Heinrich von Treitschke
Encyclopedia
Heinrich Gotthard von Treitschke (September 15, 1834 – April 28, 1896) was a nationalist
German
historian
and political writer
during the time of the German Empire
.
. He was the son of an officer in the Saxon
army who rose to be governor of Königstein and military governor of Dresden. Treitschke went deaf at a young age, and so was prevented from entering public service. After studying at the universities of Leipzig
and Bonn
, where he was a student of Friedrich Christoph Dahlmann
, he established himself as a Privatdozent at Leipzig, lecturing on history and politics. At one point he became very popular with the students, but his political opinions made it impossible for the Saxon government to appoint him to a professorship.
At that time Treitschke was a strong Liberal
; he hoped to see Germany united into a single state with a parliamentary government, and all the smaller states swept away. In one statement he said that "Every virile people has established colonial power. All great nations in the fullness of their strength have desired to set their mark upon barbarian lands and those who fail to participate in this great rivalry will play a pitiable role in time to come." This harsh statement reflects on his increasing aggressiveness of European nationalism
after Otto von Bismarck
's wars toward the unification of Germany
. It also discusses the Social Darwinian
theories of brutal competition among races. In essay published in 1862 Treitschke praised the "pitiless racial struggle" of Germans against Lithuanians, Poles and Old Prussians, he claimed that "magic" emaneted from "eastern German soil" which had been "fertilised" by "noble German blood". While his main objective was to give historical legitimisation to germanising of Poles that found themselves under Prussian rule, the praise of a mythical genocide
conducted by German ancestors against other national groups would eventually become a means of legitimising claims to further eastern territories.
In 1863 he was appointed professor at Freiburg
; in 1866, at the outbreak of the Austro-Prussian War
, his sympathies with the Kingdom of Prussia
were so strong that he went to Berlin, became a Prussian subject, and was appointed editor of the Preussische Jahrbücher. His violent article, in which he demanded the annexation of the Kingdoms of Hanover
and Saxony
, and attacked with great bitterness the Saxon royal house, led to an estrangement from his father, a personal friend of the king. It was only equalled in its ill humour by his attacks on Bavaria
in 1870. After holding appointments at Kiel
and Heidelberg, he was made professor at Humboldt University in Berlin in 1874.
, and from that time till his death he was one of the most prominent figures in Berlin.
On Heinrich von Sybel
's death Treitschke succeeded him as editor of the Historische Zeitschrift. He had outgrown his early Liberalism and become the chief panegyrist of the House of Hohenzollern
. He made violent and influential attacks on all opinions and all parties which appeared in any way to be injurious to the rising power of Germany. He supported the government in its attempts to subdue by legislation the Socialists, Poles
and Catholics
(Kulturkampf
).
As a strong advocate of colonial expansion
Treitschke was a bitter enemy of the British Empire
. He was to a large extent responsible for the chauvinistic anti-British
feeling of the last years of the 19th century.
In the Reichstag Treitschke had originally been a member of the National Liberal Party
, but in 1879 he was the first to accept the new commercial policy of Bismarck
, and in his later years he joined the Moderate Conservatives, though his deafness prevented him from taking a prominent part in debate.
Treitschke was one of the few important public figures who supported antisemitic attacks which became prevalent from 1878 onwards. He accused German Jews
of refusing to assimilate into German culture and society, and attacked the flow of Jewish immigrants from Russian Poland
. Treitschke has often been misquoted (predominantly by the National Socialists and contemporary leftists) as having coined the phrase "Die Juden sind unser Unglück!" ("The Jews are our misfortune!") adopted as a motto by the Nazi publication Der Stürmer
several decades later. He actually remarked, "Everywhere in Germany you hear the same phrase, 'The Jews are our misfortune.'" Because of his respected status, Treitschke's remarks aroused widespread controversy.
Treitschke was held in high regard by political elites of Prussia and Chancellor Bernhard von Bülow
personally declared that he kept a copy of von Treitschke's book for "several years" on his desk.
He also wrote biographical and historical essays, and essays on contemporary politics. The most important essays were collected as Historische und politische Aufsatze. A selection from his more controversial writings was made under the title Zehn Jahre deutscher Kämpfe; in 1896 a new volume appeared, called Deutsche Kämpfe, neue Folge. After his death his lectures on political subjects were published under the title Politik. He brought out also in 1856 a short volume of poems called Vaterländische Gedichte, and another volume in the following year. His first works to be translated into English
were two pamphlets on the war of 1870
, What we demand from France (London
, 1870), and The Baptism of Fire of the North German Confederation (1870).
