Bernadotte Everly Schmitt (19 May 1886 – 23 March 1969) was an American historian who was professor of Modern European History at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

from 1924 to 1946. He is best known for his study of the

causes of World War I The identification of the causes of World War I remains controversial. World War I began in the Balkans on July 28, 1914, and hostilities ended on November 11, 1918, leaving 17 million dead and 25 million wounded. Moreover, the Russian Civil ...

, in which he emphasized Germany's responsibility and rejected revisionist arguments.

Biography

Schmitt received his

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

from the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

and his PhD from the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...

. He was permanently hostile to Germany after his first visit there in 1906. In 1916 he gained notice with ''England and Germany, 1740–1914.'' His book ''The Coming of the War, 1914'' (published in 1930) won him the 1930

George Louis Beer Prize The George Louis Beer Prize is an award given by the American Historical Association for the best book in European international history from 1895 to the present written by a United States citizen or permanent resident. The prize was created in 1923 ...

of the

American Historical Association The American Historical Association (AHA) is the oldest professional association of historians in the United States and the largest such organization in the world. Founded in 1884, the AHA works to protect academic freedom, develop professional s ...

and the 1931

Pulitzer Prize for History The Pulitzer Prize for History, administered by Columbia University, is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It has been presented since 1917 for a distinguished book about the history ...

. This work, for which he remains best known, took issue with the equally prominent study of the origins of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

published two years earlier by Sidney Fay (for which its author had also won a Beer Prize). In contrast to Fay's argument that Serbia and Russia were culpable, Schmitt insisted that Germany had indeed been largely responsible for the catastrophe. The debate between the "orthodox" school represented by Schmitt,

Luigi Albertini Luigi Albertini (19 October 1871–29 December 1941) was an influential Italian newspaper editor, member of the Parliament, and historian of the First World War. As editor of one of Italy's best-known newspapers, ''Corriere della Sera'' of Mila ...

and

Pierre Renouvin Pierre Renouvin (January 9, 1893 – December 7, 1974) was a French historian of international relations. He was born in Paris and attended Lycée Louis-le-Grand, where he was awarded his aggrégation in 1912. Renouvin spent 1912-1914 traveling in ...

, and the "revisionist" school of Fay,

Harry Elmer Barnes Harry Elmer Barnes (June 15, 1889 – August 25, 1968) was an American historian who, in his later years, was known for his historical revisionism and Holocaust denial. After receiving a PhD at Columbia University in 1918 Barnes became a pr ...

and others that shifted blame from the Central Powers to the Allies, dominated scholarship on the "war-guilt" question until the publication of

Fritz Fischer Fritz Fischer (5 March 1908 – 1 December 1999) was a German historian best known for his analysis of the causes of World War I. In the early 1960s Fischer advanced the controversial thesis at the time that responsibility for the outbreak of the ...

's '' Griff nach der Weltmacht'' (Germany's Aims in the First World War) (1961), which reopened the debate with a fresh approach by blaming Germany's prewar ambitions. Schmitt was the first editor of the

Journal of Modern History ''The Journal of Modern History'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering European intellectual, political, and cultural history, published by the University of Chicago Press. Established in 1929, the journal covers events from appro ...

, serving from 1929 to 1946. In 1937 Schmitt published ''The Annexation of Bosnia, 1908–1909''. In November 1941, he called for Germany's population to be reduced from 80 to 50 million. In 1960, he was President of the

. He died in 1969.

Legacy

The American Historical Association offers the Bernadotte E. Schmitt Grants to support research in the history of Europe, Africa, and Asia.

References

Bibliography

* * Lieber, Keir A. "The new history of World War I and what it means for international relations theory." ''International Security'' 32.2 (2007): 155-191
online

External links

Guide to the Bernadotte E. Schmitt Papers 1913-1961
at th
University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center
1886 births 1969 deaths 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers Pulitzer Prize for History winners University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni University of Chicago faculty People from Strasburg, Virginia Alumni of Merton College, Oxford Historians from Virginia 20th-century American male writers {{US-historian-stub

Biography

Legacy

References

Bibliography

Further reading

External links