Protestant Schmalkaldic League Formed

1531

Lutheran princes and cities met at Schmalkalden in Thuringia and signed a defensive alliance against the emperor. Charles V, preoccupied by the Ottomans, could not immediately respond. The League became the military backbone of Protestant Germany for the next sixteen years, until Charles finally crushed it at Muehlberg. The League transformed the German Reformation from a theological movement into a military alliance capable of armed self-defense.