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Five German Familes A Simulation of European Social History 1789-1912 In the late 1970s my colleague, Jim Diehl, and I became dissatisfied with the learning in the survey of modern European history since 1815, which we taught at Indiana University Bloomington. Like a great many Americans, the students in the course thought of societies entirely as a collection of individuals, and they found it very difficult to see how a particular group of people could act in terms of shared experiences, interests and values. They were also having difficulty mastering one of the most important deep learning goals for the course – the ability to view historical phenomena from the perspective of different groups. Therefore, with support from Tom Schwen and funding from our university, we enlisted the aid of three Ph.D. students, and the five of us created a simulation of European social history from 1789 to 1815. The students in the course were randomly assigned to one of five social classes (aristocracy, upper middle class, lower middle class, peasant proprietor, and landless peasant). They set with their class in lecture and in discussion sections and were often asked to share the experience of their group in the period we were studying that week and to interact with students from other classes. Each week for the first seven weeks of the course the students received a description of the challenges facing each social class in that period, and they had to choose the response to these problems and opportunities that they believe was most fitting for their character. These choices affected the economic and status points with which their character would begin the next week's turn and in some cases would result in their moving to a different social class. In the process the students experienced the currents of European history over one hundred and twenty-five years. When we began using the simulation, students immediately began exhibiting a much greater understanding of the role of class in European history, and the simulation provided a framework within which we could deal with many of the central developments in this period. The graduate teaching assistants who worked in the course over the next several decades were so impressed with this teaching tool that many of them carried it into their own teaching in colleges around the country. A number of them have worked together to expand the simulation past the original end point of 1914 and to p[ut it on line. Here are the background information, challenges, and possible response that the undergraduates were presented wioth in the original version. If you have questions or are interested in using the simulation yourself, email me at dpace@indiana.edu. David Pace, Professor Emeritus, History Department, Indiana University, Bloomington
Turn I--1790--Conditions in Premodern Europe--Aristocrat
Count Heinrich von Edelman
Economic Points: 750
Age: 22
Status Points: 1000
Single
Problem As
the chief magnate of the region you are clearly the richest and most
prestigious member of the community.
Your large landholdings bring in a good income and despite the slow
erosion of your family's feudal privileges over the last several centuries,
most members of the local peasantry still have certain obligations to you
which augment your wealth. Moreover,
you are the most politically powerful member of the community with contacts
through your family at the court of the King of Saxony. In
order to live according to your station in life you must support a number of
servants and retainers at your country estate as well as at your town house
in Dresden, where you spend part of each year.
You must always furnish and maintain these houses at a level
reflecting your social status.
There are also many expenses for clothing, travel, and cultural and social
gatherings. Meanwhile your
income is slowly being eroded by the inflation which has grown persistently
at a rate of about two per cent a year since 1750.
Most of your income is fixed since the various dues and rents paid in
kind by your peasants are determined by ancient long-term contracts.
Thus inflation is beginning to eat away at your economic resources.
Although you feel that you have more than enough land to maintain
your social standing and would like to sell some part of it for cash, there
exists the feudal law of entail which forbids the division of aristocratic
estate. Thus you cannot sell
any of your land.
While these long-term problems continue to worry you, there is a more
pressing issue at hand, one which requires immediate attention.
An unusually cold and wet growing season has ruined the main cereal
crop of the region, rye.
Although the crop failure is only local, transportation problems and the
generally impoverished condition of most of the peasantry will put
high-priced imported grain out of the reach of many families in the village.
For peasants involved in subsistence-level agriculture a crop failure
for even one season signals famine.
Of course, for a man of your wealth and status a local famine poses
no threat of starvation. Your
storage bins are full and you are free to travel to more prosperous areas to
wait out the crisis. You are,
however, concerned about this particular subsistence crisis because you fear
that hungry peasants might become angry peasants.
The events of the revolution in France are still the main topic of
conversation at aristocratic gatherings and every noble landholder in Europe
is a little less sure of the submissiveness of his peasants than he was two
years ago. What action should
you take to preserve your interests and meet the current crisis?
1) Perhaps a clever subterfuge
will allow you to both appease your peasants and deal with your
financial problems at the same time.
