Ap Euro Dbq The German Peasants Revolt

Documents 2,3,5,6 illustrate the positive responses. Documents 1, 7,9,10 illustrate negative responses. Documents 4, 8, and 11 show that cause of the revolts were about money and greed. Toward the final stages of the revolts, Emperor Charles V’s officials gave a Diet about how they are going to stop these revolts and create peace once again in Germany (doc

He also declared that monks and nuns were not obligated to uphold their vows. Luther not only acted revolutionarily towards political religious issues, but towards the social issues of the time as well. The most well known was the Peasants’ Revolt. Some religious leaders twisted and perverted Luther’s ideas to benefit their own causes, with the most prominent being Thomas Müntzer. They wrote the “Twelve Articles”: a petition of peasant demands and sent it to the Swabian League that called upon the Holy Roman Emperor to help the peasantry deal with economic and religious issues. When Charles V ignored the “Twelve Articles,” preachers led by Müntzer stirred the masses to revolt against the nobles. Luther believed the peasants were way out of line, as he was adamantly against mixing religious reformation with political and social revolution. He disassociated himself with Müntzer and the revolting peasants. He urged the princes to work together to “slaughter the swine,” or the peasants. He argued that religious subjects must be subordinate to their secular authorities. Luther proved himself a revolutionary over and over through many acts throughout his religious life.

Lorenz Fries stresses this anger in his report to the Archbishop of Wurzburg, as he describes the wealth’s inability to share their profits and income with the poor (Doc 8). The peasants believe they are entitled to a share of wealth because all are considered to be brothers in the public eye of God. Considering Fries’s report is secret, it most likely states his candid opinions (Pov3). Although economic oppression is a crucial factor in pushing the revolt, Protestant influence is responsible for the revolt as well.

Their only real burden was choosing where they held their loyalty; whether Catholic or Protestant, they had a decision to make. A large majority of them saw Protestantism as a way of avoiding responsibilities thrust upon them by the Catholic Church hierarchy. Document 2 brings up the “Twelve Articles,” a list of peasant demands for the Protestant church. However, feeling devoid of responsibility, they did nothing to deserve any cooperation with these demands. While this new-found liberty was exciting for the peasants, they took advantage of it at times, angering the Protestant church with rebellions, specifically Luther himself. Document 3 brings up another example of the Protestant foundation being for everyone. It sought to let peasants be as successful as possible, rather than keeping them in the dark and in poverty as the Catholic Church did. Luther wrote, “Let the government, when it sees a promising boy, have him kept in school; if the father is poor, let it help him with church property.” This conveys Luther’s feelings towards the peasants, wanting them to reach their potential, while still helping the church, and being helped by the nobles. As it would play out, peasants typically converted to Protestantism, and were required to in England (under Henry VIII’s new Anglican Church). This impacted all of their lives, and unlike the Catholic clergy, it was usually for the

The difference between a political and a church official was small to none, even when it came to the pope. They were both treated and viewed the same. Through the use of the commoners money, the self-glorification of the princes, bishops, and priests was seen (Document 1). And many people had no faith in the government at all but rather the Bible itself (Document 8). This political confusion led to riots and several deaths. In Document 6, Luthe says that the religious transformation must first occur within the peasants themselves, before any other course of action is acted upon. This shows his disapproval of the peasants’ course of action towards the princes. The Reformation also contributed to patriotic feelings throughout Germany. All in all the Reformation influences political aspects.

Martin Luther’s Letter to the German nobility condemned many of the Catholic Churches practices that Martin Luther believed reflected a corrupt church and described his growing opposition to the pope. Martin Luther believed that the pope should not have any authority over the emperor unless it is for spiritual offices. He believed that the only time, out of religious situations, the pope should feel above the emperor is when he anoints and crowns him at the altar. Martin Luther also did not understand the point or agree with pilgrimages or supports the facts that priest were not allowed to marry. He believed that pilgrimages separated you from your family which you are suppose to protect, not leave and that by forbidding priest to marry you are going against God’s wishes. While Martin Luther does not agree with many of the Catholic Church’s practices, the purpose of this document is not to bring hate upon the pope and Catholic Church but rather bring light upon the early reformation and Luther’s new religious movement.

Europe underwent a wave of revolutions during the 19th century. This series of political upheavals was known as the Revolutions of 1848. The Revolutions of 1848 were a series of republican revolts against European monarchies. The revolutions began in Italy, in January 1848, and eventually spread to the rest of Europe. The Revolutions of 1848 were significant because they were the most widespread and violent political movements of Europe in the 19th century. Ultimately, the ideas of conservatism, liberalism, and nationalism impacted the Revolutions of 1848.

