A Web of Peaces: Twitter Narratives on the Peace of Westphalia

Abstract

The Peace of Westphalia, although concluded in 1648, still impacts current identities and narratives of national sovereignty, independence, tolerance, failure and triumph. Since 1648 the Peace of Westphalia has been brought up in diverse contexts of identity management in a national or international framework. As a result, this early modern treaty that concluded the Thirty Years’ War has a long history of being stereotyped in European history. By suggesting a new consideration of sources with social media content such as Twitter, this chapter analyses how the Peace of Westphalia is being understood, framed and criticised based on French, Dutch, Spanish, Swiss and German Twitter posts. The results show that the Peace of Westphalia is stereotyped on social media with pre-existing narratives about its relevance for modern, nation-centred statehood and sovereignty as well as its tolerant image. However, the narratives on Twitter differ considerably between different national Twitter spheres. Through broadening our perspective on the visibility of national narratives about the Peace of Westphalia in public media, this chapter thus argues that stereotypes about the Peace of Westphalia have endured through time and have also been transferred from old to new media.