Düsseldorf Cow War also increasing the local garrisons to 4,100 men. In November 1646, Frederick William invaded Berg, but the invaders soon ran out of food and returned home, achieving only the return of Ravensberg. The Peace of Westphalia finally settled the Thirty Years' War in 1648. Three years later, the Holy Roman Empire found itself on the brink of war when Wolfgang Wilhelm claimed that the normative year imposed by the treaty took precedence over the Treaty of Xanten in regard to church properties. Since more parishes were in Catholic hands in 1624 than a decade before, Wolfgang Wilhelm hoped to stabilize
Piracy in the Caribbean of the Americas all beckoned to those eager to make their fortunes and a large assortment of Frenchmen and Englishmen began new colonial ventures during the early 17th century, both in North America, which lay basically empty of European settlement north of Mexico, and in the Caribbean, where Spain remained the dominant power until late in the century. As for the Dutch Netherlands, after decades of rebellion against Spain fueled by both Dutch nationalism and their staunch Protestantism, independence had been gained in all but name (and that too would eventually come with the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648). The