On this day, 667 years ago, on May 21, 1358 (April 13, 1358, the 1358 lunar calendar), the largest peasant uprising in French history-the "Zakre Uprising" broke out. The Zachre Uprising was an anti-feudal peasant uprising in France on May 21, 1358. It was one of the largest peasant uprisings in Western European countries during the Middle Ages. Zakre, derived from Jacques Bonhomme-"Dizak", which means "redneck", is a disparaging term for farmers by aristocrats, giving rise to the name of the uprising. Background Class conflicts in rural France reached extremely acute levels in the 14th century. Monetary land rent prevailed, and the greed of feudal lords expanded day by day and endlessly increased rent. Although many farmers have redeemed some of their personal dependence obligations, they have fallen into the clutches of usurers. In November 1337, the "Hundred Years 'War" broke out between Britain and France over the throne. The British feudal lords attempted to plunder spoils from France and extort ransom from prisoners of war, so they actively participated in the war. In the first stage of the war, France suffered successive defeats, and the farmers were the first to suffer from the war. British troops in France as they did at home, wreaking havoc and destroying the peasant economy, and the French troops did as they pleased. During the interval between the wars, mercenaries with nothing to do went out to plunder farmers. The exploitation of feudal lords was increasingly aggravated due to military expenditures. feudal exploitation became a heavy burden on farmers, and farmers 'lives deteriorated sharply. In the battle of Poitiers in western France in 1356, the British army, led by the eldest son of Edward III, the Black Prince, defeated the French army and captured King Johan and many feudal lords. After the king was captured, Prince Charles supervised the country. In order to raise the king's ransom and war funds, Charles introduced a new corvee system and stipulated additional taxes. Farmers are increasingly dissatisfied with the current situation. The Hundred Years 'War also destroyed France's handicrafts and commerce. Residents of all walks of life in the capital Paris were very dissatisfied with the government. Merchant leader Aton Masse led a civil uprising and demanded that the king implement a series of reforms. Prince Charles fled Paris and recruited troops to suppress the Paris uprising. When Prince Charles ordered that all roads leading to Paris be cut off, the feudal lords prepared for war in the castles around the city. All the work of building castle fortifications fell to the farmers. On May 25, 1358, the farmers spontaneously eliminated a group of Charles's soldiers who plundered local farmers, and later decided to take up arms against the feudal lords. The uprising began in the town of Saint-Le-Desseran in the department of Beauvais, north of Paris, and quickly spread to places near Paris, Picardi and Champagne, and then swept through most of northern France, with the number of uprising reaching as high as 100,000. In addition to farmers, those who participated in the uprising also included craftsmen, small merchants, poor priests, and noble knights from individual small territories. Although the uprising was carried out without prior consideration and planning, the large number of rebels destroyed castles, killed captured nobles, and burned contracts recording corvee. The insurgents had no written program. Their slogan and belief were: "Eliminate all aristocrats and leave no one alive!" The uprising in the Beauwe area was the largest, with a population of about 6000 people. The leader of the uprising was Guyom Kalle, who had rich military experience, from Melo Village, Beauwe area. One of his deputies was a knight in the religious order who was familiar with military affairs. They organized every 10 people of the rebels into a squad, and the 10 squads were combined into a squadron. Each squadron leader is directly commanded by Guillom Kalle. Guillaume Kahle, who was wise and far-sighted and loyal to the uprising peasants, understood very clearly that the scattered and ill-equipped peasants needed citizens as strong allies, so he tried his best to get in touch with Aton Marcé, who led the civil uprising in Paris. He sent a delegation to Paris to ask for assistance and immediately headed for Cambian. However, wealthy citizens did not let the uprising farmers pass, and similar situations occurred in Sanlis and Amiens. Obviously, wealthy citizens who had control over city management were not opposed to using the peasant movement for their own purposes in order to destroy the neighboring feudal castle and exert pressure on Prince Charles. However, these citizens did not dare to form alliances with the