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Period: to
Socio-Political-Economic Revolt and Rebellion
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Revolt of the Barretinas - Selected Manuscripts: Frederick Williams the “Great Elector.” Bodeleian Library, University of Oxford.
Through a selection of his memoirs, the duke of Prussia recalls Catalans to have revolted against the government of King Charles II of Spain with seperatist intention. It was funded and intensified by the French, acting as a Franco-Spanish proxy war. Support for the revolt was concentrated amongst the peasantry, whose main complaints were towards the government’s quartering of soldiers and high taxes. Additionally, growing Catalonian nationalism attributed to the civil disorder. Although a failure, the loss of control represents Spain's decline as a global hegemony. -
Yury V. Bosin. “Bulavin’s Rebellion, 1707–1708,” in International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest
The International Encylopedia of Revolution and Protest contains pages of Bulavin rebel Yury Bosin's jounral. He provides a detailed account of the events before, during and after the rebellion. He exaplains that it's a part of a series of Cossack (Eastern Slavs) rebellions that would last over a century, the Bullavin Rebellion was caused by social grievances within Russia’s massive peasant population. When Peter the Great tried to ‘Westernize’ Russia, they took up arms in protest, feeling that it was intruding on their Orthodox religion. The Bullavin Rebellion didn't succeed, but many others followed, leading to the assassination of Peter the Great and dramatic social reform from Catherine the Great. -
Sächsischer Bauernaufstand 1790 or the "Saxon Peasants' Revolt"
Sächsischer Bauernaufstand presents scanned authentic documents written by Saxon peasants during the revolt. It lists their exact demands, elaborating on the purpose and characteristics of the event. It explains that it was a conflict between the nobility and peasants in the German areas of Dresden, Leipzig, and Zwickau. The insurrection was caused over a dispute involving hunting rights within gamekeeping reserves. The rebellious sentiment began to spread, growing up to 7,000 men. They demanded for the abolishment of hunting privileges and feudal duties. Resentful nobles accepted these demands until a military operation overthrew the rebellion. Rebels were insipired by French abolition of corvée. -
Material On Tican's Uprising in Srem in 1807. trans. Secanski, Zevan. 1952.
Written in Serbo-Croation, this primary source compiles a collection of letters from leaders urging others to join the movement. The letters poetically attempt to persuade others, indicating that Tican’s Rebellion was led by Serbian peasants who had the goal of changing feudal relations in their society. It occurred in a domino effect, starting with an attack on the estate of Karlo Pejacevic, earl of Ruma. Following this, 15,000 Serb peasants from forty-five villages joined against the sipahi (feudal lords). The rebellion was suppressed a few months later by Austrian authorities. It resulted in Austria forcing feudal lords to stop excessive exploitation of peasants. -
Caragial, Ion. “1907 From Spring to Autumn,” in Language and Literature: European Landmarks of Identity. vol 15. no 3.
Part of a number of volumes on historical European political discourse, "1907 From Spring to Autumn" is a detailed account of the Romanian Peasants' Revolt, containing entire sections of Austro-Hungarian authorities records. Through their persepctive, it's understood that the revolt was caused over the inequity of land ownership. About 80% of Romania’s population consisted of peasants who had to pay rent to a small number of landowners. With an alleged Austro-Hungarian instigation, hundreds of thousands of peasants revolted, destroying property. 140,000 troops were mobilized to quell the rebellion, later destroying records of those killed. Most of the landowners were Jewish, resulting in a wave of anti-Semitism. -
Dutt, Clemens. “Letter to V.S Kornev,” Lenin Collected Works. Moscow: 1975.
In a long letter from Lenin to commanding officer Kornev, the Bolshevik's lack of care for humanity is illuminated. Lenin's great worry in his writing corresponds to the scholarly suggestion that this was the largest and best-organized peasant rebellion to challenge the Bolshevik regime during the Russian Civil War. It was caused by the forced confiscation of grain by Bolshevik authorities, which left many starving. The Soviets dismissed it as nonsensical anarchy, but it was actually led by the Union of Working Peasants, legitimizing it all the more. A total of 240,000 were killed under Lenin’s order, which called for the “speediest liquidation possible.” Last major challenge made by peasants to Soviet authority.