It has long been the custom of your family to use the village
pastor as a mouthpiece for publicizing new policies on your
manor. You arrange for the
pastor, Scheinheileger, to deliver a sermon extolling your many virtues,
chief among them being your generosity and selflessness.
While you sit modestly in your private section of the church he
will announce that, in response to the needs of your loyal peasants, you
will dismiss the musicians you have been supporting and forgo making any
further improvements on your castle and gardens.
The pastor will preach that, while tightening your own belt in
this austere fashion, you will personally see to it that none of your
faithful peasants starve.
While Rev. Scheinheileger's flowing phrases will make this action sound
like a magnanimous offer of poor relief, only you and he will know that
the cutback on your conspicuous consumption is actually something you
had wanted to do to fight inflation and the assurance that none of your
people will starve will cost you only a few sacks of grain.
2) This isn't the first
local famine, nor will it be the last.
Peasants have survived harvest failures in the past and you are
confident that they will weather this crisis and still be around to work
on your fields for many years to come.
You also discount the possibility of a local peasant revolt.
Your peasants are far too steady and loyal to follow the example
of those French rabble-rousers.
The problem remains, however, of what to do about this infernal
inflation. You simply must
bring some new wealth into the family and the traditional way of doing
this is through marriage.
During one of your stays in Dresden you have become acquainted with Herr
Unternehmer, a rather wealthy entrepreneur in the linen business.
He has a daughter of marriageable age and you are certain that
the dowry, as well as the possibility of future commercial arrangements
with this enterprising member of the upper middle class would mean
substantial addition to your income.
You set out for Dresden with the intention of gradually letting
it be known that you would like to court the businessman's daughter.
3) You've had quite enough
of all the rumors in the countryside about peasant revolts and the loss
of aristocratic status and you decide it is time to do something to
prevent the spread of such nonsense.
You offer your services to the King of Saxony, impressing upon
him your keen sense of aristocratic duty and knowing that a commission
in the army would bring with it a nice fat salary to help offset your
expenses. You feel that it
is only by sticking together and demonstrating their military prowess
that in the nobler elements of society will be able to preserve their
aristocratic heritage and quell the threat of peasant up-risings.
Meanwhile your peasants will just have to deal with the famine by
themselves.
Turn I--1790--Conditions in Premodern Europe -- Aristocrat 1)
After services on the Sunday the pastor announced your generous
offer, you were deluged with requests from virtually every family in the
village and hailed as a true Christian.
Naturally you didn't have the grain with you so you told the peasants
to take their requests to your overseer.
He is as tight-fisted as he is ugly so you are certain that the few
sacks of grain he tosses to those miserable wretches will not amount to
much. Meanwhile you're saving a
substantial amount of money by firing those musicians and making-do with
your forty-room residence as it is.
Your parties, however, have lost some of their gaiety and you have
heard whispers of "cheapskate" coming from some of your aristocratic
friends. There is a bit of
trouble in the village when three families die of malnutrition but the
survivors are too weak to pose any real threat to your aristocratic
existence. Changes:
Economic +10
Status -25
2)
You should have known better.
While a marriage alliance is the traditional way of bringing new
wealth into aristocratic families, it is only acceptable when the lady in
question is already a member of your own social class.
Your noble friends were shocked that you would even consider marrying
below your station in life and even the upper middle class businessman had a
better sense of social propriety than to let his daughter be courted by an
aristocrat. Your offer has also
made it fairly obvious that your financial position is precarious.
You leave Dresden in disgrace and return to Keindorf only to find
that hungry peasants do indeed become angry peasants.
Fortunately they attacked only one of your grain bins and were quiet
again as soon as they had filled their wretched gullets. Change
Economic -50
Status -75
3) By serving the King you have found an effective way to improve your economic position without compromising your family name. You gain a high position in the military, requiring little work but giving a good deal more prestige and wealth. Your fellow aristocrats think you have exhibited true nobility in every sense of the word by offering your time and energy for the preservation of aristocratic tradition. Your peasants would not dream of rebelling as long as you have the army to back you up. Of course your estate will be a bit short of help next year since several peasant families died of starvation, but your salary and the occasional bribes which come your way as a high-ranking army officer will easily offset any losses on your estate. Turn
I--1790--Conditions in Premodern Europe--Upper Middle Class
Alfred Geldmacher
Economic Points: 350
Age: 62
Status Points: 350
Wife: Frieda Geldmacher
Children: Ludwig (32), Gretchen
(30) and Gernot (25)
Grandson: Wolfgang (6 months)
Problem
You, Alfred Geldmacher, are a small grain merchant in Dresden, whose family
has dealt in rye for several generations.
