nm0087: okay [0.8] Leopold von Ranke [1.5] he's dead [0.7] and he's German [0.
6] but do we need to know more about him [0.3] well we probably do [0.5] even 
though he's not a historian who is read [0.2] all that much today perhaps more 
than most historians [0.3] of that time [0.6] i should er add at this point by 
the way before i claim any er [0.2] credit or otherwise that the lecture i'm 
about to give is actually the lecture normally given by Dr namex [0.4] who's 
kindly given me his lecture notes and [0.3] while i've added one or two details 
[0.3] the er substance of the lecture today [0.3] is almost all his so er [0.3] 
he's with us in spirit and er [0.3] any questions that you have should probably 
be directed to him [0.3] rather than me as he is the er [0.4] the only begetter 
[0.3] of this lecture [1.4] so er namex actually told me the other day that [0.
2] Ranke [0.3] some of his writings on diplomatic history in the late 
nineteenth century [0.3] is still someone whom he recommend [0.3] to students 
to read [0.4] on various subjects [0.2] and so it is the case that some of what 
he's written [0.3] is still read 
today as history [0.5] but that's not [0.2] probably the main reason [0.2] that 
[0.3] we [0.2] we er we ask you to look at him in this historiography course [0.
5] er in nineteen-ninety-nine [1.2] other things [0.3] which owe a lot to his 
influence perhaps are not so immediately obvious [0.4] but the fact for 
instance that you've been studying for most of the last two-and-a-half years in 
seminar groups [0.4] and the fact that you've er learned how to use the 
footnote function on Microsoft Word [0.4] are indirectly tributes to Ranke [0.
4] who was one of the most important [0.4] er historians [0.3] in using these 
new as they were in the nineteenth century [0.3] new methods to try and put 
forward a new [0.3] scientific type of history [0.3] getting away from the more 
sort of romantic and unobjective sort of history [0.3] that had existed before 
he didn't invent these methods [0.2] but he was very influential [0.3] in 
popularizing them so er [0.3] seminars and er footnotes are at least some of 
the er the legacies of Ranke [0.2] you might say [1.6] in the lecture plan that 
you'll see on the er [0.2] the 
handout [0.6] i'll just briefly go through what we're going to [0.2] go through 
today first of all [0.5] we're going to talk a little bit about who Ranke was 
[0.5] where he came from what his intellectual background was [0.4] and why [0.
2] he decided to become [0.3] a historian [1.1] we'll then talk a bit about the 
way in which he studied history which is probably the most important thing 
you'll take away [0.2] i hope from the lecture but also from your reading [0.2] 
and your seminars [0.3] on Ranke [0.3] in other words the ideas that changed 
the way in which historians [0.2] think about [0.3] history [0.8] we'll talk a 
bit about the kind of history that went before and therefore what [0.2] Ranke 
was er reacting against [0.5] and then we'll finish off [0.3] by talking a bit 
about the dangers [0.2] with er the methods that Ranke [0.3] wanted to put 
forward [0.9] so that's the er [0.2] plan for today and [0.4] if you look at 
the back of the lecture sheet you can see how we'll [0.3] map through that [2.
4] Ranke was probably the most prolific and most influential professor of 
history [0.7] anywhere in Europe in the 
nineteenth century [1.3] his ideas lived on into into of the er works of a lot 
of twentieth century historians [0.3] including Geoffrey Elton who you may have 
come across in your reading before [0.3] relatively conservative British 
historian [0.6] although others of his ideas [0.2] already were beginning to 
look [0.3] old hat [0.3] during the nineteenth century [1.0] he wrote [0.3] a 
lot [0.4] he lived for ninety years admittedly but [0.2] even during that time 
[0.4] he still managed to publish sixty-three very large volumes of history 
which is er [0.2] pretty good going [0.6] and er [0.3] in this century [0.4] 
six more volumes were published after his death [0.3] of his lectures [0.2] 
diaries [0.3] and correspondence [0.2] so there's a great deal of Ranke's 
writing [0.3] out there [0.4] all of which you'll be expected to read of course 
by the end of next week for the seminar [1.7] [laughter] he er for the last 
fifteen years of his life [0.3] was blind [0.2] and he relied on er [0.2] 
dictating to [0.2] scribes who would write down [0.3] what he was saying [0.4] 
including er his nine volumes of Ranke's world history [0.3] which er [0.3] 
oddly enough 
was actually unfinished by his death [0.3] and only reached the early modern 
period [1.2] all of his life [0.3] he wanted to write [0.2] world history [0.3] 
and here you have this whole kind of stream of thinking which you know about 
from previous courses [0.3] the Enlightenment and so on very much influencing 
[0.3] people like Ranke [0.4] everyone trying to find [0.3] the ultimate 
knowledge that would let you solve anything the whole sort of [0.3] er legacy 
of the er [0.2] the age of reason there [1.2] however on his way towards this 
world history in the previous sort of [0.2] sixty-odd years [0.4] Ranke was 
diverted [0.3] into writing numerous national histories [0.2] which were going 
to be the sort of building blocks for this ultimate universal history [0.3] 
that he was planning to write [1.2] his quality has to be judged [0.2] by the 
multivolume works of his mature period [0.4] and these are the histories of the 
papacy [0.7] of Germany in the age of Reformation [0.5] and also of England and 
France [0.2] in early modern times [1.5] his motto for what he was doing was [0.
