Heinrich von Treitschke | |
|---|---|
_b_0340_a_1.jpg) Heinrich von Treitschke, c. 1895/96. | |
| Born | Heinrich Gotthard von Treitschke (1834-09-15)15 September 1834 |
| Died | 28 April 1896(1896-04-28) (aged 61) |
| Occupation | Historian |
| Employer(s) | Freiburg andBerlin Universities |
| Spouse | Emma von Treitschke |
| Children | Clara von Tungeln, and Maria von Treitschke |
Heinrich Gotthard von Treitschke (German:[ˈhaɪnʁɪçfɔnˈtʁaɪt͡ʃkə]; 15 September 1834 – 28 April 1896) was a German historian, political writer andNational Liberal member of theReichstag during the time of theGerman Empire.
He was anextreme nationalist,[1] who favoredGerman colonialism and opposed theBritish Empire. He also opposedCatholics,Poles,Jews andsocialists inside Germany. According toHans Kohn, Treitschke's "prominent position as a national scholar and popular prophet gave to anti-Semitism in Germany a recognized standing."[2]
Treitschke was born inDresden. He was of Czech descent.[3] He was the son of an officer of theKingdom of Saxony's army who became governor ofKönigstein and military governor of Dresden. Treitschke developed an increasing hearing problem at a young age, and so was prevented from entering public service. After studying at the universities ofLeipzig andBonn, where he was a student ofFriedrich Christoph Dahlmann, he established himself as aPrivatdozent at Leipzig, lecturing on history and politics. At one time he became very popular with the students, but his political opinions made it impossible for the Saxon government to appoint him to a professorship.[4][5]
At that time Treitschke was a strong Liberal; he hoped to see Germany united into a single state with aparliamentary government, and all the smaller states annexed.[6] He praised colonialism, stating:
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.[7]
Treitschke also endorsedSocial Darwinian theories of brutal competition among races. In an essay published in 1862, Treitschke praised the "pitiless racial struggle" of Germans against Lithuanians, Poles andOld Prussians; he claimed that "magic" emanated from "eastern German soil" which had been "fertilised" by "noble German blood". While his main objective was to give historical legitimisation to the Germanising of Poles in Prussia, he also praised the migration eastward performed by German ancestors that would eventually become a means of legitimising claims to further eastern territories.[8]
He was appointed professor at theUniversity of Freiburg in 1863. In 1866, at the beginning of theAustro-Prussian War, his sympathies with theKingdom of Prussia were so strong that he went to Berlin, became a Prussian subject, and was appointed editor of thePreussischen Jahrbücher. His violent article, in which he demanded the annexation of the Kingdoms ofHanover andSaxony, and attacked with great invective theSaxon royal house, caused an estrangement from his father, a personal friend of the king. It was only equalled in its ill humour by his attacks onBavaria during 1870.[9] After getting appointments at theUniversity of Kiel and theUniversity of Heidelberg, he was made professor at Friedrich-Wilhelms-University (what is now namedHumboldt-University) in Berlin in 1874.[10]
Treitschke was influenced byAristotle,Hegel,Wilhelm Roscher, Friedrich Christoph Dahlmann, andRudolf von Gneist.[11]
Treitschke became a member of theReichstag in 1871 and until his death was one of the best known people in Berlin. He was largely deaf during this period and had an aide sit by his side to transcribe discussion into writing so that he could participate.[12]
OnHeinrich von Sybel's death, Treitschke succeeded him as editor of theHistorische Zeitschrift. He had outgrown his early Liberalism and become the chiefpanegyrist of theHouse of Hohenzollern. He made violent and influential attacks on all opinions and all parties which seemed in any way to be injurious to the increasing power of Germany. He endorsed ChancellorOtto von Bismarck and his program to subdue the Socialists, Poles and Catholics[9] (Kulturkampf), but the attempts were unsuccessful because the victims organized themselves and used universal male suffrage to their advantage in the Reichstag until Bismarck finally relented.
