The war began in Bohemia (modern-day Czech Republic) when Protestant nobles, angry over the curtailing of their religious rights, tossed two Catholic royal officials out of a window in Prague Castle. Remarkably, they survived the 70-foot drop, but the act triggered a rebellion against the Holy Roman Empire. 2. From Religion to Politics
The war was brutal. It introduced "total war" tactics where armies lived off the land, seizing crops and burning villages. thirty-years-war
Sweden, Denmark, and—most notably— France joined to weaken the Habsburgs. Interestingly, Catholic France fought on the Protestant side, proving that national interest (limiting German power) had become more important than religious solidarity. 3. The Human Cost The war began in Bohemia (modern-day Czech Republic)