The worst massacre of Europe’s Thirty Year War, which took place on 20 May 1631.
Brace yourselves, as this one’s hard to stomach.
First, let’s set the stage.
We’re roughly in the middle of the Thirty Year War (1618–1648), one of Europe’s bloodiest wars that will send an estimated 4.5–8 million people to their graves and irrevocably redraw political maps. It’s messy and complex with lots of moving parts, changing motivations and multiple factions.
And it all starts with religion.
Roman Catholics v Protestants.
The first phase of the Thirty Year War is primarily a religious and civil war among German members of the Holy Roman Empire with external powers weighing in when convenient. It’s a story about Protestant Princes rebelling against Roman Catholic absolutism. A story about religious othering and dynastic, territorial and commercial rivalries.
In the midst of this vicious struggle stands the city of Magdeburg, a symbolic centre of Protestant Germany, the rebellious bastion of Lutheran Protestantism in the north of the Holy Roman Empire.
