Sack of Magdeburg The Sack of Magdeburg ( or ) refers to the siege , the subsequent plunder ing , and the massacre of the inhabitants of the largely Protestant city of Magdeburg by the forces of the Holy Roman Empire and the Catholic League during the Thirty Years ' War . The siege lasted from November 1630 until 20 May 1631 . Background . The Thirty Years ' War had been raging for about thirteen years by the time that the imperial city of Magdeburg rose up against the Holy Roman emperor . The city ' s councilors had been emboldened by King Gustavus Adolphus ' s landing in Pomerania on 6 July 1630 . The Swedish king was a Lutheran Protestant and many of Magdeburg ' s residents were convinced that he would aid them in their struggle against the Catholic Habsburg emperor , Ferdinand II . Not all Protestant rulers within the Holy Roman Empire had immediately embraced Adolphus , however . Some believed that his motive for entering the war was the possession of northern German ports that would allow him to control commerce in the Baltic Sea . Regardless , the city of Magdeburg had good reason to ally itself with him ; the Swedish king had one of the most efficient armies of that time period and he did not rely on mercenaries as much as other rulers did at the time . While his army was made up primarily of his Swedish countrymen , the armies of the Holy Roman emperor included a mix of Hungarians , Croats , Spaniards , Poles , Italians , Frenchmen , Germans , and others . In a matter of months , imperial forces under the command of the Count of Tilly laid siege to the city and significant military assistance from the king of Sweden was nowhere to be found . Assault and sacking . On the last day of the siege Magdeburg ' s councilors were convinced that it was time to sue for peace , but word of their decision did not reach the Count of Tilly in time . The siege was ended and Imperial Field Marshal Gottfried Heinrich Graf zu Pappenheim , and Johann Tserclaes , Count of Tilly , attacked Magdeburg for its rich stores of goods . The city ' s fortifications were breached and imperial forces were able to overpower armed opposition and open the Kröcken Gate which allowed the entire army to enter the city . The city was dealt another blow when Colonel Dietrich von Falkenberg , a nobleman sent by King Gustavus to direct Magdeburg ' s military affairs , was shot dead by Catholic imperials . When the city was almost lost , the garrison mined various places and set others on fire . After the city fell , the Imperial soldiers went out of control and started to massacre the inhabitants and set fire to the city . The invading soldiers had not received payment for their service and took the chance to loot everything in sight ; they demanded valuables from every household that they encountered . Otto von Guericke , an inhabitant of Magdeburg , claimed that when civilians ran out of things to give the soldiers , " the misery really began . For then the soldiers began to beat , frighten , and threaten to shoot , skewer , hang , etc . , the people . " It took only one day for all of this destruction and death to transpire . Of the 30 , 000 citizens , only 5 , 000 survived . For fourteen days , charred bodies were carried to the Elbe River to be dumped to prevent disease . In a letter , Pappenheim wrote of the Sack : Aftermath . After Magdeburg ' s capitulation to the imperial forces , there was much bickering between the residents who had favored resistance against the emperor and those who had been against such an action . Even Adolphus joined in the finger pointing , claiming that the citizens of Magdeburg hadn ' t been willing to pay the necessary funds for their defense . Magdeburg ' s defeat convinced many Protestant rulers in the Holy Roman Empire to take a stand against the Catholic emperor . At the time of the Peace of Westphalia ending the war in 1648 , the city ' s population had further dropped so that only 450 people were still living in the city . The devastation was so great that " Magdeburgisieren " ( or " magdeburgization " ) became an oft - used term signifying total destruction , rape and pillaging for decades . The terms " Magdeburg justice " , " Magdeburg mercy " and " Magdeburg quarter " also arose as a result of the Sack , used originally by Protestants when executing Catholics who begged for quarter .