Treitschke's students included Heinrich Class
, Hans Delbrück
, W. E. B. Du Bois, Otto Hintze
, Max Lenz
, Erich Marcks
, Friedrich Meinecke
, Karl Peters
, Ludwig Schiemann, Gustav Schnürer
, Georg Simmel
and Friedrich von Bernhardi
. During World War I
, many writers in the West, particularly in Britain, blamed Bernhardi for creating attitudes among the political class of Germany that were seen as an incitement to war. A complete translation of both volumes of Treitschke's Politics was published in London in 1916. Politics also appeared in an abridged English translation edited by Hans Kohn
and published in 1963.
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
and political writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
during the time of the German Empire
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
.
Early life and teaching career
Treitschke was born in DresdenDresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
. He was the son of an officer in the Saxon
Kingdom of Saxony
The Kingdom of Saxony , lasting between 1806 and 1918, was an independent member of a number of historical confederacies in Napoleonic through post-Napoleonic Germany. From 1871 it was part of the German Empire. It became a Free state in the era of Weimar Republic in 1918 after the end of World War...
army who rose to be governor of Königstein and military governor of Dresden. Treitschke went deaf at a young age, and so was prevented from entering public service. After studying at the universities of Leipzig
University of Leipzig
The University of Leipzig , located in Leipzig in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, is one of the oldest universities in the world and the second-oldest university in Germany...
and Bonn
University of Bonn
The University of Bonn is a public research university located in Bonn, Germany. Founded in its present form in 1818, as the linear successor of earlier academic institutions, the University of Bonn is today one of the leading universities in Germany. The University of Bonn offers a large number...
, where he was a student of Friedrich Christoph Dahlmann
Friedrich Christoph Dahlmann
Friedrich Christoph Dahlmann was a German historian and politician.He came of an old Hanseatic family of Wismar, then controlled by Sweden...
, he established himself as a Privatdozent at Leipzig, lecturing on history and politics. At one point he became very popular with the students, but his political opinions made it impossible for the Saxon government to appoint him to a professorship.
At that time Treitschke was a strong Liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
; he hoped to see Germany united into a single state with a parliamentary government, and all the smaller states swept away. In one statement he said that "Every virile people has established colonial power. All great nations in the fullness of their strength have desired to set their mark upon barbarian lands and those who fail to participate in this great rivalry will play a pitiable role in time to come." This harsh statement reflects on his increasing aggressiveness of European nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
after Otto von Bismarck
Otto von Bismarck
Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg , simply known as Otto von Bismarck, was a Prussian-German statesman whose actions unified Germany, made it a major player in world affairs, and created a balance of power that kept Europe at peace after 1871.As Minister President of...
's wars toward the unification of Germany
Unification of Germany
The formal unification of Germany into a politically and administratively integrated nation state officially occurred on 18 January 1871 at the Versailles Palace's Hall of Mirrors in France. Princes of the German states gathered there to proclaim Wilhelm of Prussia as Emperor Wilhelm of the German...
. It also discusses the Social Darwinian
Social Darwinism
Social Darwinism is a term commonly used for theories of society that emerged in England and the United States in the 1870s, seeking to apply the principles of Darwinian evolution to sociology and politics...
theories of brutal competition among races. In essay published in 1862 Treitschke praised the "pitiless racial struggle" of Germans against Lithuanians, Poles and Old Prussians, he claimed that "magic" emaneted from "eastern German soil" which had been "fertilised" by "noble German blood". While his main objective was to give historical legitimisation to germanising of Poles that found themselves under Prussian rule, the praise of a mythical genocide
Genocide
Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...
conducted by German ancestors against other national groups would eventually become a means of legitimising claims to further eastern territories.
In 1863 he was appointed professor at Freiburg
University of Freiburg
The University of Freiburg , sometimes referred to in English as the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, is a public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.The university was founded in 1457 by the Habsburg dynasty as the...
; in 1866, at the outbreak of the Austro-Prussian War
Austro-Prussian War
The Austro-Prussian War was a war fought in 1866 between the German Confederation under the leadership of the Austrian Empire and its German allies on one side and the Kingdom of Prussia with its German allies and Italy on the...
, his sympathies with the Kingdom of Prussia
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
were so strong that he went to Berlin, became a Prussian subject, and was appointed editor of the Preussische Jahrbücher. His violent article, in which he demanded the annexation of the Kingdoms of Hanover
Kingdom of Hanover
The Kingdom of Hanover was established in October 1814 by the Congress of Vienna, with the restoration of George III to his Hanoverian territories after the Napoleonic era. It succeeded the former Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg , and joined with 38 other sovereign states in the German...
and Saxony
Kingdom of Saxony
The Kingdom of Saxony , lasting between 1806 and 1918, was an independent member of a number of historical confederacies in Napoleonic through post-Napoleonic Germany. From 1871 it was part of the German Empire. It became a Free state in the era of Weimar Republic in 1918 after the end of World War...
