The Defenestration of Prague

After my lecture on different aspects of the Thirty Years War I left the classroom with one word in mind: defenestration. The Thirty Years' War started in 1618 and the Defenestration of Prague marked the very beginning of the war. Protestant protesters defenestrated (threw out of a window) two Catholic officials. The Protestant officials committed this brutal act because of their opposition to a decree issued by the Catholic rulers that enforced Catholicism as the only acceptable religion to worship in Prague. However, this defenestration was not only due to the decree. Prior to the decree, tensions between Protestants and Catholics had been growing for many years over religious rights and freedom. The Protestants argued that because of the Catholic Church’s corruption and the Pope’s God-like power the Catholics were simply wrong. Although the Catholic officials survived the fall, (by falling into poop) the event symbolized to Catholics that: Protestants were dangerous and willing to turn to violence. After The Defenestration of Prague, widespread violence erupted that fueled tensions and started the Thirty Years' War, which lasted from 1618 to 1648 and reshaped Europe and the world to come with the making of the “Peace of Westphalia”.