A strong proponent of German colonialism, Treitschke was a strong critic of theBritish Empire, and his condemnations were favoured by some German imperialists. His increasingly-chauvinisticAnglophobia in the late-19th century increasingly considered England as the strongest potential adversary of the rapidly-industrialising German Empire.
In the Reichstag, he had originally been a member of theNational Liberal Party, but in 1879, he was the first to accept the new commercial policy of Bismarck. During his later years, he joined the Moderate Conservatives though his deafness prevented him from taking a prominent part in debate.[9]
Treitschke rejected the concern of theEnlightenment and liberalism for individual rights and the separation of powers, in favour of an authoritarianmonarchist andmilitarist concept of the state.[13][14][15] He deplored the "penetration of French liberalism" (Eindringen des französischen Liberalismus) within the German nation.[16]
Treitschke was one of the few celebrities who endorsedantisemitic attacks which became prevalent from 1879 onwards. He accusedGerman Jews of refusing to assimilate intoGerman culture and society and attacked the flow of Jewish immigrants fromRussian Poland. Treitschke popularised the phrase "Die Juden sind unser Unglück!" ("The Jews are our misfortune!"), which would be adopted as a motto by theNazi publicationDer Stürmer several decades later. He made several antisemitic remarks such as the following:
The Jews at one time played a necessary role in German history, because of their ability in the management of money. But now that the Aryans have become accustomed to the idiosyncrasies of finance, the Jews are no longer necessary. The international Jew, hidden in the mask of different nationalities, is a disintegrating influence; he can be of no further use to the world.[17]
Because of his prominent status, Treitschke's remarks aroused widespread controversy.[18]
Treitschke was considered favorably by the political elites of Prussia, and ChancellorBernhard von Bülow personally declared that he kept a copy of von Treitschke's book for "several years" on his desk.[19]
In 1896, Treitschke died in Berlin at 61 and is buried at theAlter St.-Matthäus-Kirchhof Berlin.
Throughout his life, Treitschke endorsed militarism and racism, praised the conquest of other nations and eradication of inferior peoples ("Brave peoples expand, cowardly peoples perish") and claimed that people of African heritage were "inferior".[20][21][22]
Endorsing the idea of exterminating conquered nations, he wrote:
In the unhappy clash between races, inspired by fierce mutual enmity, the blood-stained savagery of quick war of annihilation is more humane, less revolting, than the specious clemency of sloth which keeps the vanquished in a state of brute beasts.[23]
Treitschke considered political history as aGerman nationalist and emphasized periods of great political change. He was a patriotic historian devoted to Prussia. His great achievement was theHistory of Germany in the Nineteenth Century. The first volume was published in 1879, and for 26 years, four more volumes appeared. At his death, he had only advanced to 1847.[9]
He also wrote biographical and historical essays, as well as essays concerning contemporary politics. The most important essays were collected asHistorische und politische Aufsatze.[24] A selection from his more controversial writings was made with the titleZehn Jahre deutscher Kämpfe. In 1896 a new volume was published,Deutsche Kämpfe, neue Folge. After his death his lectures on political subjects were published with the titlePolitik.[9]
He also published in 1856 a short volume of poems namedVaterländische Gedichte and another volume the next year. His first works to be translated into English were two pamphlets on theWar of 1870,What we demand from France (London, 1870) andThe Baptism of Fire of the North German Confederation (1870).[9]
Treitschke's students includedHeinrich Claß,Hans Delbrück,W. E. B. Du Bois,Otto Hintze,Max Lenz,Erich Marcks,Friedrich Meinecke,Karl Peters,Gustav Schnürer,Georg Simmel andFriedrich von Bernhardi. DuringWorld War I, many writers in the West, particularly in Britain, blamed Bernhardi for creating attitudes among the political class of Germany that were considered an incitement to war. This opinion was repeated by historians such asFritz Fischer, who deemed him a major influence on decision-makers before World War I.
A complete translation of both volumes of Treitschke'sPolitics was published in London in 1916.Politics was published in 1963 in an abridged English translation edited byHans Kohn.
Attribution:
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Headlam, James Wycliffe (1911). "Treitschke, Heinrich von". InChisholm, Hugh (ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 27 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 238–239.
