TheGerman-speaking states of theearly modern period (c. 1500–1800) were divided politically and religiously. Religious tensions between the states comprising theHoly Roman Empire had existed during the preceding period of theLate Middle Ages (c. 1250–1500), notably erupting inBohemia with theHussite Wars (1419–1434). The defining religious movement of this period, theReformation, led to unprecedented levels of violence and political upheaval for the region.
Usually considered to have begun with the publication of theNinety-five Theses (1517) byMartin Luther in the city ofWittenberg (then within theElectorate of Saxony, now located within the modernGerman state ofSaxony-Anhalt), the progression of the Reformation would divide the German states among new religious lines: the north, the east, and many of the major cities—Strasbourg,Frankfurt, andNuremberg—becomingProtestant while the southern and western regions largely remainedCatholic. Compromises and reforms would be made in an effort to promote internal stability within the Holy Roman Empire, importantly with thePeace of Augsburg in 1555, but these efforts would ultimately fall short and culminate in one of the most destructive conflicts the European continent had yet seen, theThirty Years' War (1618–1648) which ended with the adoption of the incredibly consequentialPeace of Westphalia.
This period also saw the emergence of theKingdom of Prussia as the primary competitor to the previously hegemonicHabsburg monarchy. After the close ofearly modern period in Europe following theAge of Enlightenment and thedissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 during theNapoleonic Wars, thisAustria-Prussia rivalry would prove to be the driving internal force behind theUnification of Germany in 1871.
TheGerman Renaissance, part of theNorthern Renaissance, was a cultural and artistic movement that spread among German thinkers in the 15th and 16th centuries, which originated with theItalian Renaissance in Italy. This was a result of German artists who had traveled to Italy to learn more and become inspired by theRenaissance movement. Many areas of the arts and sciences were influenced, notably by the spread ofhumanism to the various German states and principalities. There were many advances made in the development of new techniques in the fields of architecture, the arts, and the sciences. This also marked the time within Germany of a rise of power, independent city states, and spread ofFranciscan humanism.
TheGerman Reformation initiated byMartin Luther led to theGerman Peasants' War in 1524–1525. Luther, along with his colleaguePhilipp Melanchthon, emphasized this point in his plea for the Reformation at theImperial Diet of 1529 amid charges ofheresy, but the edict by theDiet of Worms (1521) prohibited all innovations. With efforts to be understood as Catholic reformer as opposed to a heretical revolutionary, and to appeal to German princes with his religious condemnation of the peasant revolts backed up by theDoctrine of the Two Kingdoms, Luther's growing conservatism would provoke more radical reformers. At a religious conference with theZwinglians in 1529, Melanchthon joined with Luther in opposing a union withZwingli. With theprotestation of the Lutheran princes at the Diet ofSpeyer (1529) and rejection of the Lutheran "Augsburg Confession" at Augsburg (1530), a separate Lutheran church finally emerged.
In Northern Europe, Luther appealed to the growing national consciousness of the German states because he denounced the Pope for involvement in politics as well as religion. Moreover, he backed the nobility, which was now justified to crush the Great Peasant Revolt of 1525 and to confiscate church property by Luther'sDoctrine of the Two Kingdoms. This explains the attraction of some territorial princes to Lutheranism. However, the Elector of Brandenburg, Joachim I, blamed Lutheranism for the revolt and so did others. In Brandenburg, it was only under his successor Joachim II that Lutheranism was established, and the old religion was not formally extinct in Brandenburg until the death of the last Catholic bishop there,Georg von Blumenthal, who wasBishop of Lebus and sovereignPrince-Bishop of Ratzeburg.
AlthoughCharles V fought the Reformation, it is no coincidence either that the reign of his nationalistic predecessorMaximilian I saw the beginning of the Reformation. While the centralized states of western Europe had reached accords with the Vatican permitting them to draw on the rich property of the church for government expenditures, enabling them to form state churches that were greatly autonomous of Rome, similar moves on behalf of the Empire were unsuccessful so long as princes and prince bishops fought reforms to drop the pretension of the secular universal empire.
