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Holy Roman Empire (800–1806)

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Revision as of 19:37, 6 March 2023 by MudWizard (talk | contribs)
Holy Roman Empire
Heiliges Römisches Reich
Sacrum Imperium Romanum
Flag of Holy Roman Empire
Flag
Coat of arms of Holy Roman Empire
Coat of arms
The empire in 1789
The empire in 1789
Common languagesGerman
Latin
Dominant mode of productionFeudalism
GovernmentMonarchy
Population
• 1800 estimate
29,000,000


The Holy Roman Empire (German: Heiliges Römisches Reich) was a political entity in Central Europe during the medieval and early modern periods. Its power base was in Austria, but it extended across what is now Germany, Czechia, Hungary, and northern Italy. It was deeply divided and had internal conflicts between the Emperor and local princes.[1]

History

Under the rule of the Hapsburg dynasty, the Holy Roman Empire fought with Spain against France from 1494 and 1559 in northern Italy.[2]

Protestant Reformation

The Protestant Reformation began in what is now Germany in 1517. The Holy Roman Emperor summoned Martin Luther to the Diet of Worms in 1521 and threatened to execute him, but his teachings soon spread across the empire to two-thirds of German villages. Impoverished knights in southern Germany revolted from 1522 to 1523 followed by a peasant rebellion from 1524 to 1525 that threatened the entire feudal mode of production. Many German princes who opposed the Pope and Holy Roman Emperor converted to Protestantism.[1]

Thirty Years' War

In the early 17th century, Spain launched a feudal counterrevolution against the Reformation. Anti-Catholic nobles in Bohemia threw three imperial officials out of a window in Prague in 1618 and then refused to recognize the new Catholic emperor Ferdinand, granting the crown of Bohemia to a German Protestant prince named Frederick of Palatine. Catholic forces defeated Frederick in 1620 and restored the Catholic imperial government. The Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, and France intervened against Spain, defeating the Hapsburgs in 1648. The population reduced the German population by half between 1618 and 1648 and drained Spain's resources, allowing France to surpass it in military power.[1]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Neil Faulkner (2013). A Marxist History of the World: From Neanderthals to Neoliberals: 'The First Wave of Bourgeois Revolutions' (pp. 94–103). [PDF] Pluto Press. ISBN 9781849648639 [LG]
  2. Neil Faulkner (2013). A Marxist History of the World: From Neanderthals to Neoliberals: 'European Feudalism' (p. 88). [PDF] Pluto Press. ISBN 9781849648639 [LG]