The Printing Press Impact on History of Europe

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Introduction In this assignment, I will explore what the print revolution was and the impacts it had on early modern Europe. I will discuss the areas which it had a transforming influence, as well as presenting the alternative viewpoint that the print revolution was in fact not the key contributor and could not have had such an impact without other enabling factors. Johan Gutenburg is widely credited with the invention of the printing press. In 1454 the first book was printed on his movable metal type press in Mainz, Germany. In fact, Gutenburg’s creation was a combination of “three innovations: a way of producing movable metal type, a new kind of oil-based printer’s ink and the wooden hand press” (Knights and McShane, 2009, p.183). These inventions had been built up over time, culminating in the Gutenburg Bible; the first printed book. Prior to this books and documents were individually hand copied or scribed. Before 1500 it is estimated that only 20 million books existed in the world; during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries these numbers grew to between one hundred and fifty to two hundred million books (Houston, 2002, chapter 8). A leading historian, Eisenstein, introduced her theory on the unacknowledged revolution of the Print Press and its role as an “Agent of Change” (Eisenstein, 1979). The print press is considered largely responsible for starting the print revolution, allowing innovations and spread of printed word at a scale never seen before. Impact of The Print Revolution The printed word is judged one of the key factors in the success of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. Luther’s ideas were able to spread farther than any previous challenger of the Catholic church and its widespread corruption. Although not many people would have read his actual ninety five theses nailed to the door of the church in
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