30 Years War

On a gray morning in May 1618, a small group of angry noblemen climbed the stairs of a castle in Prague. They were not generals, and they did not command armies. They carried no grand strategy for Europe, no vision of a continent remade by war. What they carried instead was a grievance—deep, specific, and … Read more

1618: A Window Opens, a Continent Slides Toward War The war begins not with armies, but with an argument over rights. In Prague, Protestant nobles fear that the Catholic Habsburg ruler of Bohemia intends to roll back the religious freedoms guaranteed to them. Their response is dramatic and symbolic: two imperial officials are thrown from … Read more