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The settlement ultimately failed because it did not, admit Calvinist to the terms of the treaty and it was unable to define the religious status of the Episcopal states. Most importantly, it created a mutually hostile Protestant and a Catholic bloc in Central Europe. This hostility eventually led to the Thirty Years War, the most brutal conflict according to some, in European history.

[[File: Lucas Cranach d.Ä. (Werkst.) - Porträt des Martin Luther (Lutherhaus Wittenberg).jpg|300px|thumb|left|Portrait of Martin Luther]]

The Holy Roman Empire was a fragmented collection of largely independent states, of various sizes. The Holy Roman Emperor, who was a member of the House of Hapsburg directly ruled some of the lands, but in the rest of the Empire, he was only a ‘nominal head of state.’<ref> Hale, JR, <i>Reformation Europe</i> (Pelican, London, 1998), p 134</ref> The Hapsburg’s the hereditary rulers of Austria were elected Emperor by the major states in the Empire. As a result, it was a very loose federation. It has often been likened to the modern European Union. In 1517 Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses on the door of the Cathedral in Wittenberg. In these, he challenged the authority of the Pope and called for the reform of the Church based on the Bible. Luther's actions initiated the Reformation in the Holy Roman Empire.