25,000 Slaughtered In The Name Of Religion

[Canary42]

Just came across the Siege of Madgeburg in a question on TV's Mastermind. 25,000 slaughtered by Catholic Troops.

Things don't change do they ?

http://www.filbrun.com/history/magdeburg.htm

Quote from link :-

Count Tilly, a Bavarian, commanded the army of the Catholic League during the first half of The Thirty Years War. On May 20, 1631, he and Count Pappenheim stormed Magdeburg, a prominent city in north central Germany that dated back to at least the 9th century. The Protestant city was weakened by being under siege from imperial forces of the Holy Roman Empire since the previous year.

Tilly’s army was so enraged at the lengthy resistance provided by the Magdeburgers that they put the garrisons of the city to the sword. They then sacked Magdeburg and massacred the population. Twenty-five thousand people (85% of the population!) perished.

[Svejk]

///Things don't change do they ?///

They certainly do. (In the civilized world)

[Peter Pedant]

You dont need religion to slaughter large bumbers of civilians

When Curtis LeMay was flattening Tokyo in 1945 he didnt refer to God did he ? ( 200k dead and 20 sq miles of T smouldering ruins )


nor I would have thought on the first day of the Somme ( 50k dead )

[Peter Pedant]

Nearer home
what about Cromwell's massacre of the people of Drogheda ?
same reason - they wouldnt give in

[sandyRoe]

Didn't the Golden Board under Kubla, or Ghensis, Khan put a city of 75,000 to the sword?

[sandyRoe]

Indeed I do. This Hudl sometimes seems to have a mind of its own.

[Canary42]

For all of you who are questioning my selection (only too eagerly in order to try and discredit me, and failing), I only mentioned THIS example because it came up on a TV programme I was watching at the time - as I did say in the OP.

I am fully aware there are other examples.

[naomi24]

Are you trying to make a point here? If so, please explain.

[Canary42]

If it's not obvious from the post (clue in second sentence, only five words so it shouldn't be too difficult), then so be it.

[naomi24]

//25,000 slaughtered by Catholic Troops. //

^That bit? And .....

[Canary42]

Sorry, third sentence. And withdraw the comment anyway, it was rather rude, so I apologise Naomi.

[Canary42]

* And I withdraw ....

[naomi24]

And me still none the wiser. Oh well .....

[sevenOP]

Things do change, some human attributes seem impervious.

[Mosaic]

Jeez Canary, you put me right back in A-level History with Miss Davis who couldn't say 'Rape of Magdeburg' as it known back then. I think she maybe died wondering anyway.
God knows, the Thirty Years War 1618 - 1648.......
In England we had a tiny teeny taste of the horrors inflicted by good people on each other, because they believed they were right - we call it the English Civil War.
And the more you drill into both European and English conflict at the time, the more complex it is, not simply a Catholic vs Protestant thing.
Mercenaries trained to inflict misery filtered from the continent into England (does this sound familiar for today?)
One Guido Fawkes, Catholic, born in York, fought in Europe, associated with a plot to slaughter hundreds.....
Prince Rupert of the Rhine, murdering barsteward who set his killers civilians on Lancaster and Bolton, set up with a pension for life by the new regime in 1660.
This is why learning history is good. Nothing is new, it just churns round. Why do we fail to learn?

[jno]

religion seldom has anything much to do with it, though it's said that the cabbies of ancient Byzantium could lecture their passengers for hours on the doctrine of transubstantiation. James II was chased out nominally for being Catholic, but what it was really about was that people didn't want to be ruled from Rome, much in the way they abhor Brussels now; they wanted a local church for local people. "Religious" wars are generally about land and power.

[Peter Pedant]

// Prince Rupert of the Rhine, murdering barsteward who set his killers civilians on Lancaster and.....//

he had a cousin Prince Maurice who burnt and raped down south

dangerous times