Peasant wars in Germany: 1524-1525

For many centuries peasant wars in Germany were a regular phenomenon. Villagers did not have any rights and could not express their dissatisfaction with any legitimate methods. The Reichstag and other state institutions of the Holy Roman Empire existed only for members of the upper classes.

Therefore, when the next generation of peasants began to suffer from hunger or excessive taxes, he had no choice but to take up arms. Such speeches, as a rule, ended in the defeat of the discontented. But against the background of the others, the peasant war in Germany in 1524-1525. Was distinguished by a wide scale of the uprising. Therefore, it still interests historians today as the most thoroughly documented episode of its era.

The causes of the war

At the beginning of the 16th century, several important changes occurred in Germany that led to another peasant uprising. The rural population became even more dependent on their masters. Because of frequent wars with neighboring countries, the state increased the amount of taxes levied from the peasants.

These reasons are typical for the growth of social tension. However, in the 16th century an influential reformist church movement appeared in Germany. His main inspiration was the preacher Martin Luther, whose name was Lutheranism - one of the main directions of Protestantism. Supporters of reforms advocated the refusal of the Roman Catholic Church from the sale of indulgences, earnings on the flock, etc. Protestantism has become popular among the ordinary rural population.

The Heresy of the Reformation

In the Middle Ages peasant wars in Germany often began precisely because of the appearance of heresies. As a rule, at the head of this movement became fanatics or holy fools. However, Protestantism has found a response not only among the poor, but also within the burgher population of cities. Despite the ferment of minds, the central imperial authority did not want to recognize the Lutherans, state officials called them heretics and outlawed. The Roman church was one of the pillars on which power rested in the Holy Roman Empire. Sooner or later this confrontation should have developed into a real war.

The beginning of peasant performances

While taxes were growing, which included income to the treasury of the Catholic Church, reform priests traveled through German cities preaching that the church should be more modest in its requests and it should return to the early Christian tradition when the followers of Christ were poor.

The inevitable peasant war in Germany began in 1524. The first speeches broke out in the vicinity of Nuremberg. The enraged villagers armed themselves and adopted a general charter by which they agreed to make all of their food common and feed the poor. They also refused to work on the lands of the church (this was one of the duties imposed by the state). The first small groups of peasants were easily dispersed, after the army arrived there. However, violence against neighbors led to the fact that the uprising expanded more and more because of the reckless actions of the authorities.

"Twelve Articles"

Several political programs composed by the rebels during the war, became food for thought among the leftist political parties that emerged in the XIX century. Therefore, the "Twelve Articles" and other documents of that era were thoroughly studied and analyzed, including by Marxists. The most monumental studies of the war were Wilhelm Zimmermann's book The History of the Peasant War in Germany, as well as a similar work by Friedrich Engels.

"Twelve articles" were agreed upon by the rebels on March 19, 1525, in the city of Memmingen in Swabia. Several separate Protestant groups operated in this region. They decided to coordinate their actions and draw up a document that would become their resolution to power.

The demands of

The basis for the articles were numerous complaints of villagers on intolerable living conditions. All of them were combined and reformulated into social requirements (tax cuts, etc.). Documents of the peasant war in Germany are amusing in that they were joined by Protestant theologians, who became authors of articles dealing with the organization of the church. For example, it was required to give the community the right to choose its priest. In addition, the insurgents wanted their church ministers to preach only the so-called pure Gospel, that is, they did not deviate from the theses that were written in the Covenant.

From this example it is clear that the Reformation and the peasant war in Germany were interrelated phenomena. Religious references can be traced in all the theses presented in the Twelve Articles. Peasants, who did not find justice in disputes with state power, appealed to the Bible as the only law for all Christians.

Florian Gayer's Black Squad

While the priests enlightened the peasants, some knights and people who had military experience took the side of the insurgents and turned out to be their commanders. One such leader was Florian Gayer. It was a German knight who directed the units operating in Swabia.

It is thanks to such people that the great peasant war in Germany not only took place, but was regularly fueled by financial means. Guyer was from a noble family and received a considerable inheritance. With his money, he bought equipment and trained people in the art of war. Of these, a formation was formed, known as the Black Detachment. It was created in Rothenburg in 1525. At the same time the detachment led by Guyer himself went to Swabia, where he ruined many castles of feudal lords and Catholic monasteries. This dealt a serious blow to the reputation of local princes, who still did not view the poor as a serious threat. Now the feudal lords assembled a real army and sent it to Ingolstadt. It was then that peasant war in Germany reached its peak. In short, the feudal lords seriously got scared. They could provide operational resistance in the provinces, while the emperor would have to spend a lot of time to send his own troops from the capital.

