late 14th to 15th century (Italian Renaissance)

Italy Head of mercenary armies hired by Italian city-states to gain an advantage in warfare The Condottiere represents a symptom of the politically fragmented landscape of the Italian renaissance among the five powers (Florence, Milan, Venice, Naples and the Papal States).  The participation of Francesco Sforza (the greatest condottiere), gained power in Milan, and consolidated power in Milan lead to the Peace of Lodi which created two balanced alliances within Italy consisting of Venice and Naples and Milan and florence.

1618 (Thirty Years' War) Prague, Bohemia (Holy Roman Empire)

The Protestant hurling of two of Ferdinand's advisors out a window In Bohemia within the context of growing tension between the Catholics and Protestants of Europe, King Ferdinand, who was a devout Catholic, was elected to Bohemia under strict political and religious conditions of tolerance.  When Ferdinand violated these preconditions to his rule by violating Protestant religious liberties, two of Ferdinand's court advisers were hurled out of an upper story window.  This event initiated a pivotal Protestant counteroffensive throughout the Habsburg lands kicking off the Thirty Years' War.

June 20, 1789 (French Revolution) France The establishment of 'the third estate' into French political power

The Oath of the Tennis Court consisted of Sieyes and his people, the third estate, who were locked out of a National Assembly and decided to take up their own within a tennis court.  At this convention, the rule of absolute monarchy had ended and the power of the state resided in the notion of the people at large.