 From around 1520 to 1750, European politics was dominated by the rivalry between France and the Habsburgs, rulers of Spain and the Holy Roman Empire.During the 1620s, France was divided by renewed religious wars and Cardinal Richelieu, chief minister from 1624 to 1642, avoided open conflict with the Habsburgs.Instead, he financed their opponents, including the Dutch, the Ottomans, and Danish intervention in the Thirty Years' War.