3] labor ipse voluptas [0.4] meaning work 
itself [0.2] is pleasure [0.5] with the kind of hint that word voluptas if any 
of you sort of done Latin [0.4] will know that it means sort of kind of [0.2] 
pleasure of an almost sort of erotic and sexual kind [0.8] you may or may not 
wish to relate that to the fact that he didn't actually get married till he was 
forty-eight [0.5] [laughter] and he used to write letters to his brother [0.8] 
about caressing documents in the archives [0.3] [laughter] as if they were 
loved ones [0.3] now one critic Krieger [0.5] er put a Freudian kind of spin on 
this and er other statements he made trying to show that this showed that Ranke 
was sort of you know [0.5] er you know getting off with these documents instead 
of off er with er with his wife [0.4] but er it is entirely possible of course 
that he may be making a joke this is something that Freudian critics don't 
always er [0.4] take on board [1.3] and er the critic er Nicholas er i think 
it's Nicholas Kenyon [0.3] pointed out in a review of Krieger that [0.5] quotes 
just as Ranke needed to write history for 
self-fulfillment [0.3] so he needed also to torment himself [0.2] on his 
motives [0.2] for doing so [0.2] so a very kind of you know Freudian thing 
there you know kind of the pleasure and the pain all together [0.4] and 
certainly although there must have been pleasure there must have been an awful 
lot of pain in writing sixty-three [0.3] fat volumes of history [0.4] as well 
[1.2] the one thing he didn't write a whole volume on ever which is a bit 
ironic from the point of view of this course [0.4] is on what he thought he was 
doing [0.3] on the nature of history [0.5] he only wrote fragments about this 
subject in the prefaces to his main works [0.3] in some in the lectures he 
sometimes gave [0.3] and in occasional essays [0.4] so we're basically putting 
together all these other bits of evidence [0.2] to try and produce a picture [0.
3] of what Ranke actually thought [0.3] about the way you should write [0.2] 
history [1.5] in that picture [0.3] there are two main ideas [0.2] that you 
need to keep in mind [0.7] first of all [0.6] Ranke was not [0.2] just a [0.3] 
fact man he wasn't just 
sitting there writing down you know kind of a narrative of [0.3] this happened 
in sixteen-eighty-four and then this happened in sixteen-eighty-five [0.3] and 
all that sort of thing [0.6] he was not [0.3] just [0.2] doing that er he was 
not just doing a sort of political narrative [0.9] the second point to keep in 
mind which is [0.3] related to that [0.5] is that [0.9] rather like Karl Marx 
[0.6] Ranke [0.3] had [0.3] stages as a thinker [0.3] so there's an early Ranke 
[0.3] a middle Ranke [0.3] and a late Ranke just as people talk about late Marx 
or [0.2] early Marx [0.8] early Ranke is probably up till about eighteen-thirty 
[0.6] the mature Ranke is about eighteen-thirty to the early eighteen-sixties 
[0.5] and the late Ranke [0.5] er [0.5] as interpreted by [0.3] the later 
Rankeans in other words his pupils [0.5] was er [0.7] after the eighteen-
sixties until his death [1.4] now obviously the people who came last people 
like his students were trying to later suggest that what he believed late in 
his life [0.3] was what he believed all of his life sort of airbrushing over 
the past [0.3] but we need to actually get 
back and look at what he was saying throughout his life [0.3] to understand how 
his thought [0.3] developed [0.7] and of course the one thing you cannot expect 
[0.8] i'm sure you wouldn't expect [0.3] is that the man's going to be 
completely consistent for the entire sixty-odd years [0.3] that he was writing 
history [0.5] 'cause he was constantly rethinking [0.2] his approach and so you 
will find [0.3] contradictions [0.3] in what he said about history [1.4] what 
we can do today [0.3] is to draw attention [0.2] to certain themes that 
preoccupied Ranke [0.3] throughout his career [0.6] and occasional glances at 
the way in which that [0.2] that changed [1.3] so we're going to look at the 
way in which he was a product of his time [0.7] the nature [0.2] degree of 
originality of his contribution [0.3] to the development of historical studies 
[0.8] the philosophical underpinning of his method [0.5] and the dangers and 
shortcoming [0.3] er presented [2.7] okay [0.3] let's talk now a bit a ben then 
about [0.3] Ranke's life particularly his background [1.5] he was very largely 
