Beer War

The "Beer War" was a conflict in Brandenburg around 1486. It arose when cities in western Brandenburg refused to pay an excise tax on beer that had been approved by the assembly of estates. The Hohenzollern elector, John Cicero, ultimately defeated the cities in this conflict and revised their constitutions to favor his rule. This was part of a larger struggle between territorial princes and assemblies of estates in German principalities during the late medieval period, where princes sought to increase their power and revenues, often clashing with the estates over taxation and governance.1

The term "Beer War" is also associated with the War of the Bavarian Succession (1778-1779), a conflict where Prussia's Frederick II blocked Austria's attempt to acquire Bavaria. This war was nicknamed the "potato war" by contemporaries due to the minimal fighting and focus on cutting off supplies.2