Reason for the conflict: part religious, part monarchical ambitions
"The wars of religion in France and the Thirty Years' War began because of religious antagonisms, but the dynastic ambitions of French princes lay not far behind the rivarly between the Protestants and Catholics. In the Thirty Years' War, the dynastic rivarly between the Bourbons of France and the Habsburgs of Austria - both Catholic dynasties - came to the fore, eventually dominating religious considerations."
"Religious affiliation, like ethnicity, frequently did not correspond to the borders of the state."
Overall outcome: increased centralization
As people sought refuge from the disasters of the Thirty Years' War, they ended up giving more control to the monarch, which was able to centralize more aspects of people's lives under the purview of kings and princes.
"The wars of religion resulted in the strengthening of the monarchies of France, Austria, and the smaller German states as well. Kings and princes further extended their administrative, judicial, and fiscal reach over their subjects in the interest of maintaining control over their populations and waging war."
"In the mid-seventeeth century, Europe would enter the era of monarchical absolutism."
Outcome in France
"In France, particularly, a stronger monarchy emerged out of the trauma of religious struggles and competing claimants to the throne."
Outcome in Germany
"Germany, in contrast, remainded divided into several strong states and many smaller ones. Competing religious allegiances reinforced German particularism, that is, the multiplicity of independent German states and strong regional loyalties."
Impact of war: decline in population
"German cities lost a third aand the countryside two-fifths of their population during the Thirty Years' War. [...] But the wars contributed to the huge decline of the population of the states of the Holy Roman Empire from 20 to 16 million people during the ghastly period of the wars of religion."
Impact of a sudden rise in population
During the sixteenth century, the population of Europe increased drastically, going from about 2.5 to 4.1 million. However, it was still recovering from the plague that defined the late fifteenth century (decreasing the population considerably) that impacted agriculture production (as there were fewer people to take advantage of the abundant fields). But in the early sixteenth century, the population started to increase rapidly, creating a scenario where the population began to outstrip the available resources. This led to a sharp increase in the prices of goods and decreased the purchasing power of people's wages. One crucial fact to note is that the nobles' wealth was preserved better given that land prices remained somewhat stable; as such, the crisis did not impact everyone in the same way. The already worse-off who depended solely on wages were the ones hardest hit.
The war was one where verbal violence turned to physical violence quite quickly.