The Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) took a toll on many Europeans, but one man named Hans Heberle was able to document the horrific events during that time. A cobbler, husband, and father, he began to write down his life events after observing a comet in 1618. Besides the war itself, Heberle encountered traumatic events within his family and lifetime. Despite these occurrences, such as deaths within his family, starvation, and inflation, Heberle and his family were apart of the very few survivors of the Thirty Years' War. The survival tactics of Heberle and his family has significance because without the documentation written by Heberle himself, historians might not have known what it was like for an average family during the Thirty Years' War, …show more content…
The people, whether rich or poor, had a difficult time telling which coins were worth value and which were worthless. Nonetheless, the poor could still not afford anything after the inflation crisis caused many necessities, such as produce, to increase in price. Heberle says that, “there are many coins which are counterfeit or of light weight, which are not to be accepted. It was fine in the beginning, when the coins were all of pure silver, but later, within three, four, five, or perhaps eight weeks they declined and went red with copper, except for the thaler and the old money.” What is important to note here is that because of the war, the people were forced to starve, especially the poor since practically everything was too expensive for them. The poor also could not get their hands on a Reichsthaler coin, even though these were the most popular coins after the small coins. Due to the high alert of counterfeit money, people would not accept the newly-made coins. Because of the inflation and people in dire need of money, the Roman Empire created “the coin of the realm” which was basically a coin the could not be used outside the