It was Tuesday, October 31, 1517. On this date, Martin Luther, a German monk and theologian, nailed his Ninety-five Theses (Disputation on the Power of Indulgences) to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. Luther challenged the authority of the Pope, the sale of indulgences (forgiveness of sins sold for money), and taught that salvation is achieved through faith alone. This act threw down the gauntlet to the Catholic Church’s authority, sparking widespread theological debate and structural changes in Western Christianity.

Luther could scarcely have imagined that his action would ignite a reformatory process so powerful that it would lead to his excommunication in 1521 and transform the religious and political landscape of Europe. Neither could he have visualised that the movement would spread so quickly across Europe in the 16th century, leading to the formation of various denominations like Lutheranism and Calvinism.

The Protestant movement unleashed tremors across the body politic of Europe. What started as a revolt by the Netherlands against Spanish Habsburg rule in 1568 came to be known in history as “The Eighty Years' War” (1568–1648). The conflict was triggered by King Philip II’s strict imposition of Catholic orthodoxy (persecuting Protestants), centralising political power, and introducing heavy, unfair taxation on the seventeen provinces.

While this war was continuing, the religious persecution of Protestants initiated another war, which history remembers as the “Thirty Years' War”. It began in 1618........

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