> In the 16th century, Martin Luther and John Calvin led which revolution?And the answer: Protestant Reformation. Photo courtesy: history.comThe Reformation was a series of events in the 16thcentury, stemming from criticism of the Catholic Church. In 1517, Martin Lutherpublished his 95 Theses, outlining his criticisms of the Church. The Reformationeventually led to a split in the Christian church, into Catholic and variousProtestant churches.During the European Middle Ages, the Catholic church dominated Europeancivilization. For one, the Catholic church was considered to be the caretaker ofthe Christian soul, which were eternal and determined the direction of one'safterlife. What's more, the Parish priest played a pivotal role in nearly everysignificant event in one's life: baptizing, marrying, and hearing confessionwere all performed by the Parish priest. The priest was also usually the onlyindividual known to families who could actually read the Bible. The Catholicchurch owned much of the land, and was the source of education, and socialservices. As such, the Church was the seat of immense power and culturalsignificance during this time. Then, Martin Luther changed everything. After a trip to Rome, he becamedisgusted by what he saw as obvious corruption running rampant in the city.Priests seemed to abuse their power, giving little weight to their preaching andcarrying out performative acts such as asking for "indulgences," or money forthe church in exchange for everlasting salvation. Taking a queue from Paul theApostle's epistemology, who argued there was no greater path to salvation thansimple faith, Martin Luther drafted 95 theses against these corrupt practicesand, as the story goes, nailed them to the door of the church. In 1521, Luther was called to defend his ideas in front of the Holy RomanEmperor Charles V, or else be declared a heretic. However, something else wasafoot. Thanks to the recent creation of the printing press, Luther's ideas andnew, German translation of the Bible were everywhere. For the first time ever,non-priests could read the Bible for themselves. Hundreds of thousands ofLuther's bible were created, memorized and circulated. New ideas, theories andsects of Catholicism began cropping up. What started as a doctrinal disputequickly turned into a social revolt, and in 1525, German peasants began standingup to landlords and serfdom. An army of around 300,000 people assembled, and thedispute turned bloody.When the dust settled, an entirely new branch of Christianity stood:Protestantism. Anglicans, Puritans, Quakers, Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists(to name a few) began practicing their own religions, independently from theCatholic church. Learn more about this pivotal moment in history below.