Your family has never risked what money it had by speculating on
grain futures, believing that traditional business practices are soundest,
though they may never bring fame and fortune.
This conservative philosophy is consistent with that of the other
merchants of Dresden, and consequently there is little disparity in wealth
among this segment of the upper middle class.
Although you are comparatively well off, especially in respect to
guildsmen such as the Grobschmieds, who are blacksmiths, you have never
enjoyed either the wealth or the prestige of the aristocracy, who monopolize
the offices in the lavish court of the King of Saxony, Friedrich August III.
One day you sit down with your friend Fritz Unternehmer at the Königbräu,
your favorite beerhouse. Herr
Unternehmer deals in linen. He
directs a cottage industry in which he rents equipment to peasants in the
nearby village of Keindorf and sells the cloth they produce.
Through this "putting out" system he can avoid the stiff guild
regulations that apply in Dresden and make a good profit.
As he quaffs his beer, Fritz's tongue loosens and he confides in you
that he intends to speculate heavily in the grain market.
For the past two years there have been terrible harvests due to a
killing frost and to a blight which destroyed much of the crop.
As a result, there is a severe shortage of grain this year and prices
are steadily rising. Men in
other towns have reputedly made huge profits already.
Now it is apparent that Dresden merchants, too, wish to capitalize on
the famine. If they are
successful and you do nothing, you fear that your economic position will be
threatened and your status will decline considerably.
In order to uphold your family's honor, which of the following
options should you choose? 1)
Although your area has had very poor harvests, there are rumors that
there are places across the Saxon border which are having their best
harvests ever. You realize that
you could take the money you have saved over the past several years, cross
the border and buy grain, import it back to your community, and sell at a
large profit. You know that you
will have to pay tariffs when you cross any of Germany's many borders but
you hope that the tariffs and the bribes for customs officials will not
offset profits.
3) By being conservative
you have managed to save a little bit each year, even though the
harvests have not been good for several years.
You now have quite a tidy little sum set aside.
With the prices rising quickly you know that a wise investment
now could result in a handsome profit in a very short time.
Failure in this venture, however, would ruin your family.
Take 3/4 of the money you have set aside and buy as much grain as
you can, although this goes against all the traditional business
practices of your family.
Purchase all of this grain in the surrounding neighborhood, where your
business dealings will not be hindered by tariffs and bribes to customs
officials.
Turn I--1790--Conditions in Premodern Europe -- Upper Middle Class 1)
The tariffs are high, but the customs officials are willing to look
the other way after you give them a solid bribe.
The bribes and shipping costs cut heavily into your profit, but you
make a good deal and gain a lot of status in the community because you are
now seen as a shrewd businessman.
You become the leading businessman in the community. Changes:
Economic Change +50
Status Change +25
2)
Herr von Steinherz is amused by your pretensions and laughs heartily
before he ejects you from his posh doorstep.
Your failure to marry into the aristocracy has slightly marred your
status in Dresden, to say nothing of your ego.
However, only a very exceptional merchant can cross the barrier into
Steinherz's class, given the social conditions in pre-industrial Germany.
You find some solace anyway, in the good profit which you make with
your conservative business practices. Changes:
Economic Change +10
Status Change -10
3)
Without warning there is a revolt in the countryside, and the
peasants go on a rampage, trampling fields and looting grain storehouses.
You lose most of your savings and some status.
Although everyone in the community sympathizes with your misfortune,
they criticize you for risking as much as you did.
Economic Change -20
Status Change -10
Turn I--1790--Conditions in Premodern Europe--Lower
Middle Class
Adolf Grobschmied
Economic Points: 100
Age: 22
Status Points: 150
Single
Problem
Your father is master of a blacksmith shop that produces horseshoes and
cannon for the King's army.
