Dominions of Sweden German principalities, the Swedish kings in their roles as princes and dukes, or "Reichsfürsten", of the Holy Roman Empire took part in the German diets from 1648 until the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806. Following the Thirty Years' War, the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 assigned to Sweden the two bishoprics of Bremen-Verden, with the exclave of Wildeshausen. All of them were ceded to Hanover in the peace treaty of 1719. By the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 Sweden received Swedish Pomerania, situated along the German Baltic Sea coast. The whole Duchy of Pomerania was under Swedish
History of the Catholic Church in Germany for predominance in Europe. The war resulted in large areas of Germany being laid waste, a loss of approximately a third of its population, and in a general impoverishment. The war ended in 1648 with the Peace of Westphalia, signed in Münster and Osnabrück: Imperial territory was lost to France and Sweden and the Netherlands left the Holy Roman Empire after having de facto seceded 80 years earlier. The imperial power declined further as the states' rights were increased. "Aided by the personal charm of its young king Louis XIV, who had assumed the government in 1661, France appeared to