A man named Martin Luther wrote the ninety five Theses about the issues of indulgences to the Church for official pardons. On October 31, 1527 he left the Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. With the printing press, the 95 Theses were known throughout Germany in a fortnight and throughout Europe in a month. Luther’s beliefs were based on the concept that Christianity is marrow a phenomenon of the inner or spiritual world of people,
His motivation and drive to want to push the movement forward, as well as publishing the German Mass in 1526, and the small catechisms (which outlined his beliefs), were important to the spread of Lutheranism in the years 1521 to 1531. However there are also other factors that contributed to the spread of Lutheranism in the years 1521 to 1531. The role of the big cities at the time such as Augsburg, were arguably more fundamental to the spread of Lutheranism, that martin Luther. These big cities had populations of around 100,000 people. In Big cities this would also usually mean it would be home to the ‘printing press’.
The Nazis in Germany had the Ministry of Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda; the Soviets had the Propaganda Committee of the Communist Party; the Ministry of Information was in Britain; and the Americans had the Office of War Information. What many people fail to realize is that propaganda is not just what the other side says, but often one’s own side’s “information” and “news.” Although the use of propaganda was highly effective during World War II, it was also used throughout history. Historians traced the use of propaganda back to the Reformation of the Catholic Church in Europe. The first propaganda institute was involved in improving dissemination of a group of religious dogmas. Propaganda was modernized with the advancement of technology from the seventeenth to twentieth century.
Two examples that make this clear are the vast amount of broadsheets, pamphlets and even cartoons, for those who were illiterate that were distributed quickly, significantly contributing to the success of the Reformation, and the way reformers such as Luther and Calvin were not able to be suppressed by the church in the same quick to act manner as it had done with heretics in a pre-Gutenberg Press era. Due to an extension of literacy among laypeople and the reliance of record keeping in government, cheaper and more efficient ways of writing were sought after in the west. Replacements for both expensive parchment and skilled scribes, who in their small numbers began to command increasingly high salaries. Western Europe began to import paper from the East and finally a reduction in costs was achieved. The next phase of trying to find a new and more cost effective way to print was trial and error, including printed books via woodcuts, however as each page needed its own woodcut this was only marginally better than using a scribe.
The invention of paper and the ability to print on it allowed humans to record events, write literature, and easily communicate long distances by sending letters. Another thing Christian left out of his book was the exploration of the new world. I believe that once the Americas were discovered, it became a prime focus of several countries. Thus, starting the colonization period. The discovery of the Americas by Columbus opened many new opportunities for trade between Europe and America.
The printing press, by Gutenberg, has grown immensely since the 15th century. It went from being in a few towns in present day Germany to almost all over Europe in a matter of 30 years (Doc. 2). Although the printing press was such a revolutionary achievement, the most important consequences were the dissemination of the words and ideas of the people and educating more citizens. Also it began to stir up conflicts among the beliefs of the churches over time.
In order to liberate Japan from Feudalism, Fukuzawa thought it was crucial for Japan to become familiarized to the Western ideas and technologies, and what he thought would forever change Japan. Fukuzawa first learned Dutch and later learned to English after visiting america ; he visited the United States twice and travelled through Europe for almost a year before the Meiji Restoration which was in 1868. Through these journeys Fukuzawa became accustomed to western ideas and begin to understand the basic principle of America’s society and what they stood for. Learning English became important to Fukuzawa, and he got to practice holding his position under the Shogunate government. Fukuzawa states, “Whenever a message was received from the American or British legation, I would attempt to read the original text.
Calvin also built a university in Geneva in 1559 that prepared young scholars for the ministry or civil service. His educational ideas eventually spread to Germany, France, the Netherlands, and England. Perhaps the most influential philosopher and theorist of the Renaissance was John Locke. Locke’s contributions began with his An Essay Concerning Human Understanding published in 1690. In this work, Locke contradicts the theory of innate ideas and put forth the concept of the human mind as being a “tabula rasa” or blank slate where it is void of any ideas.
Another Portuguese explorer was Da Gama. Da Gama captained the fleet of ships to reach India. There, they found many more spices and set up trading posts for Europe. This Journey opened a direct route to the overseas trade that helped for Portugal’s economy. Though Portugal was probably the largest country for exploration another center country was Spain.
Martin Luther played a vital role in the start of the Reformation, his actions from 1517 allowed people to start forming their own opinions on religion and the church. Between 1517 and 1522 Martin Luther wa pivotal in the course of the Reformation. On the 31st October 1517 Martin Luther nailed the 95 Theses on a door of All Saint’s Church in Wittenburg, provoked by indulgences sold by John Tetzel in villages around Germany; he was selling to relatives of people who had died. This money was needed in order to pay back debts to the Fugger bank for buying Albrecht of Brandenburg third bishopric and to build St Peter’s Church. This Theses was addressed to Pope Leo X, who was building St Peter’s.