Defenestration of Prague and the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War
- Date
- 23 May 1618
- Category
- Military & conflict
- Region
- Bohemia and the Holy Roman Empire (Prague)
- Era
- Early Modern
- Significance
On 23 May 1618 Bohemian Protestant nobles threw two Catholic imperial regents and their secretary from a window of Prague Castle, an act of defiance against the Habsburg crown that triggered the Bohemian Revolt and ignited the Thirty Years' War.
The crisis grew from Catholic infringements of the religious liberties guaranteed by Emperor Rudolf II's Letter of Majesty (1609) and from the prospect that the staunchly Catholic Ferdinand II would extinguish Protestant rights once he became king of Bohemia. The Bohemian estates rose in revolt, electing the Calvinist Frederick V of the Palatinate as their king. What began as a regional confessional and constitutional dispute escalated, through shifting alliances, into a general European war drawing in the Holy Roman Empire's princes, Spain, Denmark, Sweden and ultimately France. Fought largely on German soil over thirty years, it became one of the most destructive conflicts in European history, devastating populations through battle, famine and plague. The defenestration thus marks a pivotal hinge of the early-modern era, where religious antagonism, dynastic ambition and the struggle over imperial authority converged into catastrophe.
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Empires active in 23 May 1618
- Solomonic dynasty1270 CE – 1974 CE
- Ottoman Empire1299 CE – 1922 CE
- Mughal Empire1526 CE – 1857 CE
- Portuguese Empire1415 CE – 1999 CE
- Ming Dynasty1368 CE – 1644 CE
- Spanish Empire1492 CE – 1976 CE
Related military & conflict events
- Fall of Beijing and the Ming–Qing transition1644
- The Imjin War: Japan's invasions of Korea1592–1598
- Battle of Tondibi and the fall of the Songhai Empire13 March 1591
- Defeat of the Spanish Armada1588
- Battle of Lepanto7 October 1571
- Battle of Talikota and the fall of Vijayanagara23 January 1565
Further reading
If you read one book
The Thirty Years War: Europe's Tragedy
The definitive accessible history of the conflict.
Get it on Amazon →Also worth reading
- The Thirty Years War — Amazon →
The Thirty Years War
Classic, vividly written single-volume narrative; kept in print by NYRB Classics.
Get it on Amazon → - The Thirty Years' War — Amazon →
The Thirty Years' War
Lively, clear standard account of the war for students and general readers.
Get it on Amazon →
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