On the Peasant War (Notes)

Author(s) Frederick Engels
Written December 1884


Written at the end of 1884
First published, in Russian, in Marx-Engels
Printed according to the manuscript Archives, Vol. X, Moscow, 1948
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 26

Engels wrote these notes when preparing the new edition of his book The Peasant War in Germany. As is clear from his letters, specifically, to Friedrich Adolph Sorge of December 31, 1884, he intended to revise it completely presenting the peasant war of 1525 as "the pivot for the whole history of Germany" (see present edition, Vol. 47). This demanded that substantial historical data be added. The notes written on a separate sheet are probably a fragment and a draft plan for the introduction to the book. Engels' intention to publish a revised edition of The Peasant War in Germany was not realised.

Reformation—Lutheran and Calvinist—bourgeoisie's revolution

No. 1, in which Peasant War is the critical episode. Dissolution of feudalism, along with the development of towns, both decentralising, absolute monarchy therefore a virtual necessity for holding together the nationalities. Had to be absolute, precisely because of the centrifugal nature of all the elements. Absolute not to be understood in the vulgar sense, however: constantly at odds partly with the Estates, partly with rebellious feudal lords and towns; the Estates nowhere abolished; thus better described as an Estate monarchy (still feudal, decaying feudal and embryonic bourgeois).

Victory of revolution No. 1, which was much more European than the English one, and became European much more quickly than the French one, in Switzerland, Holland, Scotland, England—to a certain extent in Sweden, too, already [under] G[ustavus] Vasa, and Denmark, here not until 1660 in orthodox, absolutist form.

I.[1] Causes in Germany. History from beginning. Germany broken after the heroic age of the migration of peoples. Only restored from France, by Charlemagne. Hence Roman empire idea. Renewed by Otto. More non-Germans than Germans. Ruin of Germany by this policy—of pillaging the Italian cities—under the Hohenstaufens. Thus fragmentation confirmed—excepto casu revolutionis[2] Development from interregnum[3] to 15th century. Rise of the towns. Decay of feudalism never perfected in Germany under pressure from the princes (the emperor as sovereign against, as emperor for the imperial knights). Gradual emancipation of the peasants, until setback in 15th century. Germany materially on a par with the other countries of the day.—Crucial that in Germany because of provincial fragmentation and long-term freedom from invasion the need for national unity not so strong as in France (the Hundred Years' War), Spain, which had just been reconquered from the Moors, Russia, which had just driven out the Tatars, England (Wars of the Roses),[4] and that even the emperors of the day so shabby.

II. With the Renaissance in its European guise based on general decay of feudalism and rise of the towns. Then absolutist national monarchies—everywhere except in Germany and Italy.

III. Character of the Reformation as sole possible, popular expression of universal aspirations, etc.

  1. ↑ In the manuscript the text marked "I " by Engels is placed after that marked "II".—Ed.
  2. ↑ Save in the case of revolution.— Ed.
  3. ↑ Interregnum—the period between 1254 and 1273 in Germany after the Hohenstaufen dynasty had ceased to exist. It witnessed the struggle between various pretenders to the Imperial crown, incessant strife between princes, knights and cities, and the mounting arbitrary rule of the princes in their estates. In 1273, Rudolf Habsburg was elected Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
  4. ↑ The Hundred Years' War—a series of wars between England and France lasting from 1337 to 1453. It was caused by the dispute between the two countries over the possession of the commercial and industrial towns of Flanders, the main consumer of English wool, and the English kings' claims to the French throne. During the war, the English managed to seize a considerable part of France. However, as a result of a popular war against the foreign invaders, the English were driven out of French territory with the exception of Calais. The reference is to the so-called reconquista, in the course of which the peoples inhabiting the Peninsula recaptured the territories conquered in the 8th-15th centuries by the Arabs and the Berbers collectively known as the Moors. By the mid-13th century, the Moors retained only the Emirate of Granada, which fell in 1492. The reference is to the final period of Tartar-Mongol rule in Russia, which lasted throughout the 13th and 15th centuries. The popular struggle against the invaders resulted in the formation of the Russian centralised state. This enabled Prince Ivan III of Muscovy to refuse to pay tribute to the Golden Horde in 1476. After the unsuccessful campaign against Russia undertaken by Khan Ahmed in 1480, the country set itself completely free from the Tartar-Mongol yoke. The Wars of the Roses (1455-85)—wars between the feudal houses of York and Lancaster competing for the throne, the white rose being the badge of the House of York, and the red one of the House of Lancaster. The wars almost completely wiped out the ancient feudal nobility and brought Henry VII to power to form a new dynasty, that of the Tudors, who set up an absolute monarchy in England