influenced by his religious upbringing [0.3] and 
that's important to know [0.9] as well as that the political events of a 
century [0.5] er most of which he experienced 'cause he lived throughout [0.7] 
most of the nineteenth century [0.6] and of course his educational training was 
important too [1.6] so first [0.4] his forefathers in the male line were all 
Lutheran pastors [0.4] with the exception of his father [0.2] who was a lawyer 
[1.0] but Ranke himself [0.2] was not an orthodox Lutheran [0.7] he disliked 
the institutions of the contemporary church [0.3] and its doctrine [0.3] which 
at that time was supported by highly [0.2] rationalist [0.2] arguments [0.2] 
and again this is the legacy of the Enlightenment and so on [1.3] Ranke was not 
[0.2] rationalist in that very strict sense [0.2] he was more in the sort of 
mystical tradition pietist you might say [0.4] saying that you couldn't know 
God [0.2] through doctrine [0.3] you had to know him through history [0.7] in 
other words [0.4] Ranke saw the hand of God [0.3] at work [0.2] in [0.3] 
history [0.3] in namex's notes say [0.3] rather like Maradona [0.2] so er so 
that's the comparison that came to [0.2] his mind [1.5] therefore for 
Ranke [0.8] history was a holy hieroglyph [0.4] whose deciphering was in effect 
a sacred priestly type of calling [0.6] historical writing wrote Ranke [0.3] is 
an office which can only be compared to that of the priest [0.8] and it was his 
er [0.3] in a sense his religious calling really rather more than any of the 
supposed sexual urges [0.3] that were sublimated [0.2] in his work [0.2] as a 
historian in other words he wasn't going to become a priest [0.3] so he but he 
did decide [0.2] to become a historian there's two aspects of th-, [0.4] of the 
same part of his character [1.8] okay what was going on around Ranke then well 
his early life cons-, coincided [0.3] with [0.2] the French Revolution [0.7] 
followed of course by Napoleon's invasion of the German states [0.3] including 
Saxony [0.3] where Ranke was born [0.8] and then of course [0.2] the 
Restoration [0.3] of eighteen-fifteen [0.5] now all of these events war turmoil 
revolution and 
so on [0.4] actually turned him [0.4] into a very conservative [0.2] character 
[0.5] he had a big s-, a great suspicion [0.3] of [0.3] Enlightenment ideas 
which we may think are all about rationality and so on [0.3] but Ranke saw the 
result of [0.4] and he held them responsible [0.3] for political chaos [1.4] so 
[0.4] he believed therefore in an allegiance to the monarchy [0.6] and the 
principle [0.2] of the balance of power [0.4] which was of course famously [0.
3] the result [0.2] of the eighteen-fifteen [0.2] political settlement and [0.
2] you know the famous [0.3] thing supposedly is that it kept [0.4] the broad 
peace in Europe [0.2] for ninety-nine years [0.2] until the outbreak [0.2] of 
[0.2] the First World War [0.6] and that was fine as far as Ranke went [1.7] 
the career of Napoleon [0.2] who again obviously Ranke had looked at with some 
interest [0.5] gave pause for thought [0.4] that great men could influence [0.
2] the cause [0.2] er the course [0.2] of [0.3] history [0.6] because 
Napoleon's defeat [0.2] showed that forces of continuity [0.3] were at work in 
the states and the nations [0.3] that were able to resist Napoleon's attack [0.
5] but that also history could 
sometimes at least temporarily [0.3] be diverted from its course [0.4] by an 
individual [0.2] who had sufficient greatness [0.3] in other words [0.2] 
history's always kind of going in a straight line [0.3] in effect [0.4] but 
someone like Napoleon can briefly wrench it to the side [0.4] and the other 
forces of order have to sort of work quite hard [0.3] to bring it back [1.7] 
Ranke's drift towards this [0.2] conservative position was reinforced by the 
threats posed [0.3] by the July revolution of eighteen-thirty [0.5] and the 
revolutionary outbreaks [0.2] of eighteen-forty-eight [0.5] and then of course 
by the unification of Germany [0.3] in eighteen-seventy-one [0.7] at first he 
had not been in favour of this [0.2] because it excluded Austria which he 
thought [0.3] ought to have been [0.2] included [1.6] now because Ranke served 
the Prussian monarchy in various capacities [0.4] and had regular 
correspondence with the king of Bavaria [0.3] and the foreign ministers of 
Prussia [0.3] and Austria [0.4] and later even with Bismarck [0.5] Karl Marx [0.
