agrarian reform: History

Agrarian reform has been a recurrent theme in history. The Greek and Roman eras were filled with violent struggles between landowners and the landless. The land reform issue was a major factor in the Gracchian agrarian laws. During the Middle Ages, demands for land reform triggered peasant rebellions, including the Peasants' Revolt in England led by John Ball and Wat Tyler in 1381 and the German Peasants' War of 1524–26.

Sections in this article:

• Introduction
• Latin America and Africa
• In Other Parts of the World
• China
• Russia
• History
• Bibliography

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