Coins tell about the war
„Will live from the war, will probably have to give him something too“
Kriegt exacts a heavy toll. In its name, people have had to sacrifice lives, children, faith and homeland - and often their fortunes. Because wars are expensive and have to be financed. And as is well known, necessity is the mother of invention: gold was mined from statues of gods in temples, old silverware was taken out of the cellar and made into coins, even beer steins could be turned into money!
In four short stories, we tell you what wars have done to coins - or, conversely, what coins tell us about war.
How silver coins suddenly became gold
In classical Greece, coins were usually made of silver or bronze. But as the saying goes, exceptions prove the rule. One of these exceptions are coins from 406 BC from the city of Akragas (Agrigento today). Akragas was located in Sicily and was part of the Greek Empire at the time. The coins in question were not minted in silver as they normally were, but suddenly in gold. What had happened?
When the neighboring Carthaginians tried to take the city, they entrenched themselves behind thick walls. The city council of Akragas also hired an army of mercenaries to defend the city. The mercenaries did not care for whom they went into battle, as long as the payment was right.
And that is our cue. In a city under siege, i.e. cut off from the outside world, how could silver be obtained to mint coins for the army? The answer is: not at all. So the city council had gold removed from the city's temples, melted down and used to mint new coins.
This was quite a common practice in the classical world: In good times, people donated valuable metals and goods to build magnificent temples; in bad times, they took them back. It was similar with the gods that were worshipped in these temples. In good times, people courted their favor with valuable offerings; in bad times, they demanded divine protection in return.
If we have aroused your curiosity, take a look at the story in our video.
Sizilien, Bild: Wikipedia
Sizilien, Bild: Wikipedia
Tempel von Akragas, Bild: TrekEarth
Tempel von Akragas, Bild: TrekEarth
How to pay soldiers with silverware
„But how can war be if there are no soldiers?“
Also in the second story a city was besieged and also here the city was defended by soldiers who wanted to be paid. This time, however, the commander of the army did not help himself to temple gold, but sacrificed his own silverware. He had it cut into pieces of equal size and then stamped by the silversmith.
These stamps showed the year, 1621, and the value of the coin. A VIII, for example, meant that the piece of plate you held in your hand was worth eight thalers. So plates, forks, bowls and all kinds of other dishes became emergency money. Even a beer stein still had something that could be converted into cash: the thumb rest!
By the way, silverware was a relatively common source of wealth back then, like a savings book that could be turned into cash in times of need. If we've made you curious, why not listen to the whole story in our video?
How the war wrecked a commercial metropolis
„That the big deals in wars are not made by the little people.“
We stay in the time of the Thirty Years' War and make a turn to Augsburg. The imperial city was a flourishing commercial metropolis in southern Germany. At the beginning of the century, the city had afforded a new city hall, true to the motto "make do, not spill the beans". And then came the war.
Although Augsburg's fortifications withstood all siege attempts, the city and its inhabitants paid a high price. First, the German emperor demanded contributions to finance the war, forcing the predominantly Protestant Augsburgers to become Catholic again. When the Swedish king arrived at the gates, they were happy to have a Protestant ruler again. But the joy did not last long. Gustavus Adolphus now demanded contributions, about five times the usual tax rate.
This was too much for the city's already war-torn economy. The side effects of the war, such as food prices, inflation and the plague, did the rest, so that after 1648 not much remained of the city's former wealth. The super-rich no longer existed, the rich had slipped into the middle class and the middle class into precarious conditions.
If we've piqued your curiosity, listen to our video for the full story.
City of Augsburg today.
City of Augsburg today.
For 530 years - from 1276 to 1806 - Augsburg had the status of a Free Imperial City. This meant that it was directly subordinate to the emperor, which was expressed on this thaler by a wonderful portrait of Emperor Ferdinand III.
For 530 years - from 1276 to 1806 - Augsburg had the status of a Free Imperial City. This meant that it was directly subordinate to the emperor, which was expressed on this thaler by a wonderful portrait of Emperor Ferdinand III.
Kingdom of Sweden, Gustav II Adolf, ducat 1632. Since the mintages of the Swedish crown on German soil served to pay the army, they were - unlike the German coins of the time - of good gold and silver value.
Kingdom of Sweden, Gustav II Adolf, ducat 1632. Since the mintages of the Swedish crown on German soil served to pay the army, they were - unlike the German coins of the time - of good gold and silver value.
Oaks are the second most common deciduous tree genus in Germany after the copper beech. Since the 18th century, the oak has been considered the German national tree. After the Franco-Prussian War (1870 - 1871), peace oaks were planted all over Germany in the hope that peace between the countries would be maintained as long as an oak tree lived.
Oaks are the second most common deciduous tree genus in Germany after the copper beech. Since the 18th century, the oak has been considered the German national tree. After the Franco-Prussian War (1870 - 1871), peace oaks were planted all over Germany in the hope that peace between the countries would be maintained as long as an oak tree lived.
How a nation reinvented itself on its coins after the war
Our last story is about a very specific coin and its meaning. It is about a German 50-penny coin from 1950, which shows a pregnant woman planting an oak sapling on the reverse.
What can this coin tell us about the war? The woman's clothes are reminiscent of the rubble women and are thus a symbol of the arduous reconstruction of a country that lay in ruins in 1945. Her pregnancy and the offspring stand for the new beginning that Germany had to make after the end of the Nazi dictatorship.
It is also no coincidence that the artist chose an oak tree. The oak tree as an original German tree had a long tradition and had recently been misused for National Socialist propaganda. The intention was to overwrite this negative connotation by giving Germany a new shoot on this coin and thus the chance to reinvent itself. If we have aroused your curiosity, why not listen to the whole story in our video?
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