German Peasants' War • Hacker News Board

Re: German Peasants' War

#41

Post by shevy-java » Sun, Jul 26, 2026, 1:27 PM UTC

"The revolt failed because of intense opposition from the aristocracy, who slaughtered up to 100,000 of the 300,000 poorly armed peasants and farmers."

Quite a slaughter. Today we also have indirect slaughter - billionaires versus the rest of the world.

The medieval days, though, were quite tragic because those peons and farmers were factually slaves, depending on the area (there were a few with less restrictions for a while, but ultimately it was slavery). Some of those wars were briefly won by the peons, but in just about any case where they had some victory, lateron they had a huge defeat. Even those who survived were either later executed, or lost their wealth because those who fought for the aristocrats were often rewarded with possessions of others here. In some european countries there is still "nobility". They still have unfair wealth. They should give that to the people.

Re: German Peasants' War

#42

Post by shevy-java » Sun, Jul 26, 2026, 1:27 PM UTC

hliyan wrote: post #11

Not a historian nor economist, but to my layman's mind, these revolts seem like a recurring phenomenon whenever long running economic cycles reach that point at which the aristocracy overreaches while trying to suppressing growing public sentiment against them, not unlike in Polybius' anacyclosis . But unlike Polybius' cycles, as technology improves, the likelihood of a successful reset at the end of a cycle, gradual…

The revolts kept on coming back because people hated to being slaves and working for others for (almost) free.

Re: German Peasants' War

#43

Post by roenxi » Sun, Jul 26, 2026, 1:28 PM UTC

Tade0 wrote: post #14

hliyan wrote: post #11

Not a historian nor economist, but to my layman's mind, these revolts seem like a recurring phenomenon whenever long running economic cycles reach that point at which the aristocracy overreaches while trying to suppressing growing public sentiment against them, not unlike in Polybius' anacyclosis . But unlike Polybius' cycles, as technology improves, the likelihood of a successful reset at the end of a cycle, gradual…

Something else is going to happen this time, or really is happening already: people vote with their feet and stop having children. On one hand wealth is being pooled into a smaller number of people, on the other it's becoming difficult to have anyone invested in working harder - and for good reason, as there's little payoff in that.

As theories go, that one makes little sense. At no point in human history has living in miserable conditions caused people to stop having children. And the evidence seems quite suggestive that people stop having children as their material conditions improve.

There isn't really a final word on the topic I'm aware of, but it looks like all the options available are out-competing having children rather than that people are avoiding families as some sort of revolt. People aren't generally willing to have kids if it means abandoning their efforts to achieve the most comfortable modern lifestyle that they can.

Re: German Peasants' War

#44

Post by constantius » Sun, Jul 26, 2026, 1:28 PM UTC

acheron wrote: post #37

icantevenhold wrote: post #12

Crazy how obscure episodes of world history land randomly on the front page - how does it even happen? I grew up in Germany but I don’t think we covered this in history class - maybe I forgot about it, the whole medieval period is mostly a blur for me now

Yeah, and it looks like the OP is just using it to post religious flamebait comments. If I wanted Reddit I’d be over there.

I'm not using this to post religious flamebait, and to anyone thinking I'm attacking their faith: this is not my intent, and I'm for sure not singling out Christianity.

I find history fascinating, especially the history of religion, and my views on it are in line with my contributions and discussions on HN about authoritarianism, surveillance, oppression, etc.. It's unfortunate that wanting to give some visibility to a little known episode of history and then engaging in debate about a passion of mine is seen by you as disingenuous.

Re: German Peasants' War

#45

Post by whateverboat » Sun, Jul 26, 2026, 1:29 PM UTC

Tade0 wrote: post #14

hliyan wrote: post #11

Not a historian nor economist, but to my layman's mind, these revolts seem like a recurring phenomenon whenever long running economic cycles reach that point at which the aristocracy overreaches while trying to suppressing growing public sentiment against them, not unlike in Polybius' anacyclosis . But unlike Polybius' cycles, as technology improves, the likelihood of a successful reset at the end of a cycle, gradual…

Something else is going to happen this time, or really is happening already: people vote with their feet and stop having children. On one hand wealth is being pooled into a smaller number of people, on the other it's becoming difficult to have anyone invested in working harder - and for good reason, as there's little payoff in that.

