West vs East: Bohemia Style

Since the foundation of the dynasty, the House of Luxembourg had faced the challenges of both the West and well as the East. The challenges of ethnic diversity, struggles for sovereignty, and problems with succession riddled the Habsburg family. With the extension of their status outside of Bohemia and into the entire continent of Europe, their rule became even more complicated. As eventual rulers of the Americas, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire, and much of Eastern Europe every decision the family made had lasting consequences. This is most relevant during the period of the Renaissance.
Religion has probably been the most important aspect in the Westernization and modernization of Bohemia. The region had always been composed of many different ethnic groups, including the Roman, Celtic, German, and Slavic cultures. Christianity was the channel that introduced Western ideology, architecture, language, etc. into Bohemia and the rest of the East. The Reformation of the Catholic Church changed forever this balance of cultures in Bohemia and the rest of the East.
The Catholic Reformation, a period of religious changes—and, well, reformation—occurred after the famous protests of Martin Luther. As a result, Protestant religious flourished throughout Europe. The two most important Protestant religions in regards to this class include the Lutheran and Calvinist religions. At the same time, the Catholic Church faced new competition and Catholic governments, such as the Hapsburg dynasty, faced a new dilemma: toleration or forced religion?
Across Eastern Europe each country tended to have different policies toward religious toleration. Poland, for example, despite being a mostly Catholic state, allowed toleration officially and legally through the “Warsaw Confederation.” This allowed many different religious groups including “Orthodox Christians, Muslims, and Jews in addition to the various Protestant groups” (Wandycz, 53) to practice their beliefs without fearing persecution—a very radical idea for the time. The Hapsburg dynasty, although being Catholic, unofficially allowed religious toleration in most of their territories, unlike the Spanish parts of the empire which answered to the Reformation with inquisition and torture of heretics. I believe that this religious toleration practiced in most Habsburg territories is what allowed the empire to remain as strong as it was, at least until the outbreak of the 30 Years War.
An interesting consequence of the Reformation was the strengthening of nationalism. Protestant churches published bibles in local languages, and the Catholic Church quickly followed suit. These scriptures published in the vulgar tongues of the people helped unite and formalize bonds between different cultural groups. Whether increased strengthening of nationalism was actually beneficial or not to imperialists such as the Habsburgs is unclear.
Another difference between the West and the East laid in the basic foundations of society. Although historically all of Europe had at one point been ruled by fiefdoms, during the sixteenth century Western Europe began to part with this practice and instead moved toward monarchial absolutism. In Eastern Europe autocracy instead of absolutism took hold. Bohemia, for example, “comprised the three estates of lords, knights, and burghers.” (Wandycz, 63)  The Habsburgs, however, increasingly tried to follow the Western practice of highly centralized government, leading to resistance from the people.  This was a key weakness of the dynasty.
From its inception, the Habsburg dynasty had faced cultural and political struggles that became exemplified in the sixteenth century by the rapidly changing religious and political atmospheres of the time. The increasing distance between the East and the West, and the Habsburgs role in the center of the two regions, led to instability and conflict.