3] once rather contemptuously called him quotes [0.3] a born 
palace servant [0.2] in other words kind of a [0.2] a li-, er a lickspittle [0.
8] there's an element of truth [0.3] in this accusation [0.5] although it's 
true [0.2] also [0.2] that Ranke [0.3] turned to the Prussian government [0.3] 
mainly because it was willing to give him [0.2] financial support [0.3] for his 
research abroad [0.4] which his institution [0.2] the University of Berlin 
which he was a professor at [0.3] refused to do [0.5] nothing much changes if 
you ever try and get research money out of this university you'd find it er 
equally hard [0.5] not that i've yet been er [0.4] asked to go and er [0.4] er 
play lickspittle to Tony Blair and get money in return for it but one can 
always live in hope [0.8] so Ranke's loyalty to the Prussian state [0.3] was 
not [0.2] therefore [0.2] unqualified [0.3] it was partly to do [0.2] with 
their [0.2] sponsorship of him [1.8] okay let's think then about [0.2] what it 
was that Ranke was studying [0.2] at university [0.6] now he had trained as a 
philologist [0.5] he applied [0.3] textual criticism [0.3] which was something 
that had been developing since the Renaissance [0.4] he applied it to the 
study of literature [0.4] and then [0.5] moved from literature to taking a 
textual analysis [0.2] of the ancient historian [0.3] Thucydides [0.3] and then 
later [0.3] the works of Martin Luther [1.1] he only became a historian of the 
more modern era [0.4] later on [0.6] he first of all became a school teacher [0.
3] applying the skills he had learned earlier [0.3] to modern [0.2] historical 
sources [0.7] he also reacted at this point [0.8] against [0.3] what you might 
call the philosophical school [0.3] of historians [0.3] and we'll say a bit 
more about that later on [0.7] and also against the Romantic historians [0.3] 
of whom the most foremost [0.3] was [0.2] the British er writer [0.2] Sir 
Walter Scott [1.2] between about eighteen-ten and eighteen-twenty-three [0.4] 
Sir Walter Scott's works swept across Europe [0.8] and er Ranke disliked 
intensely [0.3] the ways in which he saw [0.5] correctly [0.3] that Scott [0.2] 
had either distorted his sources [0.4] or relied on them [0.2] so slavishly [0.
3] that he refused to criticize them and suggest that maybe they weren't 
telling the absolute truth [0.5] but [0.4] were biased in their own way [0.4] 
so Ranke was 
attempting to react [0.2] against that [1.8] and that brings us to the next 
section which is to think about what Ranke himself contributed to [0.3] the 
historical field [1.4] well first [0.8] Ranke insisted on using sources [0.3] 
close to the events described [0.7] and this may obviously you know seem 
obvious to us now [0.3] but at the time [0.2] it really was something [0.2] of 
a breakthrough [0.8] he also insisted on subjecting all sources of whatever 
period [0.3] to critical analysis [0.5] so this in practice meant that he 
searched very hard to find out if something was a forgery and sometimes you 
know it was [0.6] he compared sources with one another so that you'd get a sort 
of er [0.8] wider view [0.3] of one particular period [0.5] and he also placed 
his sources in their historical context [0.8] his first book [0.3] which was 
the History of the Latin and Teutonic Nations [0.4] which only dealt with 
twenty years from fourteen-ninety-four [0.3] up to er [0.3] fifteen-fourteen [1.
6] used [0.2] mainly [0.3] contemporary Italian historians of the time [0.3] 
including people like [0.4] Giovio [6.4] but at 
the same time as using these [0.2] contemporary Italian sources [0.6] he also 
put out another [0.2] companion volume [0.2] which criticized their reliability 
and pointed out things that he could see were loopholes in what they were 
saying [0.4] even at the time [0.6] and most of Ranke's major books [0.2] had a 
similar kind of appendix volume [0.3] of source criticism [0.3] critiquing [0.