The defeat of Swabian peasants

The army of the Swabian princes and Florian Gayer collided under the walls of Ingolstadt in May 1525. Among the peasants, the only effective formation was the Black detachment, but it was clearly not enough to confront several professional troops of the feudal lords. The rebels were defeated, and Florian Gaier himself died in a few weeks, ambushed.

This knight became one of the folk heroes, which spawned a peasant war in Germany. The date of his death was a day of mourning for all Protestants. Nevertheless, despite the defeat of the Swabian militias, many of the insurgents were in other regions, so the peasant war continued. Germany was devoured by bloodshed and massacres for another year. The rebels were executed without any pity. In addition to high treason, they were accused of heresy, which further exacerbated their situation. All the peasant wars in Germany were a kind of reaction to discontent with the authorities.

Thomas Münzer

By the summer, the center of discontent had moved to Thuringia. The peasant wars in Germany always ended in failure due to the fact that there was no one to lead the peasants. Disunity and inconsistency of actions was only at hand in punitive imperial units. This time the peasants had leaders who, as a rule, appeared from among those same reformist priests preaching the teachings of Martin Luther.

The peasant war in Germany was led by one of them - Thomas Münzer. At the end of 1525 he found himself in Mühlhausen. It was an imperial city in the north of Thuringia. It was here that the spiritual leader of the insurgents began preaching his vision of Lutheranism. It was in many ways like the future programs of the Communists. The principle of "select and divide" here was implemented with all care.

Mühlhausen becomes the center of the uprising

Armed detachments of ordinary people captured monasteries, churches and other property of the Catholic Church. In addition, before the peasants capitulated burghers, who, in fact, stood on their side. A new government appeared in the city magistrate, it was represented by the most ordinary villagers, not expelled aristocrats.

Münzer himself did not take any formal position, but he became the spiritual father of the insurgents and almost their patriarch. His sermons gathered thousands of supporters in the city squares. The main motive in his rhetoric was the idea that the power of the emperor, who supported the church, mired in sins, was anti-Christian.

The war in Thuringia

From the speeches of Müntzer, the peasant war in Germany was increasingly fueled. The participants in the uprising, however, were not warriors by profession and were most often poorly armed. This could cause problems in the future. Nevertheless, Münzer assembled an 8,000-strong army, with whom he went to the south, to Franconia, where he was waited by new supporters.

For a year the German princes also prepared for war with the peasants. They assembled a trained and professional army, which in the spring of 1525 went to intercept Münzer to prevent him from uniting with supporters in the southern provinces. On May 15, the troops met. Imperial parlementers, in order to avoid bloodshed, offered the rebels to extradite Münzer. The expected refusal followed, after which the fields near Frankenhausen were flooded with the blood of 6,000 dead peasants: they were poorly armed and not trained in combat. Because of this, the rebels became easy prey for cavalry and warriors.

Even more peasants were executed later during the raids throughout Thuringia. While the battle was going on, Münzer managed to escape, but he was not at liberty for long. He was tracked and shackled. On May 27, 1525, the preacher was executed at Mühlhausen Square, which had previously been the center of the uprising.

Number of victims

In just two years of uprising in different regions of the Holy Roman Empire in confrontation with the authorities involved about 300 thousand peasants, not counting the small squads of knights who went over to the side of the villagers. Approximately every third rebel died in battle or was executed during the reactionary actions of the state. These figures indicate that the peasant war in Germany in 1524-1525. Was the largest-scale demonstration of the population against its regime in the history of Europe until the Great French Revolution.

Effects

Despite the fact that the speeches were suppressed, and the leaders were executed or expelled from the country, the consequences for several decades were echoed by the empire. First, it was the first serious attempt by Protestants to defend their interests and views. Even after the peasants were dispersed, Lutheranism remained a popular teaching both among burghers and among the poor. In the future, the banner of Protestants passed to the small princes and knights who confronted the Catholic Emperor over the next decades.

Thirty years after the peasant war, the Augsburg religious world was concluded, which somewhat eased the situation of the Lutherans. Already in the XVII century there was a large-scale Thirty Years' War, almost all European countries were drawn into it. After its completion, the Protestants finally enshrined the right to practice their religion in the empire. The peasant war in Germany occurred in 1524-1525, when the Lutherans who appeared appeared to be too weak to defeat the central government.