What are the advantages and disadvantages of the printing press?

Answer 1

Protestant Reformation

• The Protestant Reformation may be considered as one of the most influential events of Western history and was ushered in when Martin Luther nailed his writ of 95 Theses against the Catholic Church to the church door in Wittenburg, Germany. It was the printing press that was used to make a prolific amount of copies of the 95 Theses, which were then circulated throughout the Holy Roman Empire. Until then, there had been numerous attempts at reforming the Catholic Church, but the limited amount of communication across national borders beyond word of mouth prevented popular uprisings.

Peasant's Revolt

• As a result of the beginning of the Reformation, the Peasant's Revolt attempted, in part, to start a popular uprising against the authority structure of princes that allied with the Catholic Church, demanding an ending to serfdom, the seizure of common lands and a limitation on the tithes and rents paid to the church and the nobles. Unfortunately, the Peasant's Revolt was squashed by Holy Roman authorities, resulting in the death of nearly 100,000 peasants