The Saxon Peasants' Revolt ( or kursächsischer Bauernaufstand) of 1790 was a military conflict between the nobility and the peasants. The hot spots of the insurrection were large areas around Dresden, Leipzig and Zwickau.

Course of the revolt

The wildlife plague caused by noble gamekeeping reserves initially led to unrest in game in Wehlen, which rapidly spread to other districts (Ämter). However, the government in Saxony was able to bring these riots under control by early July. The previous harsh winter of 1789/1790 and the drought in 1790, however, increased the potential for conflict. So in the summer of 1790, more and more peasants rebelled against the Saxon state, the revolt being centred on Wechselburg

Wechselburg

Wechselburg is a municipality in the district of Mittelsachsen, in Saxony, Germany. It is well known for its twelfth century Benedictine monastery, theWechselburg Priory.- References :...

. One of the best known spokesmen for the peasants was Christian Benjamin Geißler, also called "the Rebel of Liebstadt" ("Rebell von Liebstadt"). By mid-August, the farmers had taken control of fifteen patrimonial court districts, covering an area of 5,000 square kilometres.

The areas around Stolpen

Stolpen

Stolpen is a town in the district of Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge, in the Free State of Saxony, Germany.- References :...

, Dresden

Dresden

Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....

, Radeberg

Radeberg

Radeberg is a small town located approximately 20 kilometres north-east of Dresden in Saxony, Germany. The company Elektronik Radeberg GmbH, formerly well known in East Germany for the production of portable television sets, is located there....

, Dippoldiswalde

Dippoldiswalde

Dippoldiswalde is a town in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, administrative center of the Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge district. It is situated 23 km east of Freiberg, and 18 km south of Dresden....

, the two Lusatia

Lusatia

Lusatia is a historical region in Central Europe. It stretches from the Bóbr and Kwisa rivers in the east to the Elbe valley in the west, today located within the German states of Saxony and Brandenburg as well as in the Lower Silesian and Lubusz voivodeships of western Poland...

s and Torgau

Torgau

Torgau is a town on the banks of the Elbe in northwestern Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district Nordsachsen.Outside Germany, the town is most well known as the place where during the Second World War, United States Army forces coming from the west met with forces of the Soviet Union...

 were now affected by the uprising. The riots took place in a disorganized and very spontaneous manner. Thus, in the area of Königstein and in Upper Lusatia labour was withdrawn. There were even assaults on castles and Saxon military units were disarmed by the peasants. On 23 August in Meissen

Meissen

Meissen is a town of approximately 30,000 about northwest of Dresden on both banks of the Elbe river in the Free State of Saxony, in eastern Germany. Meissen is the home of Meissen porcelain, the Albrechtsburg castle, the Gothic Meissen Cathedral and the Meissen Frauenkirche...

, 2,000 peasants, armed with flail

Flail

A flail is an agricultural implement for threshing.Several tools operate similarly to the agricultural implement and are also called flails:...

s, clubs

Club (weapon)

A club is among the simplest of all weapons. A club is essentially a short staff, or stick, usually made of wood, and wielded as a weapon since prehistoric times....

 and axe

Axe

The axe, or ax, is an implement that has been used for millennia to shape, split and cut wood; to harvest timber; as a weapon; and as a ceremonial or heraldic symbol...

s, forced the release of imprisoned rebels.

The main demands of the peasants were the abolition of hunting privileges, the abolition of socage

Socage

Socage was one of the feudal duties and hence land tenure forms in the feudal system. A farmer, for example, held the land in exchange for a clearly defined, fixed payment to be made at specified intervals to his feudal lord, who in turn had his own feudal obligations, to the farmer and to the Crown...

, the prohibition of the conversion of contributions in kind into financial interest

Interest

Interest is a fee paid by a borrower of assets to the owner as a form of compensation for the use of the assets. It is most commonly the price paid for the use of borrowed money, or money earned by deposited funds....

by the lords or Saxon district offices. Initially the peasants succeeded in getting the lords to waiver all duties, socage and interest. Some lords were even expelled by their peasants. But a major military operation in September 1790 finally overthrew the rebellion.

Sources

• Siegfried Hoyer: Die Ideen der Französischen Revolution und der kursächsische Bauernaufstand 1790, Neues Archiv für sächsische Geschichte, 65th vol., 1994, p. 61-76
• Christian Richter: Der sächsische Bauernaufstand von 1790 im Spiegel der marxistisch-leninistischen Geschichtsschreibung der DDR GRIN Verlag 2008, ISBN 978-3-640-24667-0
• Daniel Jacob:Kurfürst Friedrich August der Gerechte und der sächsische Bauernaufstand von 1790 ISBN 978-3-638-36415-7
• Michael Wagner:Der sächsische Bauernaufstand und die Französische Revolution in der Perzeption der Zeitgenossen, in Geschichte und Gesellschaft. Sonderheft, Vol. 12, Soziale Unruhen in Deutschland während der Französischen Revolution (1988)