, and attacked with great bitterness the Saxon royal house, led to an estrangement from his father, a personal friend of the king. It was only equalled in its ill humour by his attacks on Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
in 1870. After holding appointments at Kiel
University of Kiel
The University of Kiel is a university in the city of Kiel, Germany. It was founded in 1665 as the Academia Holsatorum Chiloniensis by Christian Albert, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp and has approximately 23,000 students today...
and Heidelberg, he was made professor at Humboldt University in Berlin in 1874.
Political career
In 1871, Treitschke became a member of the ReichstagReichstag (German Empire)
The Reichstag was the parliament of the North German Confederation , and of the German Reich ....
, and from that time till his death he was one of the most prominent figures in Berlin.
On Heinrich von Sybel
Heinrich von Sybel
Heinrich Karl Ludolf von Sybel , German historian, came from a Protestant family which had long been established at Soest, in Westphalia....
's death Treitschke succeeded him as editor of the Historische Zeitschrift. He had outgrown his early Liberalism and become the chief panegyrist of the House of Hohenzollern
House of Hohenzollern
The House of Hohenzollern is a noble family and royal dynasty of electors, kings and emperors of Prussia, Germany and Romania. It originated in the area around the town of Hechingen in Swabia during the 11th century. They took their name from their ancestral home, the Burg Hohenzollern castle near...
. He made violent and influential attacks on all opinions and all parties which appeared in any way to be injurious to the rising power of Germany. He supported the government in its attempts to subdue by legislation the Socialists, Poles
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
and Catholics
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
(Kulturkampf
Kulturkampf
The German term refers to German policies in relation to secularity and the influence of the Roman Catholic Church, enacted from 1871 to 1878 by the Prime Minister of Prussia, Otto von Bismarck. The Kulturkampf did not extend to the other German states such as Bavaria...
).
As a strong advocate of colonial expansion
Colonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
Treitschke was a bitter enemy of the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
. He was to a large extent responsible for the chauvinistic anti-British
Anglophobia
Anglophobia means hatred or fear of England or the English people. The term is sometimes used more loosely for general Anti-British sentiment...
feeling of the last years of the 19th century.
In the Reichstag Treitschke had originally been a member of the National Liberal Party
National Liberal Party (Germany)
The National Liberal Party was a German political party which flourished between 1867 and 1918. It was formed by Prussian liberals who put aside their differences with Bismarck over domestic policy due to their support for his highly successful foreign policy, which resulted in the unification of...
, but in 1879 he was the first to accept the new commercial policy of Bismarck
Otto von Bismarck
Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg , simply known as Otto von Bismarck, was a Prussian-German statesman whose actions unified Germany, made it a major player in world affairs, and created a balance of power that kept Europe at peace after 1871.As Minister President of...
, and in his later years he joined the Moderate Conservatives, though his deafness prevented him from taking a prominent part in debate.
Treitschke was one of the few important public figures who supported antisemitic attacks which became prevalent from 1878 onwards. He accused German Jews
History of the Jews in Germany
The presence of Jews in Germany has been established since the early 4th century. The community prospered under Charlemagne, but suffered during the Crusades...
of refusing to assimilate into German culture and society, and attacked the flow of Jewish immigrants from Russian Poland
Congress Poland
The Kingdom of Poland , informally known as Congress Poland , created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna, was a personal union of the Russian parcel of Poland with the Russian Empire...
. Treitschke has often been misquoted (predominantly by the National Socialists and contemporary leftists) as having coined the phrase "Die Juden sind unser Unglück!" ("The Jews are our misfortune!") adopted as a motto by the Nazi publication Der Stürmer
Der Stürmer
Der Stürmer was a weekly tabloid-format Nazi newspaper published by Julius Streicher from 1923 to the end of World War II in 1945, with brief suspensions in publication due to legal difficulties. It was a significant part of the Nazi propaganda machinery and was vehemently anti-Semitic...
several decades later. He actually remarked, "Everywhere in Germany you hear the same phrase, 'The Jews are our misfortune.'" Because of his respected status, Treitschke's remarks aroused widespread controversy.
Treitschke was held in high regard by political elites of Prussia and Chancellor Bernhard von Bülow
Bernhard von Bülow
Bernhard Heinrich Karl Martin von Bülow , named in 1905 Prince von Bülow, was a German statesman who served as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs for three years and then as Chancellor of the German Empire from 1900 to 1909.Bülow was described as possessing every quality except greatness...
personally declared that he kept a copy of von Treitschke's book for "several years" on his desk.
