"However, as the movement grew and threatened to engulf all of Germany, Luther — protected by powerful princes and surrounded by allies from the nobility and the urban middle class — chose to side with the conservative, property-owning elements. Distancing himself from the radical insurgents, especially Müntzer’s revolutionary faction, he began preaching moderation and obedience to secular authority. By the time the uprising escalated and the Peasants’ War broke out, Luther turned against the peasants and called for their violent suppression:

'They should be knocked to pieces, strangled and stabbed, secretly and openly, by everybody who can do it, just as one must kill a mad dog!!'

@RealJournalism

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