THE GERMAN EMPIRE, 1520-1525.
Germany does not present a fruitful field for examples of popular
uprisings and the exhibition of the indignation of the people when
crushed by the oppressors of the upper classes. Germany to-day, even
in the last decade of the nineteenth century, presents a picture of
the only government in Europe which pretends to have a representative
form of government, where the chief executive, the Emperor, can speak
of himself, or would dare to do so, as the “war lord,” to whom absolute
obedience is due by the citizens of the Empire. The Anglo-Saxons,
while a branch of the great Teutonic race, seem to have acquired, by
their being transplanted to the British Isles, a greater spirit of
independence than the other branches of the German race that have
remained on the continent of Europe.
Otho I., son of Henry I., the mighty Saxon duke, was the founder of
the German empire (936-973), and remorselessly crushed the rising
opposition of the princely aristocracy. Mutterings of discontent,
ominous of coming revolution, began to be heard throughout the whole
of South and Central Germany, in the early years of the seventeenth
century. The social position of the peasants was of the most degrading
character. They were serfs; or, in other words, belonged to the soil on
which they were born, and through that to the lord who owned the soil.
The miserable peasants had no right to move from these lands; there was
no appeal from the authority of the lord. When he appropriated for his
own use the common pasture grounds of the village; when he forbade them
to fish in the streams, or to hunt in the woods; increased the ground
rent; tithe socage service, according to his own need, they had to
submit or revolt.
Thomas Münzer was an earnest, advanced preacher at Zwichfau, in Saxony,
in 1520 and in 1523. He was expelled from Allstadt by the government,
and went first to Nuremberg, and then to Schaffhausen, returning
soon to Thüringia, and settled at Mülhausen. There he succeeded
in overthrowing the city council and appointing another which was
completely under his control.
Götz von Berlichingen was a famous German knight, surnamed “The Iron
Hand.” He was born in 1480, at Berlichingen Castle, in Wurtemberg. He
lost a hand at the siege of Land Shut, and replaced it with an iron
one. He was a daring and turbulent subject, continually involved in
feuds with neighboring barons.
Thomas Münzer and Götz von Berlichingen were the only leaders who took
part in what is known as “The Peasants’ War,” in Germany. This was
an uprising of the peasants, which first manifested itself January
1, 1525, by the capture and looting of the convent of Kempton. This
served as a signal for general uprising of the peasantry from the Alps
to Havz, and from the Rhine to the Bohemian frontier. Münzer quickly
persuaded the whole population in and around Mühausen and Laugensalza
to rise in revolt, and Götz von Berlichingen hastened to place his
skill at the service of the infuriated peasants.
Unfortunately, however, the uproarious hordes were without other
leadership, and lacked discipline and effective weapons. They gathered
in throngs of from 5,000 to 10,000, and ran hither and thither, with
clubs, stones, and perhaps a few firearms, burning castles, destroying
monasteries, plundering villages, towns, and cities, and committing
ferocious outrages. Before the regular armies, these multitudes were
scattered like chaff in the hurricane. They fought with the fury and
courage of tigers, but it availed them nothing; they were routed,
dispersed, and massacred, and effectually crushed in a few months.
Münzer was tortured and beheaded. Von Berlichingen was placed under
the ban of the empire by Maximilian I., his exploits serving as the
subject of Goethe’s drama of “Götz von Berlichingen.”
While unsuccessful, this uprising of the peasants demonstrates that
the inherent love of liberty has a place in the hearts of the German
race, and should furnish to Emperor William a warning note that there
may be a point where, in spite of the Germans’ love for Fatherland,
and pride in the glories achieved by the Empire, they may resent
expression of autocratic authority on the part of their Emperor.
When the German becomes an American citizen--and there are no better
citizens of America than the Germans--the spirit of equality, which
has lain dormant in the Teutonic blood for centuries, immediately
asserts itself. Under the wise guidance of Bismarck, German unity was
made possible, and the glory won by united Germany has influenced
the Germans in Europe to submit to heavy taxation, and the continued
assumption of social superiority; but the time is rapidly approaching,
which it would be well for Emperor William to consider, when the German
people of Europe will exhibit the same love of liberty and equality
that the children of the German race exhibit as citizens of the
American Republic. It is to be hoped that the German empire will not
sustain the severe shock in the latter part of the nineteenth century
by which the whole social system in the kingdom of France was rent
asunder, in the latter part of the eighteenth century.