Johann Gustav Bernhard Droysen (; ; 6 July 180819 June 1884) was a German

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 species; as well as the ...

. His history of

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...

was the first work representing a new school of German historical thought that idealized power held by so-called "great" men.

Early life and education

Droysen was born at Treptow in

Pomerania Pomerania ( ; ; ; ) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The central and eastern part belongs to the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, West Pomeranian, Pomeranian Voivod ...

(now Trzebiatów in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

) on 6 July 1808. His father, Johann Christoph Droysen, was an army chaplain who had been present at the celebrated siege of Kolberg in 1806–1807. As a child, Droysen witnessed some of the military operations during the War of Liberation, his father by then being pastor at Greifenhagen, in the immediate neighbourhood of

Stettin Szczecin ( , , ; ; ; or ) is the capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the German border, it is a major seaport, the largest city of northwestern Poland, and se ...

, which was held by the French for most of 1813. These youthful impressions laid the foundation of his ardent attachment to the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

. He was educated at the gymnasium of Stettin and at the

University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...

; from 1827 to 1829 he was the private tutor of

Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions inc ...

, who set several of his poems in his Op. 9 ''12 Songs''. In 1829 he became a master at the Graues Kloster, one of the oldest schools in Berlin; in addition, he gave lectures at the University of Berlin, from 1833 as ''

Privatdozent ''Privatdozent'' (for men) or ''Privatdozentin'' (for women), abbreviated PD, P.D. or Priv.-Doz., is an academic title conferred at some European universities, especially in German-speaking countries, to someone who holds certain formal qualifi ...

'', and from 1835 as professor, without a salary. The famed historian

Jacob Burckhardt Carl Jacob Christoph Burckhardt (; ; 25 May 1818 – 8 August 1897) was a Swiss historian of art and culture and an influential figure in the historiography of both fields. His best known work is '' The Civilization of the Renaissance in ...

visited his class in his last semester (1839–40). During these years Droysen studied classical antiquity; he published a translation of

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; ; /524 – /455 BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek Greek tragedy, tragedian often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek tragedy is large ...

in 1832 and a paraphrase of

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; ; ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Ancient Greek comedy, comic playwright from Classical Athens, Athens. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. The majority of his surviving play ...

(1835–1838), but the work by which he made himself known as a historian was his ''Geschichte Alexanders des Grossen'' (''History of Alexander the Great''; Berlin, 1833 and other editions), a book that long remained the best work on

. It was in some ways the herald of a new school of German historical thought, for it idealized power and success, a conceptual framework Droysen had learned from the teaching of

Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a 19th-century German idealism, German idealist. His influence extends across a wide range of topics from metaphysical issues in epistemology and ontology, to political phi ...

. Droysen followed the biography of Alexander with other works dealing with Alexander's Greek successors, published under the title of ''Geschichte des Hellenismus'' (

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, 1836–1843), in which he created the term "

Hellenistic In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

" to refer to the period between Alexander's conquests and the emergence of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

. A new and revised edition of the whole work was published in 1885, and translated into French, but not at the time into English. His ''Vorlesung des Freiheits Krieg'' (in English: ''Lectures of the War of Liberation'') appeared in 1846 and his ''Outlines of the Principles of History'', published 1858, translated 1893, was widely read throughout German universities. He followed this with ''Erhebung der Geschichte zum Rang einer Wissenschaft'' (1863), a methodological study that reflected his new approach to research and writing.

History meets politics

In 1840, Droysen was appointed professor of history at the

University of Kiel Kiel University, officially the Christian Albrecht University of Kiel, (, abbreviated CAU, known informally as Christiana Albertina) is a public research university in the city of Kiel, Germany. It was founded in 1665 as the ''Academia Holsator ...

. There, the political movement for the defense of the rights of the Elbe duchies, of which

Kiel Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...

was the center, attracted his interest. Like Friedrich Christoph Dahlmann, he placed his historical learning at the service of the estates of

Schleswig The Duchy of Schleswig (; ; ; ; ; ) was a duchy in Southern Jutland () covering the area between about 60 km (35 miles) north and 70 km (45 mi) south of the current border between Germany and Denmark. The territory has been di ...

and

Holstein Holstein (; ; ; ; ) is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider (river), Eider. It is the southern half of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost States of Germany, state of Germany. Holstein once existed as the German County of Holstein (; 8 ...

and composed the address of 1844, in which the estates protested against the claim of King

Christian VIII of Denmark Christian VIII (18 September 1786 – 20 January 1848) was King of Denmark from 1839 to 1848 and, as Christian Frederick, King of Norway in 1814. Christian Frederick was the eldest son of Frederick, Hereditary Prince of Denmark, Hereditary Prin ...

to alter the law of succession in the duchies. The issue was diplomatically negotiated through the London Protocol of 1852, and ultimately resolved in a war between Denmark and allied forces from Austria and Prussia in the

Second Schleswig War The Second Schleswig War (; or German Danish War), also sometimes known as the Dano-Prussian War or Prusso-Danish War, was the second military conflict over the Schleswig–Holstein question of the nineteenth century. The war began on 1 Februar ...