Nevertheless, this social injustice was the reason that leads to the farmers’ Revolt, seeking to remedy their

(d-11) He notes that the poor often talk about how accustomed they were to that lifestyle in that they can be independent and sleep where wherever they want because they have no worries. This view of the poor can be debated because during the mid-1500s, a peasant revolt occurred and was violently suppressed when Martin Luther expressed his distain for the stupid peasants and their misinterpretation of his teachings. In 1625, cardinal Richelieu suggested that people should give discerningly to the poor because the vagabonds were taking advantage of the situation and were being helped out by the kindhearted. (d-8)

More specifically, a special decree was included in the Imperial Diet of Speyer in response to the rebellion (Document 7).  This decree ordered an examination of the revolt so that it could be prevented in the future.  Also, the decree included allowing those who “surrendered unconditionally” to return back to their estates despite their violent actions.  On the other hand, Martin Luther took a very different approach in his criticisms in Document 5.  He states that the peasants are acting like “raging dogs” in their violent revolts.  Also, he condemns their use of God was a motivation since instead they are merely trying to get others to join their devilish ways. Martin Luther, as the creator of Lutheranism, is an extremely credible source of criticism for the use of the will of God to inspire and justify the revolts since he is the actual creator of the religion the peasants now follow. At the same time, the German princes also reacted to the revolt by going to the aid of Emperor Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire.  He used his armies to assist the princes in shutting down the

Going back to Christian beliefs, the Protestant Reformation’s role in these uprisings cannot be understated, the peasants truly believed they were part of a new and significant movement in religious history (Document 1). This Christian lean to revolution emphasises that reforms are in line with God’s will. The appeal to Christianity found in Doc 2 says that if a reform was against God, the reform would not be instituted. Religious approach leads to a less violent view as seen in most rebellions, with the effect of many of the demands of these documents being ignored

With labor shortages apparent, people began to starve due to a lack of farming because people had abandoned their farms and villages. The *Serfs at the time were the main laborers, and due to the inevitable plague they were no longer tied to their masters of land. Due to the economic strain at the time, Serfs who survived were able to demand higher wages and better working conditions from their new landlords (Utah State University). Therefore, worker’s wages had skyrocketed. It was known that “a reaper was not to be hired for less than eightpence [a day, 50-75% up], plus his meals,” (The Economist). This eventually led to the end of Serfdom and the start of workers rights in Europe. This in turn socially changed the way people felt about the different socioeconomic classes due to the Peasant's Revolt (Utah State University). The need for better working conditions and situations for Serfs forever changed Europe.

Digging a little deeper, it is seen that the peasants’ revolts were in fact influenced by the Black Death. In “A History of Western Society” it is made clear that people were weak and sickly even before the Black Death infected them. “People were already weakened by famine, standards of personal hygiene remained frightfully low, and the urban populace was crowded together. Fleas and body lice were universal affections.” (History, 326). When people are dying from starvation, sickness and the Black Death they tend to fight to remain alive. It is known that a number of peasants’ revolts took place and one of these is recorded by an unknown monk in 1381. The source document called “The Anonimalle Chronicle: The English Peasants’ Revolt”. It delves into the issues around labor shortage because of

The German Peasants’ War of 1525 has been seen as both the last great medieval peasant revolt and as the first modern revolution. For more than 150 years the War has been the topic of ongoing historical debate. Indeed, it has always been a subject of contention among historians who seek to determine its relation to the Reformation. While most Reformation scholars have arrived at a consensus as to the series of events that transpired during the war, there has not been such agreement regarding the perplexing inner dynamic of the uprising. Set against the backdrops of both the German revolutions of 1848 and the political developments that characterized 1970s Germany, this debate has seen engagement from the historians Friedrich Engels and Max Steinmetz, who provide a Marxist interpretation that attempts to depict the war as the “high point of the early bourgeois revolution”, locating it within a German revolutionary tradition by citing the socioeconomic tensions that arose through the peasants’ oppressive relationship with the feudal lordship of their rural communities. Departing from the Marxist interpretation, Günther Franz has entered into the debate, defining the revolt as a “political revolution of the German peasant estate” that was made possible by the Reformation. Although he acknowledges the troubling nature of the evident economic difficulties, Franz understands the war as a response to the changing political structure of 16th century Germany. Submitting his own

7. The causes of the peasants’ uprising known as the Great Fear of 1789 was the peasants impatience and want to take matters into their own hands because they were furious with being forced to deal with the most of the taxation, the church tithes, and the nobles abusing their privileges effecting their lives. The cause that pushed them over the edge to begin the uprisings was the rise in the price of bread. The outcomes of the uprising were the destroying of feudal documents, enclosed lands raided, and most importantly the Nation Assembly having no choice but to issue a decree on August 4, 1789 that abolished all noble privileges including the hunting rights, the fees for legal cases judged in a lord’s court, forcing peasants to work on roads, along with the abolishment of tithes.