Farmers have used ploughs to till the land since ancient times. Indeed, the ploughs depicted in the medieval Sachsenspiegel, the oldest German legal code, vary only in minor details from those used in the 18th century. Wheeled ploughs first cut open the soil with a blade and then turned it with a mouldboard. The majority of ploughs were made of wood until the 20th century, as iron was too expensive.

One plough even became an object of veneration. In 1769, the coach carrying the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II (1741-1790) broke down. Whilst it was being repaired, the emperor spied a farmer ploughing his land and offered to give him a hand. Locals venerated the plough that Joseph had guided as a holy relic, and it was later put on display at the World Exhibition of 1873. A copy of the “holy plough” on display at the Vienna Museum of Science and Technology is almost identical to the plough on display in the Deutschlandmuseum.

Another enlightened despot, Frederick the Great (1712-1786) was keenly aware of the importance of agriculture and ensured that every new territory that he conquered was put to the plough, just after he had put its armies to the sword. It is said that he regularly made expensively-trained cavalry horses available for use as draught animals. He is also known as the “Potato King”, for the edicts he issued to ensure that the potato, a hardy root vegetable, became a staple in his realm in order to prevent famine.