German Historian Quotes

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder
Leopold von Ranke
Johann Gustav Droysen
Heinrich von Treitschke
Arthur Moeller van den Bruck

You have reckoned that history ought to judge the past and to instruct the contemporary world as to the future. The present attempt does not yield to that high office. It only wants to show what actually happened.

Leopold von Ranke
Leopold von Ranke
The modern minds in each generation are the critics who preserve us from a petrifying world, who will not leave us to walk undisturbed in the ways of our fathers.

The tactical result of an engagement forms the base for new strategic decisions because victory or defeat in a battle changes the situation to such a degree that no human acumen is able to see beyond the first battle. In this sense one should understand Napoleon's saying: "I have never had a plan of operations."
Therefore no plan of operations extends with any certainty beyond the first contact with the main hostile force.

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder
Helmuth von Moltke the Elder
History is the only science enjoying the ambiguous fortune of being required to be at the same time an art.

Johann Gustav Droysen
Johann Gustav Droysen
History is primarily a socio-psychological science. In the conflict between the old and the new tendencies in historical investigation...we are at the turn of the stream, the parting of the ways in historical science.

Man is always more than he can know of himself; consequently, his accomplishments, time and again, will come as a surprise to him.

When we take into account the political conditions, religion and morals of the Macedonians, our conviction is strengthened that they were a Greek race and akin to the Dorians. Having stayed behind in the extreme north, they were unable to participate in the progressive civilization of the tribes which went further south...

Without war no State could be. All those we know of arose through war, and the protection of their members by armed force remains their primary and essential task. War, therefore, will endure to the end of history, as long as there is a multiplicity of states.

Heinrich von Treitschke
Heinrich von Treitschke
The ideas of theologians are refuted by their adversaries, the ideas of scientists are refuted by their followers.

It is the crucifixion that distinguishes the new message from the mythologies of all other peoples.

But we have reached a turning-point. We must make a decision: shall we remain a child-like people, giving little thought to our Future, till someday we find that we have none?

Arthur Moeller van den Bruck
Arthur Moeller van den Bruck
Abstractions are like clouds, which assume a hundred different forms, and which men may run after forever without catching anything real.