Within the traditional guild hierarchy, your position as a journeyman in the
shop is not an enviable one, because you must create a masterpiece before
achieving the status of master craftsman.
The guild system has, of course, served to preserve tradition, to
standardize prices, and to control the quality of goods being produced.
But these merits offer little solace to those of your generation, who
are increasingly being excluded from the ranks of master.
You are unlike your two coworkers because it is assumed that you will
inherit your father's position within the guild hierarchy when he reaches
old age. Your friends, however,
must continue to serve as little more than wage workers and have bleak
chances of ever becoming master craftsmen if they decide to remain in their
present positions in Dresden.
You face several problems in 1790.
First, a famine has struck Saxony due to frost and to a blight on the
crops. The severe shortage of
grain that resulted has meant a steady rise in food prices, one that has
caused the cancellation of some of the shop's outside orders.
Second, your father appears to be in sound health and is, after all,
only 43. You might remain a
journeyman for years to come.
Finally, you have fallen in love with beautiful Gertrude, daughter of the
Königbräu's innkeeper. Your
father, upon hearing of this liaison, flew into a rage, for he felt that the
girl was clearly beneath your status.
On an excursion to the inn, you and your fellow journeymen discuss
your options. After several
beers, two of your friends confide in you that they intend to run away, to
go "tramping" in search of better opportunities.
They encourage you to join them in their adventure, and to bring
Gertrude with you. Another two
friends argue that it is the high food prices that have caused the plight of
the journeymen in Dresden. They
propose to demonstrate against the grain merchants like the Geldmachers who
appear to profit from the famine; if all else fails, they will resort to
force. You must choose from
among the following alternatives: 1)
Run away with the other two journeymen and take Gertrude with you.
The four of you could set off trampling and you would be independent
from your father. There is a
lot of insecurity in this choice, but you are young, and you have important
skills which will help you to find work.
You hope someday to set up your own shop, free of restrictions from
your father and from the guild.
3) Join the apprentices and
journeymen in riots against men like Fritz Unternehmer, a linen merchant who
speculates on the grain market.
If you can force grain prices down, business conditions are likely to
improve for all of you. As a
master's son, you will not starve like many of these artisans, but neither
will you achieve the rank of master quickly under current business
conditions.
3) Join the apprentices and
journeymen in riots against men like Fritz Unternehmer, a linen merchant who
speculates on the grain market.
If you can force grain prices down, business conditions are likely to
improve for all of you. As a
master's son, you will not starve like many of these artisans, but neither
will you achieve the rank of master quickly under current business
conditions.
Turn I--Conditions in Premodern Europe -- Lower Middle Class
1) Harassed by the police with
whom you must register in every town, you are also unable to find work as a
journeyman and are forced to join the urban proletariat in Chemnitz.
Not only have you become destitute from having severed relations with
your father but you have also lost a great deal of status in your move from
the lower middle to the working class.
One of your friends has died of consumption and the other has taken
off his own way. You live with
Gertrude, but she is not too well and is pregnant.
Play rest of simulation as a member of the Urban Proletariat.
Economic Change -70
Status Change -140
2)
Your decision to remain in Dresden means that life will continue for
you as it was before, since you have elected not to take the risks which
rioting or tramping would involve.
You do receive your expected beating for associating with the "scum"
at the Königbräu.
Economic Change 0
Status Change 0
3) Rioting may provide an
important psychological release valve for you, but it does nothing to
improve either your economic position of your status.
Herr Unternehmer calls in the police to quell the disturbances in his
street and you are promptly arrested and jailed.
Though your father is able to obtain your release, you realize that
an immediate improvement in your home situation is highly unlikely.
You set out of Chemnitz to find work as a member of the urban
proletariat, and take Gertrude with you.
Play rest of simulation as a member of the Urban Proletariat.
Economic Change -70
Status Change -140
Turn I--1790--Conditions in Premodern Europe--Peasant
Proprietor
Hermann Hess
Economic Points: 50
Age: 30
Status Points: 75
Wife: Else Hess
Surviving Children: Johan (5)
and Christina (7)
Problem
You are a relatively well-to-do peasant in the village of Keindorf.
