Germany in the early modern period

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Map of the empire following the Peace of Westphalia in 1648

The German-speaking states of the early modern period (c. 1500–1800) were divided politically and religiously. Religious tensions between the states comprising the Holy Roman Empire had existed during the preceding period of the Late Middle Ages (c. 1250–1500), notably erupting in Bohemia with the Hussite Wars (1419–1434). The defining religious movement of this period, the Reformation, led to unprecedented levels of violence and political upheaval for the region.

Usually considered to have begun with the publication of the

Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) which ended with the adoption of the incredibly consequential Peace of Westphalia
.

This period also saw the emergence of the

Austria-Prussia rivalry would prove to be the driving internal force behind the Unification of Germany
in 1871.

The 16th century

German Renaissance

Main article: German Renaissance
The empire in 1705 from L'Empire d'Allemagne, a map by Nicolas de Fer

The

Franciscan
humanism.

German Reformation

Main article:
German Reformation

The

Speyer
(1529) and rejection of the Lutheran "Augsburg Confession" at Augsburg (1530), a separate Lutheran church finally emerged.

In Northern Europe, Luther appealed to the growing national consciousness of the German states because he denounced the Pope for involvement in politics as well as religion. Moreover, he backed the nobility, which was now justified to crush the Great Peasant Revolt of 1525 and to confiscate church property by Luther's

Prince-Bishop of Ratzeburg
.

Although Charles V fought the Reformation, it is no coincidence either that the reign of his nationalistic predecessor Maximilian I saw the beginning of the Reformation. While the centralized states of western Europe had reached accords with the Vatican permitting them to draw on the rich property of the church for government expenditures, enabling them to form state churches that were greatly autonomous of Rome, similar moves on behalf of the Empire were unsuccessful so long as princes and prince bishops fought reforms to drop the pretension of the secular universal empire.

The printing press and literacy

The Reformation and printing press combined to mark a major breakthrough in the spread of literacy. From 1517 onward religious pamphlets flooded Germany and much of Europe. By 1530, over 10,000 publications are known, with a total of ten million copies. The Reformation was thus a media revolution. Luther strengthened his attacks on Rome by depicting a "good" against "bad" church. From there, it became clear that print could be used for propaganda in the Reformation for particular agendas. Reformist writers used pre-Reformation styles, clichés, and stereotypes and changed items as needed for their own purposes.[1]

Illustrations in the newly translated Bible and in many tracts popularized Luther's ideas. Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472–1553), the great painter patronized by the electors of Wittenberg, was a close friend of Luther, and illustrated Luther's theology for a popular audience. He dramatized Luther's views on the relationship between the Old and New Testaments, while remaining mindful of Luther's careful distinctions about proper and improper uses of visual imagery.[2]

Baroque period and Thirty Years' War

Further information: Protestant Union and Catholic League (German)

The

Habsburg
powers.

The major impact of the Thirty Years' War, fought mostly by

bankrupting most of the combatant powers. Some of the quarrels that provoked the war went unresolved for a much longer time. The Thirty Years' War was ended with the Peace of Westphalia.[6]

The

Daniel Caspar von Lohenstein wrote German language tragedies, or Trauerspiele, often on Classical themes and frequently quite violent. Erotic, religious and occasional poetry
appeared in both German and Latin.

Rise of Prussia and the end of the Holy Roman Empire

The

18th century history of Germany sees the ascendancy of the Kingdom of Prussia and the outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars which lead to the final dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire
in 1806.

Silesia

When Emperor Charles VI failed to produce a male heir, he bequeathed lands to his daughter Maria Theresa by the "Pragmatic sanction" of 1713. After his death in 1740 the Prussian king Frederick the Great attacked Austria and invaded Silesia in the First Silesian War (1740–1742). Austria lost and in the Treaty of Berlin (1742) Prussia acquired nearly all of Silesia. Prussia's victory weakened Austria's prestige and Maria Theresa, and gave Prussia an effective equality with Austria within the Holy Roman Empire" for the next century.[7][8]

French Revolutionary Wars and final dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire

Further information:
19th century history of Germany

From 1792 onwards, revolutionary France was at war with various parts of the Empire intermittently. The

Napoleonic Era
.

Mediatisation was the process of annexing the lands of one sovereign monarchy to another, often leaving the annexed some rights. Secularisation was the redistribution to secular states of the secular lands held by an ecclesiastical ruler such as a bishop or an abbot.

The Empire was formally dissolved on 6 August 1806 when the last Holy Roman Emperor

Treaty of Pressburg). Napoleon reorganized much of the Empire into the Confederation of the Rhine, a French satellite. Francis' House of Habsburg-Lorraine survived the demise of the Empire, continuing to reign as Emperors of Austria and Kings of Hungary until the Habsburg empire's final dissolution in 1918 in the aftermath of World War I
.

The Napoleonic Confederation of the Rhine was replaced by a new union, the German Confederation, in 1815, following the end of the Napoleonic Wars. It lasted until 1866 when Prussia founded the North German Confederation, a forerunner of the German Empire which united the German-speaking territories outside of Austria and Switzerland under Prussian leadership in 1871. This later served as the predecessor-state of modern Germany.

Science and philosophy

Part of a series on the
History of Germany
Topics
Early history
Middle Ages
Early Modern period
Unification
German Reich
German Empire1871–1918
World War I1914–1918
Weimar Republic1918–1933
Nazi Germany1933–1945
World War II1939–1945
Contemporary Germany
1945–1949/1952
Expulsion of Germans1944–1950
1949–1990
1990
Modern historysince 1990
Further information:
17th century philosophy and Prussian Academy of Sciences
Further information: Age of Enlightenment, Pietism, and Sturm und Drang

List of emperors

Early Modern

Holy Roman Emperors
:

See also

References

  1. ^ Mark U. Edwards, Jr., Printing, Propaganda, and Martin Luther (1994)
  2. ISSN 0024-7499
  3. ^ "The Thirty-Years-War". Western New England College. Archived from the original on 9 October 1999. Retrieved 24 May 2008.
  4. ^ "Thirty Years War  — Infoplease.com". www.infoplease.com. Retrieved 24 May 2008.
  5. ^ "Thirty Years' War". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 24 May 2008.
  6. ^ Richard W. Rahn (21 December 2006). "Avoiding a Thirty Years War". The Washington Post. www.discovery.org. Retrieved 25 May 2008.
  7. ^ Reed Browning, "New Views on the Silesian Wars," Journal of Military History, Apr 2005, Vol. 69#2 pp 521-534
  8. ^ Christopher Clark, The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600-1947 (2006) pp 190-201

Further reading

Religion

  • Bainton, Roland H. Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther (1978) excerpt and text search
  • Dickens, A. G. Martin Luther and the Reformation (1969), basic introduction by leading scholar
  • Gawthrop, Richard, and Gerald Strauss. "Protestantism and literacy in early modern Germany," Past & Present, 1984 #104 pp 31–55 online[dead link]
  • Junghans, Helmar [de]. Martin Luther: Exploring His Life and Times, 1483–1546. (book plus CD ROM) (1998)
  • Karant-Nunn, Susan C. The Reformation of Feeling: Shaping the Religious Emotions in Early Modern Germany (2012)
  • Midelfort, H. C. Erik. Witchcraft, Madness, Society, and Religion in Early Modern Germany: A Ship of Fools (2013)
  • Ranke, Leopold von. History of the Reformation in Germany (1847) 792 pp; by Germany's foremost scholar complete text online free
  • Smith, Preserved. The Life and Letters of Martin Luther. (1911) complete edition online free

Historiography
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