Others suggest that the opposition from Austria was more important, or that the German Princes' fear of losing power played a vital part. Religion was an obstacle to German unification, but only to a certain degree. The Northern German states were predominately protestant. Whereas the south were Roman Catholic. This did pose a problem for the growth of nationalism as the Northern states looked to Prussian for support, as she was the protestant superpower amongst the German states.
Within politics, the Kaiser had great, engrained support and there was little, to no, challenge of the present system. Even "radical" parties, like the SPD, supported the Kaiser and his policies, such as Weltpolitik, Flottenpolitik, and the like. The parties on the right, the Conservatives, and the Centrist party did also not desire to push the issue of reform. Any large reforms would only give strength to the SPD, so the authoritarian state remained. Kaiser, as "King of Prussia", dominated the Reichstag which protected the Conservatives, who were supported, and arguably, controlled by the elites (Junkers) who wanted to preserve their status and power.
The main reason why, it can be argued, Bismarck brought an end to the Kulturkampf is down to the fact that instead of limiting the power of the Catholics he was only increasing it. He made a mistake. The Catholics support can be seen in the Reichstag through the centre party which gained 91 seats in the 1874 elections opposed to their 58 seats in 1871. This showed Bismarck had in fact increased disunity in the German state instead of diminishing it; he had done the complete opposite of what he had hoped to do. None the less, Bismarck was no fool; he took advantage of a situation which he hoped would never come.
The princes supported Lutheranism and helped spread his ideas, one reason being for material gain. They could take over Church lands or use the money for the benefit of their subjects, for example Philip of Hesse used 65% of his revenues for charitable deeds and the upkeep of the Lutheran Church. Another reason is for independence, for example Frederick of Saxony may have wanted to demonstrate his independence and authority as a Prince since he defied the
This war is like a proof of nation and states marked off. The conclusion from the war is Calvinist was accepted as choice for religion of the Holy Roman Empire. Befor the war, Europe was going through the reformation and counter reformation because different religion kept publicizing toward the Catholic Church. Protestant was the growing force that pulled the war together because Europe couldnt be united with only one religion. The acceptance of Calvanist proved Europe people could have religious independence and in politic, politic wouldn’t be fixed on any
The Protestant Church and the Nazis The Nazi Party adopted a slightly different tactic with the Protestant Church. They tried to infiltrate it and control it from within. Nationalist movement along with the Protestant Church before 1933 was called the "German Christians" and in 1993 they scored a triumph by winning three quarters of the votes in the elections that the Church held. A new, more Nationalist church constitution was drawn up and Ludwig Muller, an ardent Nazi Supporter, was appointed the Reich's Bishop. He was known o have said that he wears" the cross on his breast and the Nazi swastika in his heart."
The theologian Johann Maier had a goal to expose Luther and invited him to speak at a disputation: a public debate concerning the doctrines of free will and grace. At the disputation, which was between Maier and Luther’s colleague Andreas Karlstadt, Luther said that the popes did not have the exclusive right to interpret scripture. This made him an enemy of the pope. On 15 June 1520, the Pope, in the form of a letter told Luther to recant 41 sentences from his writings including the 95 Theses, and to do it within 60 days or risk excommunication. He refused to do this, set fire to the Papal Bull and defended his actions in Why the Pope and his Recent Book are Burned and Assertions Concerning All Articles.
This was recognised by many minor factions within the German lands at the time and new revolutionary protestant ideas were emerging which caught Henry’s eye. Reformers such as Martin Luther inspired Henry to move away from the old regime and assert his position as king of England through reformation, which would in turn bring the country under the crown, instead of the far away and naïve Pope having jurisdiction in Henry’s lands. This showed Henry that he’d be able to cut all ties with Rome and in doing so
How important was the peasants revolt in the spread of lutheranism to 1525? Plan: - Intro (How lutheranism started, who supported it and how far had it spread) - What was the revolt (brief) - Causes of the revolt - Memmingen Articles - Luther & the peasants - Consequences for Luther - Other factors (printing press, knights war) - Conclusion (how important was it in spreading - turned everyone against him) Lutheranism began when Luther pinned his 95 theses to the Wittenberg Church door. Many of his supporters were humanists who were renaissance scholars wanting to go back to the original texts, the princes were also supporters of Luther as they liked his teachings of princes being divinely appointed by God. By the start of the Peasants Revolt, Lutheranism had already spread quite far and many were believers in his teachings. The peasants’ revolt was a number of local uprisings that became a widespread general rising in 1525; hundreds of castles and religious houses were ransacked but there was no attempt to replace any authority with anything other than mob rule, making it easy for princes to re-establish their control.
One such example is the nationwide religious civil war in Switzerland that killed Huldreich Zwingli in 1531, who established Protestantism in Switzerland ("Huldrych Zwingli"). While Luther began the reformation as a religious reformer who hoped to improve the existing Christian Church, his actions had unforeseen consequences of both good and bad nature (“Martin Luther”). It is safe to assume that neither side of the conflicts regarding the Roman Catholic Church and the protestant reformation are correct in their own ways and have their own faults to point and look at. Time will only tell as to which of the two is the better choice for the advancement of Western