You own fifteen acres of land, and you have managed to buy your
freedom from most feudal obligations to the local noble, the Count von
Edelmann. Your economic
position and the respect other peasants accord your family gives you
influence in the village, and you hope to become a member of the village
council when you are older.
With the help of your wife and children you are able to raise enough grain
to feed your family and sell a little extra to the agents of Herr
Geldmacher, an upper middle class grain merchant in the capital of Dresden.
But you are hungry for more land, as that is the only route to
greater wealth for peasant proprietors such as yourself.
Only two of your four children have lived past infancy, but if your
present children both survive to adulthood and are joined by other
offspring, the wealth of your family may be divided too broadly to maintain
its position in society.
Gaining more land is the only route to greater security for your family.
Due to adverse weather conditions the harvest in Keindorf has been very poor
this year. Since the cost of
importing grain from other regions is more than most people in the district
can afford, the price of local grain is climbing sharply.
Your own harvest was much smaller than usual, but since you have more
land than most peasants, you can still have surplus to sell, if your family
tightens its belt this year. If
you can make a killing on the grain market, you may be in a position to buy
more land.
You must choose one of the following strategies: 1)
You may immediately sell the grain you have at present prices.
You may not make as much as you would if you held out longer, but you
will also not get a reputation as one who benefits from the misery of
others. You follow the practice
of your family for generations and hide money in the flour bin, until a
desirable piece of land is available. 2)
You may hold your grain and wait to sell when prices go up.
Given the economic situation it is almost certain that the price of
grain will increase substantially, and you figure that your increased wealth
will give you a position of influence in the community. 3)
You decide to make a deal with Count von Edelmann.
He will have your grain transported to Dresden where grain prices are
much higher than in Keindorf.
For a reasonable cut of the profits, he will take care of all the
arrangements.
Turn I--1790--Conditions in Premodern Europe--Peasant Proprietor
Results 1)
You managed to sell your grain at a reasonable profit, and you gained
stature in the eyes of the other peasants.
In the long run, however, the family tradition of hiding money in the
flour bin proved to be a mistake.
In 1800 during the French occupation of Germany, some of Napoleon's
troops were forcibly quartered in your house.
They took advantage of the situation, knowing that German peasants --
like their French counterparts -- always keep their money in the flour bin.
Economic Change 0
Status Change 0
2)
Holding out until prices got higher showed good economic sense -- but
you do not live in a universe which is run on strictly economic principles.
When they were faced with starvation, other peasants in the village
put pressure on the council to aid them.
You were denounced as an unChristian profiteer and were forced to
sell at the normal, prefamine prices.
You not only lost a chance at economic gain, but your status in the
community dropped considerably, and you forfeited any chance of ever being a
member of the village council yourself.
Economic Change 0
Status Change -15
3)
The artisans of Dresden were desperate for bread, and Count von
Edelmann was able to make an even bigger killing by selling your grain than
you had expected. When he
returned, however, he reported that grain prices had dropped, and you were
paid much less than you expected.
You are convinced that there was foul play and consult the village
elders about the possibilities of forcing the noble to legally pay you a
fair share. They lecture you on
social stratification and remind you that the Count is not only the local
political leader, but that he is the principal judge as well.
You are forced to hold your peace and settle for the pittance that
you received.
Economic Change +10
Status Change -5
Turn I--1790--Conditions in Premodern Europe--Landless Peasant
Ernst
Economic Points: 12
Age: 20
Status Points: 12
Wife: Ingrid
Surviving Children: Gretel (2)
and Heinz (6 months)
Problem
You are a landless peasant/serf living on a large estate in Saxony.
Although some of the ties of servitude which bound your ancestors to
the ancestors of Count von Edelmann have been loosened over the years, you
are still dependent upon the Count for your livelihood.
In addition to working several days each week on the aristocrat's
demesne lands, you must turn over to him a significant portion of the
harvest from the fields which your village community leases in common from
the lord. The amount of grain
which you give him each year is fixed according to ancient manorial
agreements. Thus your only
income is that portion of the grain left after the lord has taken his due.
