The Thirty Years' War began when officials were thrown out of a window — and survived.
Catholics credited the Virgin Mary; Protestants said they landed on a dung heap below Prague Castle.
The events
- Defenestration of Prague (1618)1618 · Prague Castle. Bohemian Protestant nobles threw two royal regents and their secretary out of a window of Prague Castle. All three survived: Catholics credited the Virgin Mary, Protestants a dung heap below. The incident sparked the Thirty Years' War.
- Thirty Years' War1618–1648 · Prague. Beginning with the Defenestration of Prague as a Protestant–Catholic conflict within the Holy Roman Empire, the war drew in almost every European power. Germany lost perhaps a third of its population; the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 founded the modern system of sovereign states.
More amazing facts
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- 1615 · 1620 In 1615 a Japanese samurai was made an honorary citizen of Rome.
- 1615 · 1621 Johannes Kepler spent six years defending his own mother against charges of witchcraft.
- 1616 · 1697 The oldest European object from Australia is a pewter plate.
- 1620 The Mayflower Pilgrims hurried ashore at Plymouth partly because of beer.
- 1620 The Mayflower Pilgrims did not wear black with buckled hats.