Side-Splitting Historical Facts That Will Leave You in Stitches

Side-Splitting Historical Facts That Will Leave You in Stitches

Shannon Quinn - December 29, 2022

Side-Splitting Historical Facts That Will Leave You in Stitches
A later woodcut of the defenestration in 1618. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

The Defenestrations of Prague

In case you didn’t know, the word “defenestration” means “to throw someone out the window”. Yes- There’s a word for that. Maybe that’s because in Prague, Czech Republic, there have been three incidents in history where members of the government were tossed out the window. The first defenestration happened in 1419, the second in 1483, and the third in 1618. Two of the incidents incited war, while one actually brought peace. The defenestration of 1419 sparked the Hussite War, which were a series of conflicts between the Hussites and the Catholic Church. Centuries later, in 1618, it would set off the Thirty Years’ War, a conflict that lasted from 1618 to 1648 and involved most of the major European powers.

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