Some historical events possess such enduring power that they continue to haunt our imagination and fears centuries later. The German Peasants’ War, brutally suppressed in May 1525, is one such event. Involving at least a hundred thousand people—probably many more—it was, as British-Australian historian Lyndal Roper observed, “the greatest popular uprising in western Europe before the French Revolution.” The rebellion spread from what is today southern Germany across Austria, Switzerland, France, and Hungary. The peasants’ famous Twelve Articles—formally titled “The Just and Fundamental Articles of All the Peasantry and Tenants of Spiritual and Temporal Powers by Whom They Think Themselves Oppressed”—demanded nothing less than ”Freyheit“ (Freedom).
Yet, despite its historical significance, the 500th anniversary of the final battle—which left tens of thousands of rebels dead and settled power relations in favor of local princes, defining Germany’s future for centuries—passed largely unnoticed. The muted response is remarkable: none of Germany’s major historical museums in Berlin, Munich, or Stuttgart (the latter two in regions heavily affected by the uprising) mounted significant commemorations, as one FAZ journalist rightly noted. This stands in stark contrast to 2017’s elaborate Reformation anniversary celebrations.
The silence is no oversight but a symptom of the embarrassment the 1525 events still cause Germany’s establishment—particularly now, amid rising populism.
From radical Left to populist symbol
For most of its remembered history, the Peasants’ War remained the preserve of the radical Left, partly due to Friedrich Engels’ influential 1870 study written under the shadow of Germany’s failed 1848 revolution. Stalinist East Germany’s adoption of the uprising as a founding myth—emblazoning rebel leader Thomas Müntzer’s face on its banknote—reinforced this association.
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