HP Dictionary

The First Wizarding War 1970(s) - 1981

The First Wizarding War officially took place from the early 1970s until October 31, 1981, the night James and Lily Potter were murdered and Harry Potter defeated Voldemort at their home in Godric's Hollow.

Throughout the Harry Potter novels, JK Rowling gives us a closer look into Voldemort's ascension to power and eventual demise, but to understand the significance of the cruelty of the First Wizarding War, we must go back Tom Riddle's childhood as a pupil at Hogwarts.

In 1943, Riddle opened the Chamber of Secrets to release the basilisk, whose job was to attack Muggle-borns in the vicinity. Just as it happened 50 years later, several Muggle-borns were petrified, and Myrtle Warren was killed in the bathroom where she resides in the Harry Potter series.

This can safely be considered Voldemort's first atrocity against Muggle-borns.

When the professors at Hogwarts suggested shutting down the school, this is when Riddle decided to close the Chamber. It just so happened that Riddle caught Hagrid with Aragog at this time, so he blamed the crimes on them.

In the sixth book, we discover that Professor Horace Slughorn gave Riddle important information about Horcruxes, which we later learned secured Voldemort's immortality. This was around the same time as the Chamber had been opened, and it suspected that he used Myrtle's death to create his first Horcrux, his diary.

His next atrocity that could be seen as racially-fueled was the murder of his Muggle family, the Riddle family. He blamed his uncle for these killings and created his second Horcrux, the House of Gaunt ring that belonged to his maternal grandfather, Marvolo Gaunt. This is suspected to have happened shortly after his sixth year of school was finished, which is when he opened the Chamber.

Riddle laid low for a couple decades, only being seen at Hogwarts when he asked Dumbledore to give him the position as professor of Defense of the Dark Arts. Dumbledore refused, so Riddle placed a hex on the position so no one could hold it for more than a year, and hid once again.

After creating three more Horcruxes, in 1970, Voldemort (who had renamed himself in the 1950s) rose to power with his Death Eaters behind them. They intended to revolt against the Ministry of Magic, and wipe out Muggles and Muggle-borns while doing it.

As the death toll began to rise, The Ministry noticed that several people in the Wizarding World had been under the Imperius Curse to obtain information for Voldemort and the Death Eaters. This caused Albus Dumbledore to create the Order of the Phoenix, a secret organization designed to disable Voldemort's efforts to overtake the Ministry.

When Voldemort realized The Ministry was not going to be defeated as easily as he predicted, he began to attack prominent wizard families. Susan Bones (a future classmate of Harry Potter) was a member of one of the families who were nearly exterminated. Order members Fabian and Gideon Prewett, Dorcas Meadowes, Caradoc Dearborn, and Benjy Fenwick were murdered during this time period. Voldemort also massacred an entire family of goblins.

At this time, the Wizarding World was overcome with division, distrust, and chaos. Death Eaters were very well hidden, which caused hysteria because no one knew who could kill them at any turn in the name of the monster who threatened their world.

Voldemort also allied with giants and and werewolves at this time, which resulted in many people targeting Remus Lupin, worrying he was a spy who was in charge of taking over the Order.

Eventually, aurors nearly exterminated giants in battles, which led to their endangerment and seclusion mentioned in The Order of the Phoenix.

This also led to the turning point of the war (think of the Battle of Stalingrad, for any of my WWII geeks out there), when Death Eaters began to meet their demises, such as Rosier and Wilkes. 

However, many wizards lost their lives at this time, such as Dean Thomas's father.

Towards the end of the war, Regulus Black, Sirius's younger brother, took it upon himself to destroy the Slytherin Locket, which resulted in his own death. However, he still managed to carry out his plan when Kreacher, his house elf, stole the locket from the cave and replaced it with a fake, which was instrumental in the Second World War.

With Voldemort on a steady decline, he received the worst news of his life when Sybill Trewalney gave a prophecy about who would eventually defeat him: someone born in July 1980. 

This led Voldemort to two infants: Neville Longbottom, born on July 30, 1980, or Harry Potter, born the next day.

Voldemort eventually decided to kill Harry Potter, the son of two popular Order members. Severus Snape, who was in love with Lily Potter, told Dumbledore about the prophecy, which led them into hiding in Godric's Hollow.

James and Lily wanted Harry's godfather, Sirius Black, as their secret-keeper, but Sirius believed it would be too obvious, leaving Peter Pettigrew for the job. The only problem was, no one ever knew Sirius was not the secret-keeper.

Pettigrew quickly told Voldemort their location, and on October 31, 1981, he arrived on the Potters' doorstep.

James went to face Voldemort unarmed to give Lily a chance to find Harry and escape, which resulted in his instant death. Lily ran to Harry's crib to protect him, and Voldemort offered her freedom if she stepped away (per Snape's plea to spare her), but she refused. Voldemort killed Lily in front of her infant son's crib.

Voldemort pointed his wand at young Harry's forehead, recounted the Unforgivable Curse, and it backfired. Lily's sacrifice protected Harry's life with an ancient magic unbeknownst to Voldemort, and he disappeared. The war was over.

However, his soul did not. It left his body and clung to the only living thing around: Harry.

After the war ended, many Death Eaters were sent to Azkaban for crimes of terrorism. Others, such as the Malfoys, used their wealth and prominence, as well as a claim that they were under the Imperius Curse, to stay free.

Because of that, while there were celebrations in the wizarding world, the Death Eaters were still wreaking havoc.

Peter Pettigrew faked his own death, causing an explosion that killed 12 people. He cut off a finger, turned into his Animagus form (a rat, appropriately) and disappeared, framing Sirius Black. He was taken to Azkaban by Barty Crouch Sr. (without trial) shortly thereafter.

Frank and Alice Longbottom were tortured by several Death Eaters, including The Lestranges and Barty Crouch Jr, for information of Voldemort's whereabouts. 

Frank was captured first and imprisoned. The Cruciatus Curse was used on him for weeks at a time, but never gave any information. He was driven insane and taken to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries with his wife.

Before Frank's insanity, they targeted his wife, Alice, and tortured her in the same way. However, they snapped her mind and discovered that neither had any information of Voldemort's whereabouts.

Their young son, Neville, was raised by Frank's mother, Augusta.

Those Death Eaters were sentenced life in Azkaban for their crimes.

After the torture of the beloved Longbottoms, the war officially ended. All was quiet again, but Dumbledore and others knew Voldemort would come back again.

And he did.