-to the the latter, you usually have to exteminate the idea holders.
Wars for power are never as nasty as ideological wars, because its much simpler to beat armies than it is to end ideas-to the the latter, you usually have to exteminate the idea holders.
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