Meinecke And His Reflection Of The German Catastrophe

Friedrich Meinecke is one of the most famous historians and also the last master of historicism in the modern west historical circles. As an old man full of wisdom with wonderful experience, his reflection of the Germany’s suffering is very valuable, but the historiography group has few researches about it, which is a pity.The reflection of Meinecke was concentrated in the book of The German Catastrophe, which is created in1946. He used a unique way, which didn’t get bogged down in the historical facts, but looked for the reason from the idea of historical events. He thought the main reason of Germany’s holocaust was the betrayal of German classical liberalism tradition and the disunity of state power and spiritual freedom、nationalism and liberalism, world citizen country and national country. He spoke in defense of the German historical culture, and attributed the Hitler’s being in power and the rise of the Nazis largely to contingency. He had realized that if the state power had no limit, it would suppress the freedom and conscience of people, make them bend to the power. But he still yearned for the harmony of state power and spiritual freedom, and hoped the classical culture of Germany could regroup. So it could make a new Germany, and integrate into the world to make her unique contribution.In The German Catastrophe, Meinecke recited the current thought tides and mental state of Germany since the Industrial Revolution up to the end of World War Ⅱ, which included nationalism, socialism, Machiavellism, Prussian militarism and Hitlerism, etc. He pointed out their influence to the suffering of Germany, especially the immeasurable loss from the Hitlerism. It is worth noting that, Meinecke wrote a single chapter which discussed the contingency and necessity, and emphasized the chance’s decisive role to the Hitler’s being in power and the rise of the Nazis. Finally, Meinecke called for Germany to the recovery of classical liberalism spirit, and came to meet the new birth of Germany full of hope.Meinecke lasted his thought of the history of ideas, emphatically reflected on why Germany walked on a path of destruction from the spirit aspect, which is his unique place, but it also led him to ignore the objective environment. His great love of German classic cultural tradition also made his thoughts of the German catastrophe have certain of bias. The paper mainly introduces the opinion of Meinecke in The German Catastrophe, and discusses his historical thoughts and shortcomings.