May 23: The "spark" that ignites the conflict of the "Thirty Years' War" in 1618 was the Second Defenestration of Prague, today the capital of the Czech Republic.

The window (top floor) where the second defenestration occurred. 

The Czechs of Bohemia refused to recognize the new King Ferdinand of Styria. Since 1526, the Czechs were dependent on the Habsburg house that ruled the Holy Roman Empire. The Bohemians had chosen their favorite leader, Fredrich V, Elector of Palatine, who in turn was succeeded by Fredrich IV, founder of the League of Evangelical Union.

Añadir lethe Hradcany Castle in Prague

Well, when Emperor Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria, sent two Catholic counselors (Martinitz and Slavata) as his representatives to the Hradcany Castle in Prague, on May 23, 1618, in order to prepare a visit and strengthen his royal dignity, Bohemian Calvinists seized both men and threw them through the Castle´s windows.

Second defenestration of Prague

“The Defenestration of Prague of 1618 (from the Latin word fenestra meaning window) refers to the ejection of two Catholic Imperial officials and their secretary out of the Prague Castle's window by the Bohemian Protestant nobles.”

Martinitz and Slavata were thrown from a top window of the castle.

Neither counselor died because they fell in a ditch cushioned by a long swamp that cushioned the fallen bodies. This violent attack made history as the "second defenestration of Prague" and constituted a challenge to Fernando II, thus starting war.

The counselors were seized and thrown from the windows by Czech noblemen.