Paupers, Parties And Plagues: The History Of Everyday German Peasants Vol. 2, 1450 - 1850 - 9781960250902

David Koehler continues his history of German peasants with this brilliant second volume, the companion to "Bakers, Brewers and Bricklayers" (2022), which was nominated for a Midwest Book Award. "Paupers, Parties and Plagues", written in a vivid non-academic style, shows how this hardy people survived waves of war, plague and famine yet managed to invent the first printing press, oil lamps, iron stoves, the pivoting front cart axle, cuckoo clocks and stagecoaches between 1450 and the mid-19th century. Koehler explains why the Industrial Revolution arrived late in German-speaking lands, ones comprised chiefly of small, poorly governed principalities, which became the weaklings of Europe. Koehler shows how the revolution of 1848, known as the "turning point when Germany did not turn", left Germans vulnerable to poverty equal to that of today's Sub-Saharan Africa. We see why the religious upheaval of the Thirty Year's War played out mostly on German soil, leaving the German-speaking world destitute and divided. Finally, we learn of a mass exodus from Germany, beginning in 1820, when millions escaped poverty and despotism for better lives in the Americas.

• | Author: David Koehler
• | Publisher: Wisdom Editions
• | Publication Date: Jul 28, 2023
• | Number of Pages: 242 pages
• | Language: English
• | Binding: Paperback
• | ISBN-10: 1960250906
• | ISBN-13: 9781960250902