uprising farmers. They were worried about the loss of their status and property, and the development of the revolutionary movement, so they tried their best to hinder the movement. They would rather form an alliance with the ruling class after concessions than with the revolutionary people. Only the poor class of citizens sympathized with the farmers and supported the rebels in Beauvais and other small cities. However, because poor citizens are in a dependent position in the city, the city's policies are not decided by them and they are unable to provide much help to the rebels. Aton Masse adopted exactly the attitude of wealthy urban citizens towards the uprising peasants. On the one hand, he contacted the peasant uprising team, asking them to destroy the fortifications built by the feudal lords between the Seine and Vaz rivers that prevented food from entering Paris, and sent a team of about 300 Parisians to assist the farmers. On the other hand, he recalled his own troops when Guillom Kalle was in urgent need of troops, exposing the farmers to the well-equipped enemy. As a result of the uprising, the peasants 'uprising was able to achieve great success so quickly because the aristocrats were suddenly scared to a loss and just fled in all directions at the beginning of the uprising. Later, all reactionary forces united. Charles, the "villain" king of Navarre, who originally wanted to use the capture of King John to seize the throne of France, and the British feudal lord who was at war with France all came to help the French ruling class suppress the peasant uprising. The knight army of Prince Charles and the army of King Charles of Navarre, the "villain", were ordered to move out. On June 8, the main force of Guillom Kalle's Peasant Rebellion Army encountered about 1000 elite Knights of Charlie the Bad Man near the village of Melo. Guillaume Kalle correctly judged that the farmers could not win in fighting in an open place, so he mobilized the farmers to march towards Paris. But the farmers did not listen to their leaders 'advice, claiming they would never take a step back. Therefore, Guillom Kalle deployed the peasant rebels in the mountains where they could control the surrounding area, built a fence with horse-drawn carriages, deployed archers on the front line, and kept a 600-man cavalry team as a reserve. Faced with the high fighting spirit and strong lineup of the rebels, the Knights did not dare to attack the peasant rebels for a few days and turned to tricks. Charlie the Bad Man pretended to invite Guillom Kalle to negotiate and conclude an armistice agreement. Guillom Kalle did not use hostages to ensure his safety. He went to the meeting with confidence and was detained by the treacherous "villain" Charlie. The feudal lord's army took advantage of the peasant uprising and launched an onslaught. The peasant rebels who lost their leadership could not withstand the sudden attack of the armored knights and were defeated. The rulers carried out bloody suppression of farmers everywhere, and by June 24, more than 20,000 farmers had been killed. Two months later, the bloody suppression of the farmers stopped until the aristocrats were afraid that no one would harvest their crops. Guillom Kalle died heroically after being tortured. The Zachre uprising finally failed, and since then, the uprising of the citizens of Paris also ended in failure. Reasons for failure The main reason for the failure of the Zakre Uprising was, on the one hand, the lack of strong organization and a clear program of struggle, and on the other hand, the lack of reliable allies. After taking advantage of the peasant uprising to achieve their own goals, the upper-class citizens of the city immediately betrayed and betrayed the peasants. Although the urban poor supported the uprising, they were weak and did not form an awakened social class and could not lead the peasant revolution. The insurgents themselves also had great limitations. They believed in the enemy and did not recognize that the king was the highest representative of feudal rule. They even painted royal emblem and lily flowers on their flags. In combat, troops are scattered and weapons are insufficient. Historical evaluation Although the Zakre Uprising ultimately failed, the Uprising left an indelible glorious page in French history. The uprising prompted farmers to get rid of their personal dependence more quickly, awakened the majority of farmers, and raised their social awareness of fighting against feudal lords. The uprising weakened and shaken the rule of the feudal lords in vast areas of northern France and enriched the French people's experience in armed struggle against the feudal lords. After that, these experiences were learned by other anti-feudal movements in Europe.