Robbers have existed at all times. Grave thieves, so-called grave robbers, were already known in Pharaonic times in Egypt, and human robbers are known from Roman times with the legendary robbery of the Sabine women. The New Testament speaks of the Good Samaritan, who helped a person who fell among the robbers. Barrabas, who was released in place of Jesus at the Passover, was also a robber.
There have also been buccaneers or pirates since ancient times, who were fought by Greek and Roman fleets even then. The most famous German pirate was Klaus Störtebeker. By contrast, pirates legalized by states, so-called privateers like Francis Drake, were used to improve the state finances.
Until the late Middle Ages, robbers were often organized in robber bands, if necessary also on horses (moreover, if necessary also with [own, robbed] armor and even castles) - the latter, in its entirety (later, however, rather without [obvious] armor or also only in the figurative sense) also called "robber baronialism". These often represented authoritarian-led communities that continued to exist into the 17th and into the 18th centuries. Such a band of robbers usually consisted of a robber chief and his followers, who were bound to each other by an oath to the death. The members of the band of robbers had previously usually been lepers, outcasts or deserters, and bird-dodgers. Often these robbers were desperate people who saw no other way out to survive.
This structure of the robber gangs changed over time. Later, the term robber band can be understood more as a loose community that joined together for an action, such as a street robbery, and then disbanded again. In the 19th century, this was the only type of robber band that was usually found. The leader was usually the one who stood out through his deeds or his skills, or who knew the place or person to be robbed best or who had scouted it out.
In Germany, especially after the Seven Years' War and during the Revolutionary Wars, there was an increased occurrence of robber gangs. The permanent social and economic crisis as a result of these wars uprooted many people and prompted them to join a band of robbers. Especially in the Spessart, but also in wide areas of Central and Southern Germany as well as in the Rhine area, organized crime increased around 1800. Even today, not only in poorer countries, there are gangs of robbers and also pirate raids, as in East Africa (Somalia) and in Southeast Asia (Strait of Malacca).
Until the 19th century, there were numerous special terms for the classification of robbers and thieves, most of which originated in the criminal milieu. Thus Jomakener were robbers who raided villages at harvest time, Schränker were thieves who entered houses silently at night, Stänkerer were casual thieves, also robbers, in residential areas. Stratekehrer (also Strählekehrer) were highwaymen, and Serfer (also Rezoirsärfner) were thieves/robbers who committed their crimes in connection with arson.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, it was mainly stagecoach robberies and spectacular bank robbers that became famous through the press and audiovisual media. These include criminals such as the bank-robbing Dalton brothers, John Dillinger or the robber couple Bonnie and Clyde. The legendary 1963 mail robbery in England also falls under this category.
In Germany, the cash messenger robbers caused a sensation. In southern Germany, Johannes Bückler, the "Schinderhannes" from the Hunsrück region of the late 18th century, was the model for Bernhard Kimmel and his Kimmel Gang, named after him, who undertook raids and burglaries in the Palatinate Forest from 1957 to 1961.
Handbag snatching is almost commonplace in many major cities as part of acquisitive crime.
