Though the world of Harry Potter can seem whimsical and magical, it isn't always the type of place that one would want to travel to, even if a person was a really big fan of the series. Magic is fun, and Hogwarts seems like an interesting place to go to school, but there is a lot more going on in the wizarding world than just the light and happy parts of magic. There is also a lot of evil afoot, and there are constant battles to ensure the safety and security of wizardkind. By the time the reader joins Harry in the series, the wizarding world is about to embark on its second giant war, not even that long after the first.
The First Wizarding War is one of the most significant events in wizarding history in the Harry Potter series, and was sort of the catalyst for a lot of what comes later in Harry's story. However, the actual event itself isn't really covered in the books, only through small snippets of information that's relevant to the plot. But what exactly was the First Wizarding War about, and how did it affect the rest of the wizarding world going forward?
When Did The First Wizarding War Take Place?
The conflict surrounding the first war had been present as early as the 1940s, but the First Wizarding War didn't officially begin until 1970. This first war marked the reign of Lord Voldemort, the most powerful dark wizard in the history of the wizarding world. Voldemort didn't always look like the pale, snake-faced figure that appears in the Harry Potter series; he used to be just a regular person, born to a Muggle father and a witch mother. He was a brilliant student, but there was a darkness within him that started to rear its head more and more. He went on a quest for power, as well as to find a way to cheat death, which led to him gaining ranks as one of the most powerful dark wizards.
Up until 1970, Voldemort had been laying low and gaining power, but the war began when he openly declared himself and started performing acts of terror all over Britain. He launched an assault on the Ministry of Magic and targeted Muggle-borns and other "inferior" magical beings like house elves, with the intention of creating a new world of just purebloods. Voldemort created his Horcruxes in an attempt to avoid death, and continued to throw the wizarding world into disarray in his quest for power and control.
Who Fought In The First Wizarding War?
Of course, Voldemort didn't accomplish all of this solely on his own. He also had a legion of Death Eaters, who were his loyal followers and carried out his bidding, swearing fealty to his rule. Though the ranks of darkness were growing, the good guys were able to create their own organization to oppose Voldemort, called The Order of the Phoenix. Albus Dumbledore was one of the few wizards that was powerful enough to oppose Voldemort's tyranny, and so he created a legion to fight against the Death Eaters. The original Order of the Phoenix was comprised of a large number of influential wizards, including familiar names such as Dumbledore, Alastor Moody, Rubeus Hagrid, Severus Snape, Frank and Alice Longbottom, Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and James and Lily Potter. These members of the original Order that were still alive by the time the Second Wizarding War rolled around were a part of the second Order of the Phoenix as well.
How Did The First Wizarding War End?
The end of the first war was infamous in the wizarding world, and was the catalyst that set off the events that later transpire in the Harry Potter series itself. Voldemort learned of a prophecy that declared that a young wizard would emerge that was Voldemort's equal and would ultimately be his demise. One of the possible candidates for this Chosen One position was the son of Lily and James Potter, Harry (the other was Neville Longbottom, but Voldemort believed it was Harry because he was a half-blood like Voldemort himself). He vowed to kill the baby, and the Order of the Phoenix put measures into place to protect the Potters as much as they were able.
Unfortunately, because they chose the wrong Secret Keeper, the Potters were betrayed by Peter Pettigrew who gave Voldemort the information he required to find them. On October 31, 1981, Voldemort appeared at the Potters house and entered, immediately killing James and following Lily to her infant son's room. She refused to leave Harry's side, so Voldemort killed her too and then turned his wand on the child. What he didn't count on was that Lily's loving sacrifice created a piece of magic so powerful that it protected Harry from Voldemort's Killing Curse, turning the spell back around on the Dark Lord and destroying him (however temporarily) instead. This marked the end of the First Wizarding War, where Harry was heralded as "The Boy Who Lived". Despite the fact that he really had no conscious hand in Voldemort's first downfall, the prophecy still (correctly) declared that he would be the one to finally defeat Voldemort once and for all, and he did - during the second war.