Thirty Years' War
Frederick was also in charge of a German nation called the Palatinate. Maximilian I, who was in charge of a nearby nation, Bavaria, wanted more power and decided to take over some of the Palatinate. Spain, a Catholic country,. joined the war to help Maximilian, who was disliked in the Netherlands. Other countries now became involved in this war. After some fighting, Maximilian and Spain won, and Emperor Ferdinand decided that all of the Palatinate should go to Maximilian. That made some of the other Protestant nations very scared because that meant that Protestant areas were being taken over by Catholics.