Well, US is already banning abortion and contraceptives, so, we will see.

Re: German Peasants' War

#46

Post by jrmg » Sun, Jul 26, 2026, 1:30 PM UTC

constantius wrote: post #2

An episode of history I had never heard about. 100-300,000 peasants killed. As someone who reads a lot about the early history of religion, the most interesting part of this for me was the role of Martin Luther, the founder of Protestantism: "In Against the Murderous, Thieving Hordes of Peasants , Luther condemned the violence as the devil's work and called for the aristocrats to put down the rebels like mad dogs". M…

‘Q’ by the pseudonymous ‘Luther Blissett’ is a great historical fiction book about the period that really gets into what was happening in Europe in the 16th century. The Peasants’ War isn’t even the half of it. European Christian history is brutal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q_(novel)

https://www.alibris.com/Q-Luther-Blissett-pse/book/5481947

Bonus fact: some believe that the ‘Q’ of ‘Q’ is the inspiration for the naming of the pseudonymous ‘Q’ of Q-Anon fame :-| Don’t let that put you off the book though; its politics are not the same!

Re: German Peasants' War

#47

Post by vvpan » Sun, Jul 26, 2026, 1:30 PM UTC

Pentiment is a Peabody award winning video game that covers this period. It's terribly engaging and well written. I'd use the word "educational" but that might make it sound dry, which it is not.

Re: German Peasants' War

#48

Post by trevithick » Sun, Jul 26, 2026, 1:31 PM UTC

Tade0 wrote: post #14

hliyan wrote: post #11

Not a historian nor economist, but to my layman's mind, these revolts seem like a recurring phenomenon whenever long running economic cycles reach that point at which the aristocracy overreaches while trying to suppressing growing public sentiment against them, not unlike in Polybius' anacyclosis . But unlike Polybius' cycles, as technology improves, the likelihood of a successful reset at the end of a cycle, gradual…

Something else is going to happen this time, or really is happening already: people vote with their feet and stop having children. On one hand wealth is being pooled into a smaller number of people, on the other it's becoming difficult to have anyone invested in working harder - and for good reason, as there's little payoff in that.

When all labor is automated, is it a problem for the elites if people stop having children?

Re: German Peasants' War

#49

Post by constantius » Sun, Jul 26, 2026, 1:34 PM UTC

faidit wrote: post #35

hliyan wrote: post #11

Not a historian nor economist, but to my layman's mind, these revolts seem like a recurring phenomenon whenever long running economic cycles reach that point at which the aristocracy overreaches while trying to suppressing growing public sentiment against them, not unlike in Polybius' anacyclosis . But unlike Polybius' cycles, as technology improves, the likelihood of a successful reset at the end of a cycle, gradual…

The world war helped via wealth destruction and redistribution. Polybius' theory also has Arabic (Khaldun) and Chinese analogues. In China it looks like a 300-ish year cycle driven by wealth/land concentration and elite corruption which ends with peasant revolts, a power vacuum, peasants taking back their own land, and a new dynasty formed by rebels or invaders, after which the new elite slowly begins encroaching on…

The idea that wars, epidemics, and catastrophes lead to wealth redistribution is the thesis of "The Great Leveler" by Walter Schneidel: it's not an absolute rule (and as far as I remember, another book was published to criticise this one), but it seems to hold through a change in power dynamics, supply and demand of labour, and coordination between the previously oppressed classes.

Re: German Peasants' War

#50

Post by dr_dshiv » Sun, Jul 26, 2026, 1:39 PM UTC

“ After defeating the peasants and their town allies in 1525, the lords continued raising rents to the point that, by the 1570s, peasants were paying 60 to 80 percent of their harvest on rents and debt. This unsustainable amount meant that the farmers could not adequately feed themselves or their livestock, nor refertilize the soil. This led to declining grain yields, widespread malnutrition, and famines, which opened the door to the return of the plague. Social tensions grew at all levels of society, producing witch hunts and repeated outbreaks of war. The growing burden of war taxes and staggering debt loads further crippled the economy, ending in general collapse into the Thirty Years War. The Thirty Years War was the inescapable result of the defeat of the peasants in 1525. Farmers in England, meanwhile, won their freedom from serfdom, which allowed them to produce the growing agricultural surpluses that fueled England’s rise to world power.”

Proving again that a harmony of interests is better than domination.