A Social History of German Political Sentiments, Aspirations and Ideas

ROUTLEDGE LIBRARY EDITIONS: GERMAN HISTORY Volume 22 THE GERMAN PUBLIC MIND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY THE GERMAN PUBLIC MIND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY A Social History of German Political Sentiments, Aspirations and Ideas FREDERICK HERTZ TRANSLATED BY ERIC NORTHCOTT i~~?io~;~~n~~~up NEW YORK AND LONDON First published in 1975 by George Allen and Unwin Ltd. This edition first published in 2020 by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 and by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 1975 George Allen & Unwin Ltd All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN: 978-0-367-02813-8 (Set) ISBN: 978-0-429-27806-8 (Set) (ebk) ISBN: 978-0-367-24586-3 (Volume 22) (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-429-28334-5 (Volume 22) (ebk) Publisher’s Note The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent. Disclaimer The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and would welcome correspondence from those they have been unable to trace. THE GERMAN PUBLIC MIND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY A Social Hz'storyof German Politz"calSentiments, Aspfrations and Ideas BY FREDERICK HERTZ EDITED BY FRANK EYCK TRANSLATION BY l!RIC NORTHCOTT London GEORGE ALLEN & UNWIN LTD RUSKIN HOUSE MUSEUM STREET First published in 1975 This book is copyright under the Berne Convention. All rights are reserved. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, 1956, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, electrical, chemical, mechanical, optical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prio~ permission of the copyright owner. Inquiries should be addressed to the publishers. © George Allen & Unwin Ltd r975 ISBN O 04 943020 3 Printed in Great Britain in ro point Plantin type by T. & A. Constable Ltd, Edinburgh FOREWORD When Frederick Hertz died in London at the age of eighty-six in November 1964, the third volume of the culmination of his life's work, The Development of the German Publt'c Mind, was not yet ready for publication. The author's widow, Dr Edith Hertz, whose busy life in London as a medical practitioner had not prevented her from taking an active interest in her husband's work, was rightly determined that a further volume should be made available to the public. She was supported in this by Dr G. P. Gooch,1 an old friend, who recommended that I should be asked to help. Posthumous publication offers considerable problems. Nobody can complete a book left by an author in exactly the way the writer would have wished. After consultation with the author's family it was decided not to add any further sections, but simply to edit the available material. There has been some shortening by eliminating detail which was not absolutely essential and by cutting out duplication. It is hoped that the reader's task will have thus been facilitated, without withholding im portant additional information from him. The author was able to maintain his basic theme of what he called 'the German public mind' up to about the end of the Bismarck era. Particularly after 1890, however, the story in the manuscript he left was overshadowed by events of diplomatic history. The present volume therefore ends at about 1890, with Bismarck's dismissal. It may perhaps be possible, at a later date, to arrange for the publication of a further volume dealing with the years between 1890 and 1913. After the death of Dr Edith Hertz in April 1970, the son, Mr John Hurst, who had all along assisted his mother in London with the various matters con cerning the current volume, took over as literary executor, supported by his sister, Mrs M. Levinson, who is living in the United States. The manuscript Frederick Hertz left was in German. In view of my various academic commitments, Mr Eric Northcott, an experienced translator, was asked to prepare the English version. Editorial work on the manuscript was begun while I was still living in England, and completed in Canada after I took up a professorship of history at the University of Calgary in 1968. Frequent visits to England allowed me to maintain the necessary contact with the author's family and with the translator. I was helped considerably in my editorial work 1 Gooch wrote in German Life and Letters, Vol. 18, Oxford, 1964/5, p. 90: '. • The closing years of a busy life were spent in preparing for the third and final volume of his Magnum Opus. ... His readers in many lands will deeply regret the interruption of his fine enterprise and it is hoped that some younger scholar may be found to complete the long story •... ' 6 The German Public Mind by having had the privilege of meeting the author, who explained to me what he was attempting to do in his book and showed me much kindness. Frederick Hertz was a man of many parts and wide culture. Born in Vienna in 1878 of a family of originally German descent, he studied economics at the university not only in his native city but also in Munich and London. After the First World War he served for a number of years as a senior official of the Austrian government, before receiving a call to the chair of economics and sociology at the German University of Halle in 1930. By this time, Hertz already had an international reputation as a writer on a whole variety of economic and sociological topics. His interests centred mainly on questions of nationality and race. Owing to the formation of the National Socialist regime, Hertz had to leave Germany and eventually settled in London in 1938. Though he had by then reached the age of sixty, he remained fresh intellectually and full of vigour to the end of his life. He was able to publish the first volume of his monumental Development of the German Public Mind in 1957 and the second in 1962. Nobody who has read this work will doubt that Hertz was a man of considerable learning in many fields, one of the last shining products of an Allgemeinbildung, of a universal education which has become so difficult to maintain in our age of increasing specialisation. Frank Eyck Department of History University of Calgary Alberta Canada AUTHOR'S PREFACE The term public mind is used here in the sense of the political and social feelings, opinions and aspirations of the various groups forming the German people, with special reference to those which have deter mined politics. In former times secular history dealt mainly with the political development of States, and since the principal criterion of States and politics is power, this led to the detailed presentation of struggles for power, which left not much space for public opinion, political ideals and ideologies. Attention was concentrated on the individuals engaged in these struggles, on rulers, statesmen and generals, though sometimes great thinkers, too, appeared in the background. In contrast to this approach other branches of historical research developed later; on the one hand the treatment of special fields such as law, arts, or economic life, and on the other hand schools embracing the general evolution of nations, with emphasis on civilisation, cultural achievements and social relations. It was increasingly believed that the course of events was not exclusively, or principally, determined by the State and power politics, and that there was also a collective psychology moulding the mind of the makers of politics. While the older type of political history emphasised the part played by great leaders, the new schools laid great stress on forces such as collective mentalities, tradition and the unfolding of the human intellect, conscience and sentiment, as well as their geographical background. The moving forces were sought in dominant ideas, the spirit of the ages, the evolution of the mind in successive phases, the character of nations, the Volksgeist, the ethos of elites or the interest of classes. Many of the attempts, however, were influenced by philosophical or psychological presuppositions leading to un-empirical conclusions. Political historians in the present age give much more attention to public opinion than in former times, especially in monographs on particular epochs, problems and personalities. This book regards the public mind not as a uniform and persistent force such as the alleged national character, or the public opinion much invoked by politicians. A nation shows a multitude of characters; there are forces striving to integrate them in a unity, and others working for disintegration. As a rule there is not a single public opinion, but a variety of divergent trends. The idea that the policy of a government or the deeds of great men su.fliciently expressed the spirit of their whole nation has often led to disastrous errors. The aim of this study is to show what the various sections of the Germans of every rank and class were thinking of the ruling men, how far they supported or opposed 8 The German Public Mind them, what were their wishes, hopes and fears, prejudices, ideals and standards of right and wrong.

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