Protestant Reformation

Luther's 95 Theses fracture Western Christianity, unleashing wars of religion and the modern concept of individual conscience.

Martin Luther's challenge to papal authority, amplified by the printing press, split the Catholic Church and triggered over a century of religious wars across Europe.

Perspective

Luther didn't intend to create Protestantism — he wanted to reform Catholicism. But the printing press turned a theological dispute into a mass movement before anyone could control it. Technology amplifying dissent beyond the dissenters' intentions — another pattern that keeps repeating.