MADE BY HISTORY: HEINRICH VON TREITSCHKE'S HERO AND THE ANXIETIES OF NINETEENTH-CENTURY GERMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

Abstract

The German historian Heinrich von Treitschke has traditionally been associated with the notion of ‘great men’ in history and seen as a naïve personalist who concentrated agency in the hands of a select few heroic individuals. This article advances an alternative interpretation of Treitschke's historical writings, suggesting that the oft-repeated axiom ‘great men make history’ is overwhelmingly unsatisfactory in capturing his stance on historical subjecthood. Rather, Treitschke's historiography is shown to evince a profound concern with ideal, structural and material factors, upon which the will of the heroic individual supervenes and without which their actions cannot be understood. This article then contextualises Treitschke's work within the historiographic landscape of nineteenth-century Germany, investigating why the construct of the heroic individual appeared uniquely appealing even as it became ever less plausible. This development is explained above all with reference to increasing historiographic narrativisation, historical constructivism and anxieties around socioeconomic change.