Without the printing press, it would not have been possible for the Protestant Reformation to spread among Europe. The Printing Press specifically allowed Martin Luther to communicate his thoughts and ideas to the public.
The spread of the printing press produced in the 1500’s helped Martin Luther publish his thoughts about indulgences and other church practices for the public to view. Martin Luther was infuriated by the immoral actions that the Church conducted concerning indulgences. Devoting his time to the Church, Martin Luther wrote 95 theses billeted on the Church door which requested for a disputation. Martin Luther truly was “unhappy with the Church,” and it also reads that “indulgences were payments to the Roman Church in return
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Martin Luther was known as a reformer who actions were known to the Church leaders as defiant vandalism. He needed something to spread his preaching across Europe and Gutenberg’s invention did just that. In two weeks the 95 theses written was known throughout Germany and in a month spread across the entire Europe. (Doc. B) The printing press helped Martin Luther’s writings attract attention which resulted into people changing their religious choices. A map from 1500 showed that Europe was covered in mainly Catholics and how an outburst occurred in 1560 when the protestants were projected to almost half of the population. (Doc. C) As a result the Church authorities began to slowly lose their powers and their followers which proves that a wide range of people are aware and agreed to Martin Luther thoughts. It is displayed that between 1518 and 1525 in Germany, there were about a million of books made and ⅓ of them was written by Martin Luther which is approximately 300,000 books printed and sold in a time frame of a year by Martin Luther. (Doc. B) Hence that the printing press was one or even the biggest contribution for Martin Luther thoughts