List of peasant revolts
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| - | [[Image:Gheerhaets Allegory iconoclasm.jpg|200px|thumb|This page ''{{PAGENAME}}'' is a part of the [[protestantism]] series. | + | {| class="toccolours" style="float: left; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 2em; font-size: 85%; background:#c6dbf7; color:black; width:30em; max-width: 40%;" cellspacing="5" |
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| - | <small>Illustration: ''[[The image breakers]]'', c.[[1566]] –[[1568]] by [[Marcus Gheeraerts the Elder]]</small>]] | + | "[[Let them eat cake]]" |
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| - | The '''Peasants' War''' (in [[German language|German]], ''der Deutsche Bauernkrieg'') was a [[popular revolt in late medieval Europe|popular revolt]] in the [[Holy Roman Empire]] in the years 1524/1525. It consisted, like the preceding [[Bundschuh]] movement and the [[Hussite Wars]], of a series of economic as well as religious revolts by [[peasant]]s, townsfolk and [[nobility|nobles]]. The movement possessed no common program. | + | This is a chronological list of conflicts in which [[peasant]]s were the driving power. |
| - | The conflict, which took place mostly in southern, western and central areas of modern [[Germany]] but also affected areas in neighboring modern [[Switzerland]] and [[Austria]], involved at its height in the spring and summer of 1525 an estimated 300,000 peasant insurgents: contemporary estimates put the dead at 100,000. It was Europe's most massive and widespread popular uprising before the 1789 [[French Revolution]]. | + | ==Background== |
| - | ==Anabaptists== | + | The history of peasant wars spans over two thousand years. A variety of factors fueled the emergence of the peasant revolt phenomenon, including: |
| - | On [[December 27]], [[1521]], three [[Zwickau prophets]], both influenced by and influencing [[Thomas Müntzer]], appeared in [[Wittenberg]] from [[Zwickau]]: Thomas Dreschel, Nicolas Storch and Mark Thomas Stübner. [[Martin Luther|Luther's]] reform was not radical enough for them. Like the [[Roman Catholic Church]], Luther practiced [[pedobaptism|infant baptism]], which the [[Anabaptist]]s considered to be "neither scriptural nor primitive, nor fulfilling the chief conditions of admission into a visible brotherhood of saints, to wit, repentance, faith, spiritual illumination and free surrender of self to [[Christ]]." | + | |
| - | The reformist theologian and associate of Luther, [[Philipp Melanchthon]], who was powerless against the enthusiasts with whom his co-reformer [[Andreas Karlstadt]] sympathized, appealed to Luther, who was still hiding in the [[Wartburg]]. Luther was cautious in not condemning the new doctrine out of hand, but advised Melanchthon to treat its supporters gently and to test their spirits, in case they should be of [[God]]. There was confusion in Wittenberg, whose schools and university had sided with the "prophets" and were closed. From this arises the allegation that the Anabaptists were enemies of learning, which is contradicted by the fact that two of them, [[Ludwig Haetzer|Haetzer]] and [[Hans Denck|Denck]], produced and printed the first German translation of the [[Hebrews|Hebrew]] prophets in 1527. The first leaders of the movement in [[Zürich]]—[[Conrad Grebel]], [[Felix Manz]], [[George Blaurock]], [[Balthasar Hubmaier]]—were learned in Greek, Latin and Hebrew. | + | * [[Tax resistance]] |
| + | * [[Social inequality]] | ||
| + | * [[Religious war]] | ||
| + | * [[Wars of national liberation|National liberation]] | ||
| + | * Resistance against [[serfdom]] | ||
| + | * [[Redistribution of land]] | ||
| + | * External factors such as [[Black Death|plague]] and [[Great Famine of 1315-1317|famine]] | ||
| - | On [[March 6]], [[1522]]), Luther returned to Wittenberg, where he interviewed the prophets, scorned their "spirits", banished them from the city, and had their adherents ejected from Zwickau and Erfurt. Denied access to the churches, the latter preached and celebrated the sacrament in private houses. Having been driven from the cities, they swarmed across the countryside. Compelled to leave Zwickau, Müntzer visited [[Bohemia]], lived for two years at Alltstedt in Thuringia, and in 1524 spent some time in Switzerland. During this period he proclaimed his revolutionary religious and political doctrines with increasing vehemence, and, so far as the lower orders were concerned, with growing success. | + | Later peasant revolts such as the [[Telangana Rebellion]] were also influenced by [[Agrarian socialism|agrarian socialist]] ideologies such as [[Maoism]]. |
| + | |||
| + | The majority of peasant rebellions ended prematurely and were unsuccessful. Peasants suffered from limited funding and lacked the training and organisational capabilities of professional armies. | ||
| - | The Peasants' War began chiefly as a revolt against feudal oppression, but under the leadership of Müntzer it became a war against all constituted authorities in a forcible attempt to establish Müntzer's ideal of a Christian commonwealth based on absolute equality and the community of goods. The total defeat of the rebels at [[Battle of Frankenhausen|Frankenhausen]] ([[May 15]], [[1525]]), followed by the execution of Müntzer and several other leaders, proved to be a merely temporary check on the Anabaptist movement. Scattered throughout Germany, [[Switzerland]] and the [[Netherlands]] were zealous propagandists whose teachings many were prepared to follow as soon as another leader emerged. | ||
| ==See also== | ==See also== | ||
| - | *[[List of peasant revolts]] | + | * [[Servile Wars]] |
| - | *[[Florian Geyer]] | + | * [[Peasant movement]] |
| - | *[[Croatian and Slovenian peasant revolt]] | + | * [[Popular revolts in late-medieval Europe]] |
| - | *[[German Peasants' War]] | + | * [[Maoism]] |
| + | * [[United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants]] | ||
| {{GFDL}} | {{GFDL}} | ||
Current revision
This is a chronological list of conflicts in which peasants were the driving power.
[edit]
Background
The history of peasant wars spans over two thousand years. A variety of factors fueled the emergence of the peasant revolt phenomenon, including:
- Tax resistance
- Social inequality
- Religious war
- National liberation
- Resistance against serfdom
- Redistribution of land
- External factors such as plague and famine
Later peasant revolts such as the Telangana Rebellion were also influenced by agrarian socialist ideologies such as Maoism.
The majority of peasant rebellions ended prematurely and were unsuccessful. Peasants suffered from limited funding and lacked the training and organisational capabilities of professional armies.
[edit]
See also
- Servile Wars
- Peasant movement
- Popular revolts in late-medieval Europe
- Maoism
- United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants
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