Ya you have something really wrong. They tried, oh so very hard.

Luther emerged at a time that coincided with the invention of the printing press. Between 1517 and 1526, over 2000 copies of his Thesis had been circulated as well as cartoons, pamphlets and posters being read and seen by millions of readers and listeners. The most influential of these prints was his German translation of the bible. For the first time ever, non-priests could read the bible, as it was not printed in Latin and his works quickly spread among commoners. Hundreds of thousand of copies of Luther’s bible were printed; people carried it in their pockets and memorized it. Thus, people could now not only quote scripture, but importantly, discuss its meaning. This generated many spin off churches such the Calvinists, the Anglicans and the Anabaptists, with each new Protestant church proclaiming it knew the one true way to worship god and everyone was going to hell. This lead to significant conflicts.

Doctrinal dispute turned into a social revolt and in 1525 German peasants took up Luther’s ideas to give voice to long-standing grievances against landlords and clergymen. The peasanst rebelled, refused to pay taxes, pillaged church land and raised an army estimated at 300,000 people. The Catholic’s and counter-reformation suppressed this with crushing brutality and an estimated 100,000 people were killed. Military alliances such as the Protestant Union and Catholic League intensified the movements and tensions culminated in the ‘Thirty Years War’ between 1618 (the defenestration of Prague) and 1648 (the peace treaty of Westphalia). Initially fuelled by the ambiguity of laws surrounding the numerous religious settlements of Aubsburg, it soon turned into all out war between the Catholic and Protestant powers of Europe and was not settled until 1648. The ‘Peace of Westphalia’ restored status quo ante bellum with regards to constitutions, denomination and estates within the Holy Roman Empire while cementing territorial gains for Germany and France as well as independence of the Netherlands and the Swiss federation. As a result of this conflict, 40% of the population of the Holy Roman Empire died and there was a long-term establishment of Protestant and Catholic Areas.