Historian
Treitschke approached political history as a German nationalist and focused on those periods and characters in which great political problems were being worked out: above all, he was a patriotic historian, and he never wandered far from Prussia. His great achievement was the History of Germany in the Nineteenth Century. The first volume was published in 1879, and during the next sixteen years four more volumes appeared; at his death he had advanced to the year 1847.He also wrote biographical and historical essays, and essays on contemporary politics. The most important essays were collected as Historische und politische Aufsatze. A selection from his more controversial writings was made under the title Zehn Jahre deutscher Kämpfe; in 1896 a new volume appeared, called Deutsche Kämpfe, neue Folge. After his death his lectures on political subjects were published under the title Politik. He brought out also in 1856 a short volume of poems called Vaterländische Gedichte, and another volume in the following year. His first works to be translated into English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
were two pamphlets on the war of 1870
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
, What we demand from France (London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, 1870), and The Baptism of Fire of the North German Confederation (1870).
Treitschke's students included Heinrich Class
Heinrich Class
Heinrich Claß was a German right-wing politician and president of the Pan-German League from 1908 to 1939. He is commonly known for his books about far-right policy, written under the pseudonym Daniel Frymann or Einhart...
, Hans Delbrück
Hans Delbrück
Hans Delbrück was a German historian. Delbrück was one of the first modern military historians, basing his method of research on the critical examination of ancient sources, the use of auxiliary disciplines, like demography and economics, to complete the analysis and the comparison between...
, W. E. B. Du Bois, Otto Hintze
Otto Hintze
Otto Hintze was a German historian of public administration. He was Professor of a Political, Constitutional, Administrative and Economic History at the University of Berlin....
, Max Lenz
Max Lenz
Max Albert Wilhelm Lenz was a German historian.Lenz was born to a Prussian and devoutly Lutheran notary in Greifswald, Province of Pomerania. After graduating from school, he studied history and classical philology under Heinrich von Sybel for three semesters in Bonn. He served in the 1870-1871...
, Erich Marcks
Erich Marcks
Erich Marcks was a German general of artillery in World War II.-Biography:Born in Schöneberg, Marcks was the son of the German historian Erich Marcks. He began advanced studies in philosophy in Freiburg in 1909. He broke off his studies after only three semesters and became a career officer of...
, Friedrich Meinecke
Friedrich Meinecke
Friedrich Meinecke was a liberal German historian, probably the most famous German historian of his generation. As a representative of an older tradition still writing after World War II, he was an important figure to the end of his life.-Life:Meinecke was born in Salzwedel in the Province of Saxony...
, Karl Peters
Karl Peters
Karl Peters , was a German colonial ruler, explorer, politician and author, the prime mover behind the foundation of the German colony of East Africa...
, Ludwig Schiemann, Gustav Schnürer
Gustav Schnürer
Gustav Schnürer was a German-Swiss historian who was born in the Silesian village of Jätzdorf.He studied history, geography and philology at the Universities of Berlin, Breslau and Münster, earning his doctorate in 1883 at Münster...
, Georg Simmel
Georg Simmel
Georg Simmel was a major German sociologist, philosopher, and critic.Simmel was one of the first generation of German sociologists: his neo-Kantian approach laid the foundations for sociological antipositivism, asking 'What is society?' in a direct allusion to Kant's question 'What is nature?',...
and Friedrich von Bernhardi
Friedrich von Bernhardi
Friedrich Adolf Julius von Bernhardi was a Prussian general and military historian. He was one of the best-selling authors prior to World War I. A militarist, he is perhaps best known for his bellicose book Deutschland und der Nächste Krieg , printed in 1911...
. During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, many writers in the West, particularly in Britain, blamed Bernhardi for creating attitudes among the political class of Germany that were seen as an incitement to war. A complete translation of both volumes of Treitschke's Politics was published in London in 1916. Politics also appeared in an abridged English translation edited by Hans Kohn
Hans Kohn
Hans Kohn was a Jewish philosopher and historian. Born in Prague during the Habsburg Empire, he was captured as a prisoner of war during World War I and held in Russia for five years...
and published in 1963.
Works
- Hausrath, Adolf, ed. Treitschke, his doctrine of German destiny and of international relations: together with a study of his life and work (1914) online edition
- Heinrich von Treitschke. Treitschke's history of Germany in the nineteenth century: Volume 1 (5th ed 1894; translated 1915) online, covers 1848 to 1815; vol 2 online
- Heinrich von Treitschke. Germany, France, Russia, & Islam (1915) 336 pages; online
- Heinrich von Treitschke. Politics, (English Edition 1916) Volume One Volume Two