A closer look
Bohemian Protestants kicked off the Thirty Years' War in 1618 by literally tossing three Catholic officials out of a third-story window in Prague. In an era before sending passive-aggressive emails, hurling government representatives out of a castle was apparently the standard political process for expressing mild disagreement over religious freedom. Miraculously, all three men survived the 70-foot drop, with Catholics claiming they were caught by the Virgin Mary and angels, while Protestants smugly pointed out that they merely landed in a massive pile of horse manure. This single act of petty, violent window-tossing plunged all of Europe into three decades of apocalyptic warfare, proving that dramatic political stunts have a long, horrific history of spiraling completely out of control!
