German Peasants' War

The German Peasants' War, Great Peasants' War or Great Peasants' Revolt (German: Deutscher Bauernkrieg) was a widespread popular revolt in the German-speaking areas of Central Europe from 1524 to 1525. It failed because of the intense opposition of the aristocracy, who slaughtered up to 100,000 of the 300,000 poorly armed peasants and farmers. The survivors were fined and achieved few if any of their goals. The war consisted, like the preceding Bundschuh movement and the Hussite Wars, of a series of both economic and religious revolts in which peasants and farmers, often supported by Protestant clergy, took the lead. The German Peasants' War was Europe's largest and most widespread popular uprising prior to the French Revolution of 1789. The fighting was at its height in the spring and summer of 1525.

The war began with separate insurrections, beginning in the southwestern part of what is now Germany and neighboring Alsace, and spread in subsequent insurrections to the central and eastern areas of Germany and present-day Austria. After the uprising in Germany was suppressed, it flared briefly in several Swiss Cantons.

List of peasant revolts

This is a chronological list of conflicts in which peasants played a significant role.

Background

History of peasant wars spans over a period of over two thousand years. A variety of reasons, fueled the emergence of the peasant revolt phenomenon including:

Later peasant revolts such as the Telangana Rebellion were also influenced by agrarian socialist ideologies.

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.

Chronological list

The list gives the name, the date, the peasant allies and enemies, and the result of these conflicts following this legend:

See also

References

Sources

Peasants' War (1798)

The Peasants' War (Luxembourgish: Klëppelkrich, French: Guerre des Paysans, German: Klöppelkrieg, Dutch: Boerenkrijg) was a peasant revolt in 1798 against the French occupation of the Southern Netherlands, a region which now includes Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of Germany. The French had annexed this region in 1795, and control of the region was officially ceded to the French after the Treaty of Campo Formio in 1797. The peasants' war is considered one of the French Revolutionary Wars, as it was a revolt against the First French Republic.

Motivations for War

After the Southern Netherlands was annexed by France, the French Revolutionaries began to implement their policies regarding the Catholic Church. The Civil Constitution of the Clergy required that priests take an oath of allegiance to the state. Priests who refused such an oath were considered to be enemies—non-juring priests—of the state and could be removed from their positions and homes. Additionally, in early 1798 the French Council of Five Hundred passed a law requiring compulsory military service. This law ordered the conscription of men between the ages of 20 and 25 in all French territories. General conscription like this was a relatively new product of the French Revolution, and was met with anger by the young men who were forced into service.