Support of Prussian hegemony

In 1848, Droysen was elected a member of the revolutionary

Frankfurt parliament The Frankfurt National Assembly () was the first freely elected parliament for all German Confederation, German states, including the German-populated areas of the Austrian Empire, elected on 1 May 1848 (see German federal election, 1848). The ...

and acted as secretary to the committee for drawing up a proposed constitution. He was a determined supporter of Prussian ascendancy, seeing this as the only feasible route to German unification.

We cannot conceal the fact that the whole German question is a simple alternative between Prussia and Austria. In these states, German life has its positive and negative poles — in the former, all the interests which are national and reformative, in the latter, all that are dynastic and destructive. The German question is not a constitutional question, but a question of power; and the Prussian monarchy is now wholly German, while that of Austria cannot be.

Droysen was one of the first members to retire from the

Frankfurt Parliament The Frankfurt National Assembly () was the first freely elected parliament for all German Confederation, German states, including the German-populated areas of the Austrian Empire, elected on 1 May 1848 (see German federal election, 1848). The ...

after King

Frederick William IV of Prussia Frederick William IV (; 15 October 1795 – 2 January 1861), the eldest son and successor of Frederick William III of Prussia, was King of Prussia from 7 June 1840 until his death on 2 January 1861. Also referred to as the "romanticist on the th ...

refused the imperial crown in 1849. In the following two years, Droysen continued to support the cause of the duchies, and in 1850, with Carl Samwer, he published a history of the dealings of Denmark with Schleswig and Holstein, ''Die Herzogthümer Schleswig-Holstein und das Königreich Dänemark seit dem Jahre 1800'' (Hamburg, 1850). A translation was published in London in the same year under the title ''The Policy of Denmark towards the Duchies of Schleswig-Holstein''. The work was one of great political importance and contributed to the formation of German public opinion on the rights of the duchies in their struggle with

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

Legacy to Prussian historiography

In his later years, Droysen was almost entirely occupied with Prussian history. After 1851, he was appointed to a professorship at

Jena Jena (; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 in ...

; in 1859, he was called to Berlin, where he remained until his death. In 1851, he brought out a life of Count Yorck von Wartenburg (Berlin, 1851–1852), generally considered one of the best biographies in the German language and then began his great work on the ''Geschichte der preussischen Politik'', or, in English, ''The History of Prussian Politics'' (Berlin, 1855–1886). Seven volumes were published, the last posthumously; in total the work consumed 32 volumes. It forms a complete history of the growth of the Prussian monarchy to the year 1756. This, like all Droysen's work, shows a strongly marked individuality, and a penchant of tracing the manner in which important dynamic forces worked themselves out in history.

Personal life

Droysen was twice married, and died in Berlin. His eldest son, Gustav, wrote several well-known historical works, namely, ''Gustav Adolf'' (Leipzig, 1869–1870), a study of the

Gustavus Adolphus Gustavus Adolphus (9 December N.S 19 December">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Old Style and New Style dates">N.S 19 December15946 November Old Style and New Style dates">N.S 16 November] 1632), also known in English as ...

, the King of Sweden during the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

, and ''Herzog Bernhard von Weimar'' (

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

, 1885), a study of Duke Bernhard, another able Protestant General during the Thirty Years' War;Gustav Droysen (son), ''Bernhard von Weimar''. Duncker & Humblot, 1885
/ref> an ''Historischer Handatlas'' (Leipzig, 1886), a geographic analysis of historical and territorial changes, and several writings on various events of the

. Another son, Hans Droysen, was the author of some works on Greek history and antiquities.

Notes

References

* "Johann Gustav Droysen." ''The Columbia Encyclopedia'', Sixth Edition. 2008
Encyclopedia.com
Accessed 11 June 2009. * Frederick C. Beiser, ''The German Historicist Tradition'', Oxford University Press, 2011. * Wilfried Nippel. ''Johann Gustav Droysen: Ein Leben zwischen Wissenschaft und Politik''. C.H. Beck, 2008. .

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Droysen, Johann Gustav 1808 births 1884 deaths People from Trzebiatów People from the Province of Pomerania Historians from the Kingdom of Prussia Academic staff of the University of Kiel Academic staff of the University of Jena Academic staff of the Humboldt University of Berlin Members of the Frankfurt Parliament 19th-century German historians 19th-century German writers 19th-century German male writers German male non-fiction writers Members of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities Humboldt University of Berlin alumni