The Reformation and printing press combined to mark a major breakthrough in the spread of literacy. From 1517 onward religious pamphlets flooded Germany and much of Europe. By 1530, over 10,000 publications are known, with a total of ten million copies. The Reformation was thus a media revolution. Luther strengthened his attacks on Rome by depicting a "good" against "bad" church. From there, it became clear that print could be used for propaganda in the Reformation for particular agendas. Reformist writers used pre-Reformation styles, clichés, and stereotypes and changed items as needed for their own purposes.[1]
Illustrations in the newly translated Bible and in many tracts popularized Luther's ideas.Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472–1553), the great painter patronized by the electors of Wittenberg, was a close friend of Luther, and illustrated Luther's theology for a popular audience. He dramatized Luther's views on the relationship between the Old and New Testaments, while remaining mindful of Luther's careful distinctions about proper and improper uses of visual imagery.[2]
TheThirty Years' War (1618–1648) was areligious war principally fought in Germany, where it involved most of theEuropean powers.[3][4] The conflict began betweenProtestants andCatholics in theHoly Roman Empire, but gradually developed into a general, political war involving most of Europe.[5] The Thirty Years' War was a continuation of theFrance-Habsburg rivalry for European political pre-eminence, and in turn led to further warfare betweenFrance and theHabsburg powers.
The major impact of the Thirty Years' War, fought mostly bymercenary armies, was the extensive destruction of entire regions, denuded by the foraging armies. Episodes offamine anddisease significantly decreased the populace of the German states and theLow Countries and Italy, whilebankrupting most of the combatantpowers. Some of the quarrels that provoked the war went unresolved for a much longer time. The Thirty Years' War was ended with thePeace of Westphalia.[6]
TheBaroque period (1600 to 1720) was one of the most fertile times inGerman literature. Many writers reflected the horrible experiences of theThirty Years' War, inpoetry andprose.Grimmelshausen's adventures of the young and naïve Simplicissimus, in the eponymous bookSimplicius Simplicissimus, became the most famous novel of the Baroque period.Andreas Gryphius andDaniel Caspar von Lohenstein wrote German languagetragedies, orTrauerspiele, often on Classical themes and frequently quite violent. Erotic, religious andoccasional poetry appeared in both German and Latin.
The18th century history of Germany sees the ascendancy of theKingdom of Prussia and the outbreak of theNapoleonic Wars which lead to the finaldissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806.
When EmperorCharles VI failed to produce a male heir, he bequeathed lands to his daughterMaria Theresa by the "Pragmatic sanction" of 1713. After his death in 1740 the Prussian kingFrederick the Great attacked Austria and invaded Silesia in theFirst Silesian War (1740–1742). Austria lost and in theTreaty of Berlin (1742) Prussia acquired nearly all ofSilesia. Prussia's victory weakened Austria's prestige and Maria Theresa, and gave Prussia an effective equality with Austria within the Holy Roman Empire" for the next century.[7][8]
From 1792 onwards,revolutionary France was at war with various parts of the Empire intermittently.TheGerman Mediatisation was the series ofmediatisations andsecularisations that occurred in 1795–1814, during the latter part of the era of theFrench Revolution and then theNapoleonic Era.
Mediatisation was the process ofannexing the lands of onesovereignmonarchy to another, often leaving the annexed some rights.Secularisation was the redistribution to secular states of the secular lands held by anecclesiastical ruler such as abishop or anabbot.
The Empire was formally dissolved on 6 August 1806 when the last Holy Roman EmperorFrancis II (from 1804, Emperor Francis I of Austria) abdicated, following a military defeat by the French underNapoleon (seeTreaty of Pressburg). Napoleon reorganized much of the Empire into theConfederation of the Rhine, aFrench satellite. Francis'House of Habsburg-Lorraine survived the demise of the Empire, continuing to reign asEmperors of Austria andKings of Hungary until the Habsburg empire's final dissolution in 1918 in theaftermath of World War I.
The Napoleonic Confederation of the Rhine was replaced by a new union, theGerman Confederation, in 1815, following the end of theNapoleonic Wars. It lasted until 1866 when Prussia founded theNorth German Confederation, a forerunner of theGerman Empire which united the German-speaking territories outside of Austria and Switzerland under Prussian leadership in 1871. This later served as the predecessor-state of modern Germany.
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Early ModernHoly Roman Emperors:
