The Borussian myth or Borussian legend is the name given by early 20th-century historians of German history to the earlier idea that

German unification The unification of Germany (, ) was the process of building the modern German nation state with federal features based on the concept of Lesser Germany (one without multinational Austria), which commenced on 18 August 1866 with adoption of t ...

was inevitable, and that it was

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

's destiny to accomplish it. The Borussian myth is an example of a

teleological Teleology (from and )Partridge, Eric. 1977''Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English'' London: Routledge, p. 4187. or finalityDubray, Charles. 2020 912Teleology" In ''The Catholic Encyclopedia'' 14. New York: Robert Appleton ...

argument. ''Borussia'' is the Latin name for Prussia.

Teleological arguments

A teleological argument holds all things to be designed for, or directed toward, a specific final result. That specific result gives events and actions, even retrospectively, an inherent purpose. When applied to the historical process, an historical teleological argument posits the result as the inevitable trajectory of a specific set of events. These events lead "inevitably," as

Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ,"Engels"
'' "Whiggish" narrative of past as an inevitable progression towards ever greater liberty and enlightenment that culminated in modern forms of

liberal democracy Liberal democracy is the combination of a liberal political ideology that operates under an indirect democratic form of government. It is characterized by elections between multiple distinct political parties, a separation of powers into ...

and

constitutional monarchy A constitutional monarchy, parliamentary monarchy, or democratic monarchy is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in decision making. Constitutional monarchies dif ...

Spinning the myth

The narrative of the heroic past fell to such nationalist German historians as

Heinrich von Treitschke Heinrich Gotthard Freiherr von Treitschke (; 15 September 1834 – 28 April 1896) was a German historian, political writer and National Liberal member of the Reichstag during the time of the German Empire. He was an extreme nationalist, who favo ...

(1834–1896),

Theodor Mommsen Christian Matthias Theodor Mommsen (; 30 November 1817 – 1 November 1903) was a German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician and archaeologist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest classicists of the 19th centu ...

(1817–1903), and

Heinrich von Sybel Heinrich Karl Ludolf von Sybel (2 December 1817 – 1 August 1895), German historian, came from a Protestant family which had long been established at Soest, in Westphalia. Life He was born in Düsseldorf, where his father held important pos ...

(1817–1895), to name three. Treitschke in particular viewed Prussia as the logical agent of unification. These historical arguments can also be called the grand, or great, narratives but they are inherently

ethnocentric Ethnocentrism in social science and anthropology—as well as in colloquial English discourse—means to apply one's own culture or ethnicity as a frame of reference to judge other cultures, practices, behaviors, beliefs, and people, instead o ...

, at least when applied to the historical process. Treitschke's'' History of Germany in the Nineteenth Century'', published in 1879, has perhaps a misleading title: it privileges the history of Prussia over the history of other German states, and it tells the story of the German-speaking peoples through the guise of Prussia's destiny to unite all German states under its leadership. The creation of this myth established Prussia as Germany's savior; it was the destiny of all Germans to be united, this myth maintains, and it was Prussia's destiny to accomplish this. According to this story, Prussia played the dominant role in bringing the German states together as a nation-state; only Prussia could protect German liberties from being crushed by French or Russian influence. This interpretation emphasizes Prussia's role in saving Germans from the resurgence of

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

's power in 1814, at Waterloo, creating some semblance of economic unity through the ''

Zollverein The (), or German Customs Union, was a coalition of German states formed to manage tariffs and economic policies within their territories. Organized by the 1833 treaties, it formally started on 1 January 1834. However, its foundations had b ...

'' (German customs union), and uniting Germans under one proud flag after the defeat of France in the Franco Prussian War in 1871.

Deconstructing the myth

After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, various historians of Germany sought to re-examine the German past, in part to understand the immediate German past and the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

, and in part to understand Germany's supposed

democratic deficit A democratic deficit (or democracy deficit) occurs when ostensibly democratic organizations or institutions (particularly governments) fall short of fulfilling the principles of democracy in their practices or operation where representative and l ...

: Theoretically, Germans were inexperienced with democracy and self-government because their experience in unification came under the leadership of the least democratic of the German states (Prussia). This inevitably led to, first,

World War I 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 ...

, and second the failure of the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is ...

, third, to the rise of

National Socialism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Naz ...

, and fourth, to

. The Borussian myth was linked to the ''

Sonderweg (, "special path") refers to the theory in German historiography that considers the German-speaking lands or the country of Germany itself to have followed a course from aristocracy to democracy unlike any other in Europe. The modern school of ...

'' theory of Germany's ''peculiar road'' to modernity. The set of circumstances that predated the Unification, for example, the so-called failure of the 1848 German revolutions and the elimination of

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

as a possible leader in the unification process strengthen the myth's appeal. In this way, teleological arguments tend to work backward from an event, to describe and rationalize all trends leading to it; they are

genealogical Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kin ...

—trace from the present to the past—rather than historical, which explores the past to the present. In the 1970s, and later, as

social Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives from ...

and cultural historians examined nineteenth-century German history in greater depth, they realized that not only was there a vibrant and lively German culture without Prussia, but they also deconstructed significant elements of the ''Sonderweg'' theory as well. They discovered, for example, that the 1848 Revolutions in Germany actually had some significant successes. Indeed, the history of 19th-century Germany was not a long process of grinding under the heel of Prussian militarism, but instead a process of economic expansion, testing of democratic institutions, the writing and testing of constitutions, and the creation of social insurance systems to maintain long term economic security.David Blackbourn, ''The Long Nineteenth Century: A History of Germany, 1780–1918.'' New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. .

Citations

Sources

* Blackbourn, David and

Geoff Eley Geoffrey Howard eoffEley (born 4 May 1949) is a British-born historian of Germany. He studied history at Balliol College, Oxford, and received his PhD from the University of Sussex in 1974. He has taught at the University of Michigan, Ann A ...

. ''The Peculiarities of German History: Bourgeois Society and Politics in Nineteenth-Century Germany''. Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press, 1984. *Friedrich, Karin, ''The Other Prussia: Oyal Prussia, Poland and Liberty, 1569–1772'' New York, 2000. *Kohn, Hans (ed.) ''German History: Some New German Views.'' Boston, 1954. ASIN B001037HN4 *Koshar, Rudy, ''Germany's Transient Pasts: Preservation and the National Memory in the Twentieth Century.'' Chapel Hill, 1998. *Nipperdey, Thomas. ''Germany from Napoleon to Bismarck, 1800–1866.'' Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1996. {{ISBN, 978-0-691-02636-7 Historiography Causality Teleology 20th century in Prussia

Teleological arguments

Spinning the myth

Deconstructing the myth

See also

Citations

Sources