The Peasants' war in Germany
(1524-1525)
Future Uprisings
Outcome
Causes
- Political prejudice
- Economic distress
- Religious prejudice
- The main uprising was stomped by the Swabian League
- The peasant did not receive what they wanted in the first place
- 100 000 peasants lost their lives fighting for their requests
- Even though the rebellion was not successful, many more were inspired from this one until around 17th century
- After their defeat, the rest of peasants abandoned their demands
- The Thirty-Years War - inspired by the Peasants' War
What happened after the rebellion was defeated?
What were the outcomes of the Peasants' War?
What can we say to summarize this event?
cause -> action -> outcome
In what conditions did those causes occur?
Conditions
Summary
- Population growing
- Rent and conditions for farming getting worse
- Due to the large amount of precious metals gathered the value of money sank to 50% and the prizes rose
- The problems that the economy's growth caused made the lords take negative actions, which enraged the peasants in Germany
- The peasants organized massive acts of violence in order to reform empire and the church
- The Peasants didn't receive what they were fighting for, but set an example for the future uprisings.
- Sporadic outbreaks in Algäu, Alsace, the Diocese of Speyer and many other small towns in Germany
- Mobs organized by peasant leaders
- Weaken the princes and secularize the Church's property
Sources
EnLöffler, Klemens. "War of the Peasants (1524-25)."
The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 21 Nov. 2017, <www.newadvent.org.cathen/11597a.htm>. Accessed 21 Nov, 2017.
"Peasants War." The Renaissance. Encyclopedia.com. 21 Nov. 2017,
<www.encyclopedia.com>. Accessed 21 Nov, 2017.
How did the lords deal with the low value of money and high prices?
How did they achieve these goals?
The Peasants' Goals
What did they want to achieve?
- Political reform of the empire
- Ecclesiastical (church) reform
- Do what the national council in Speyer failed to do
- Small towns
- Peasants
- Large cities having external reasons to join the peasants' side
- No raise in wages, high taxes
- Increase in services and burdens of the serfs
- High taxes covered the military needs and the high costs of local governments
Who was angry about those measures?