Even in normal years your existence is marginal, especially since you have a
wife, two children, and your aged mother to support.
This year the situation is critical because of cold and wet growing
season has ruined the rye crop in your region.
Rye is your main crop and regardless of the condition of the harvest
you still owe the Count a certain amount of this grain.
There is simply nothing left to feed your family and you have no cash
with which to purchase expensive grain from areas not affected by the crop
failure. As famine rears its
ugly head your wife falls ill from undernourishment and your hungry children
are too weak to do anything but cry.
Your mother has resigned herself to death and now takes her solace in
the village church. What will
be your response in this matter of life and death? 1)
You decide there is nothing more that you can do for your starving
family in Keindorf. You leave
the village, hoping your neighbors will do what they can for your wife and
children, and you go to the city of Dresden where you hope to find a job.
You know that according to manorial law you cannot leave the land
without permission and if you are caught you will be severely punished.
But you hope that you will be able to vanish into the crowd of the
city and make some money doing manual labor.
After you have saved a little you could send for your family and
leave the misery of subsistence agriculture behind you forever.
2) Your devout mother keeps
telling you to have faith in the Lord so you decide to take faith one
step further and ask your manorial lord for mercy.
You know he has grain stored from the previous harvest and Rev.
Scheinheileger, the pastor of the village church, has always praised the
Count as a generous Christian.
Surely von Edelmann will realize that starving men cannot work from dawn
to dusk in his fields and that he must distribute some of his surplus
grain among the villagers. You
decide to approach the lord after church services next Sunday and ask
him to save your family from starvation.
3) Enough is enough.
It is criminal for your lord to demand the same amount of grain
from your harvest when he knows the whole village is on the verge of
starvation. Although you
are illiterate and would not have access to newspapers even if you could
read, you have heard rumors from France about peasants who burned manors
and ended feudalism.
Perhaps it is time for the peasants of Saxony to demand better treatment
from the traditional landowning classes.
Their control over land and life has gone on too long.
You decide to organize your fellow villagers and present a series
of demands to Count von Edelmann.
The main point of this ultimatum will be that the survival needs
of the community must be provided for before any portion of the harvest
is turned over to the lord.
If he refuses you will threaten to burn the manor house, preferably with
him in it. A nice fire
would also destroy those hated, hallowed manorial documents which serve
as legal proof of his power over you.
Turn I--1790--Conditions in Premodern Europe--Landless Peasant
Results 1)
Your taste of freedom is brief and
bitter. As soon as you left the
manor you realized that you were not welcome in the outside world.
By your crude clothing and rustic manners you were easily identified
as a runaway serf. After a
brief investigation as to your origins you were returned to the estate of
Count von Edelmann. For
punishment you were flogged in the village square and assigned extra work on
the lord's demesne. The real
punishment, however, comes not from your lord but from the forces of nature,
for in your absence your wife and mother succumbed to death by starvation.
Now weakened by the experience in the city, the beating, and the
extra labor, you are left alone to support your two children who are still
too young to work in the fields.
Economic Change -4
Status Change -4
2)
By remaining in Keindorf and throwing yourself on the mercy of the
Count you have risked nothing and gained little.
The Count pretends to be eager to help his peasants but the measly
sack of grain his overseer throws in your face is not enough to keep death
from the door. Your wife and
mother die of starvation while your young children continue to look to you
for support with those big hungry eyes.
Economic Change -1
Status Change -1
3) Driven by hunger, your
fellow villagers gladly followed you to Edelmann's house demanding grain and
freedom. But the Count was in
Dresden (probably spending money earned by the sweat of your brow on women
of dubious character) and your followers were easily sidetracked from their
original intention of burning down the manor house when they found a storage
bin full of grain. While they
stole grain to carry home to their starving families, the estate overseer
singled you out as the ringleader and offered a bounty to any man who would
bring you in alive. He would
like to make an example of you with a public execution.
None of your neighbors would turn you in but you must still flee to a
city where no one knows you.
You may never return to Keindorf so your family will surely die without your
support. You live as a fugitive
in Chemnitz and play the next turn of the simulation as a member of the
urban proletariate.
Economic Change -2
Status Change -2
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