First Wizarding War (1926-1945)

## First Wizarding War

The **First Wizarding War** was a large-scale wizarding conflict, coinciding with the Muggle Second World War, and finally ending in 1945. This war was initiated by the Dark Wizard Gellert Grindelwald and his acolytes, who had the intention of abolishing the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy. Grindelwald was eventually defeated in a duel with Albus Dumbledore and imprisoned in Nurmengard.

## History

### Seeds of War (1899)

In the village of Godric's Hollow, in the English West Country, during the summer of 1899, Albus Dumbledore met Gellert Grindelwald, the great-nephew of the family's neighbour Bathilda Bagshot; who was also one of the most famous witches and magical historians of the modern age. The two boys instantly took a huge liking each other at once, and immediately fostered a deep friendship; as they were both incredibly powerful-gifted sorcerers and equally brilliant and talented young men. Grindelwald then began telling Dumbledore about his honest viewpoint about wizardkind: he secretly believed firmly that the wizarding world should not need to hide from the Muggle world.

Grindelwald told Albus he greatly disliked the International Statue of Secrecy; claiming it was only a means of the international magical authorities imposing corrupt and unethical methods to make witches and wizards abide by laws that were pathetic and unnecessary. Grindelwald strongly had the idealism that magic was something that was granted by not only nature, but by a higher power as a gift for only "rare" individuals. Gellert immediately found that Dumbledore was in agreement — whether this was due to true belief on Dumbledore's part or out of something else is totally unclear. They also believed that wizards have been gifted with their magical powers for a reason, so that they might rule the non-magical population.

It was these many shared beliefs that led to both Dumbledore and Grindelwald making a Blood pact: a magical unity requiring two blood samples that seals the two creators' in a strong bond of unity and also forbids them from causing any harm or death to each other under any circumstances. However, Grindelwald was forced to leave Godric's Hollow after he had a duel with Dumbledore and his younger siblings, Aberforth Dumbledore and Ariana Dumbledore, in which Ariana tragically died. The duel was born from a heated arguement between Albus, Aberforth, and Gellert; caused by Aberforth berating Albus for his neglect of Ariana to carry out his plans of a peaceful revolution with Grindelwald. Some time after leaving Godric's Hollow, Grindelwald learned of the Deathly Hallows. Though he considered the Resurrection Stone and the Invisibility Cloak meaningless; he desired the Elder Wand; and sometime after 1899; he secretly stole it from Mykew Gregorovitch, a famous wandmaker who had the wand in his possession.

It would later be revealed that Grindelwald fled Great Britain, because he secretly knew that Dumbledore was the most powerful and skilled out of the two of them. Plus, Grindelwald also had stolen the Blood Pact's pendant, despite the fact that his and Dumbledore's friendship was now ruined. Even so, Grindelwald still maintained deep respect and a strong love for Dumbledore in secret. Over the next couple of years, Grindelwald had settled in Austria, and began with the revolution he had intended to carry out with Dumbledore. Thus, he became an extremely powerful and skilled Dark Wizard, using the phrase: "*For The Greater Good"* as his motto. Gellert then proceeded on with his dark revolution alone.

### Prelude to War (1926-1932)

#### Grindalwald Attacks

Over the coming years, Grindelwald began his campaign of violence, and his power quickly grew throughout Europe, but Great Britain was left totally unscathed, due to the Blood Pact making Grindelwald unable to return there. At this point in time, Grindelwald also constructed Nurmengard Castle, a fortress in rural Austria, which served as his Headquarters as well as a prison for his opponents. He also quickly gathered a group of followers, an army of wizards and witches following him and his quest, the Alliance.

Due to his obsession with the Deathly Hallows, Grindelwald adopted the symbol of the Hallows (the crest of the medieval Peverell family) as his own.

His attacks and risks of exposure he caused spread fear worldwide among wizards, and he and his "fanatics" became widely feared, even in places where they weren't active. The threat that Grindelwald caused brought the attention of international authorities, such as the International Confederation of Wizards. A worldwide wizardhunt began for Grindelwald, and it intensified as the attacks he caused began to expose the wizarding world; at one point, he was nearly caught in Switzerland, but Grindelwald "slipped through [their] fingers" according to MACUSA President Seraphina Picquery.

#### Attack on New York

In 1926, Albus Dumbledore's reputation skyrocketed; when an article was published by *the Daily Prophet,* in which the latter had discovered 12 uses of blood samples from various species of dragons alongside celebrated alchemist Nicholas Flamel. Flamel entrusted Dumbledore with several powerful magical objects that could deeply aid in further reinforcing Great Britain from any possible threats made by Grindelwald.

At the same time, Seraphina Picquery, the President of the Magical Congress of the United States of America [MACUSA]; authorised many top secret negotiation with the British Ministry of Magic, in an attempt to strengthen any possible weak and exposed countrylands that could fall under instant attack by the Acolytes. Unknown to anyone, Grindelwald had ventured to New York City, New York and secretly disguised himself as Percival Graves: the Head of the Department Of Magical Law Enforcement of the MACUSA using Polyjuice Potion. Grindelwald was searching for an Obscurial: an incredibly powerful and deadly magical-dark creature; who the dark wizard had heard rumours of it lurking in the underground subway tunnels of the city.

While he was able to identify Credence Barebone, an equally powerful but highly unstable young wizard, as the Obscurial; he was unable to harness the destructive power of his Animagus form, which Grindelwald secretly desired to get Dumbledore killed in the event that his former best friend try to stop his revolution; and was ultimately captured through the combined efforts of several MACUSA Aurors, Newt Scamander, and Tina Goldstein. This marked the very first time that Grindelwald was ever bested and captured by the authorities he had managed to cleverly evade for almost 9 years. Grindelwald was then subsequently imprisoned deep within the American Ministry of Magic by President Picquery, and had his tongue cut out so he could not attempt to manipulate any of his guards. However, by that point, Grindelwald had managed to sway formerly loyal MACUSA employee Abernathy to his side, and planned an elaborate escape with Abernathy's help. The plan worked, and Grindelwald escaped only almost 6 months after his capture and fled America, eventually making his way to Paris, France.