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The balance of power was a system in which European nations sought to maintain the national sovereignty of all European states. The concept was that all European nations had to seek to prevent one nation from becoming powerful, and thus national governments often changed their alliances in order to maintain the balance. The War of Spanish Succession marked the first war whose central issue was the balance of power. This marked an important change, as European powers would no longer have the pretext of being religious wars. Thus, the Thirty Years' War would be the last war to be labeled a religious war.
