The Last Peasant War: Violence and Revolution in Twentieth-Century Eastern Europe

Jakub Beneš’s recently published book The Last Peasant War: Violence and Revolution in Twentieth-Century Eastern Europe (Princeton University Press, 2025) explores the forgotten rural movements and peasant violence that shaped central and east European politics and society in the society in the era of world wars. Drawing on primary sources in six languages, it offers a new interpretation of Europe's most calamitous decades from the perspective of the countryside.

Dr Beneš is Associate Professor in Central European History at UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies. He is also the author of the award-winning Workers and Nationalism: Czech and German Social Democracy in Habsburg Austria, 1890-1918 (Oxford, 2017).

Find out more about Dr Beneš’s past research project Europe's Last Peasant War.

The book launch took place on 11 March 2025, and was co-hosted by UCL SSEES and the Institute of Historical Research’s ‘Rethinking Modern Europe’ seminar.

Image credit: Alessandro Iandolo