3] the [0.3] er materials which he used [0.3] to actually write the book itself 
[1.7] after the first book however [0.4] Ranke discovered [0.3] manuscript 
sources [0.4] especially the reports of the Venetian ambassadors [0.2] from all 
around Europe [0.8] and he spent years in auction houses and at archives in 
Germany [0.3] Venice [0.2] Rome and elsewhere [0.3] ferreting out these [0.4] 
more immediate sources [0.3] which had not [0.2] pre-, er which had not passed 
[0.3] through the prism [0.2] of a contemporary [0.3] chronicler's [0.2] mind 
[0.3] in other words [0.2] people like Giovio [0.2] were still one step away 
from [0.3] you know the ideal in a sense because [0.3] they were taking 
contemporary sources but they were putting their own spin on it [0.3] whereas 
these [0.2] original 
documents from the ambassadors [0.3] were [0.2] the real thing written at the 
time without retrospective knowledge [0.4] and therefore in a sense the purest 
kind of source [0.3] to use [0.3] and we d-, operate many very similar 
assumptions today [0.3] when writing history [1.5] so after about eighteen-
thirty [0.5] a lot of archives which had been closed unto that point er up to 
that point in Europe [0.4] began very slowly to open up [0.3] to [0.2] 
historians [0.4] and Ranke was often able to consult [0.3] material [0.3] which 
had not previously been [0.3] available [0.3] to [0.2] historians [1.7] he at 
one point said [0.4] God must have an archive [0.2] in heaven [1.7] now he 
tended to er not be so keen on the more mundane bureaucratic sources [0.6] er 
for [0.3] er [0.2] the er for the for the kind of histories he was writing [0.
4] he was keener on the sort of considered and contrived [0.2] diplomatic 
reports [0.3] the reason being that he thought that foreign observers [0.2] 
were actually more qualified than people from a country itself [0.4] to talk 
about what was happening there because they had a more sort 
of outside [0.4] eye [0.7] he also believed on the same principle [0.3] that 
historians should always try [0.3] and study countries other than their own [0.
3] because they were [0.3] you know too involved with er the culture of their 
own place whereas they could look [0.4] at somewhere else [0.2] with a much 
fresher eye [2.1] what else did he do [0.7] he developed the methods and the 
tools of professional [0.2] history [0.8] now some of those had been available 
before [0.3] such as the editing of texts in other words taking some [0.3] 
manuscript source or whatever [0.2] and publishing edition in which you put 
sort of side notes and things explaining [0.4] where it came from who these 
people were and [0.3] how to use it [0.8] also the use of footnotes which i 
mentioned at the beginning [0.4] now again he didn't invent these [0.3] these 
had been used especially in the previous century the er eighteenth century [0.
3] amongst historians [0.3] in [0.2] Göttingen [0.3] in er [0.9] in Germany [0.
5] and also by [0.2] ancient historians historians of [0.5] the classical world 
[0.6] er [0.2] in er [1.4] in Germany [1.1] b-, [2.2] er [1.0] but Ranke [0.4] 
was taking a new step by applying these methods [0.2] for the first time [0.3] 
to modern history in other words history since fifteen-hundred [0.5] and also 
used them much more systematically [0.2] than they'd been used before [2.1] 
then he also came on to the idea of the research seminar in other words the 
small group of people [0.3] swapping [0.3] great historical thoughts which you 
know [0.2] obviously from your own experience [0.3] here [0.7] now this kind of 
seminar again he didn't invent it [0.4] but it had previously been used mainly 
for teaching philology in small study groups [0.7] and it was now used [0.2] 
after Ranke [0.2] for historical studies [0.4] beginning with meetings which 
Ranke held [0.3] in his own house [1.2] during the course of the century [1.0] 
others picked up the baton [0.2] from [0.2] Ranke [0.5] and developed seminars 
in other universities so the idea that he pioneered [0.2] then spread out 
elsewhere [0.3] throughout the intellectual community [0.4] of Europe [1.0] 
learned journals devoted to history [0.2] also emerged [0.6] series of critical 
editions of documents and texts [0.4] 
special chairs professorships in history at university [0.8] the beginning of 
an academic bookmarket in history [0.7] and also conferences at which people 
get together [0.4] and swap ideas [0.4] and papers [0.2] about history [0.7] 
these are all developments of the nineteenth century [0.3] and they er er w-, 
which still underpin professional history today [0.3] and they all owe a great 
deal [0.3] to [0.3] Ranke [1.4] in a century when all professionals were 
beginning to develop their own er [0.3] expertise [0.3] Ranke [0.3] set [0.3] 
the standards [0.4] and this approach [0.2] had a profound impression on 
historians [0.3] in England and America [0.4] as well [2.7] now [0.4] this 
emphasis on sources and their proper handling [0.4] is sometimes known by the 
term [0.2] scientific history you'll find that [0.2] in some of your books [1.
2] when you see that though you have to remember [0.4] that's actually a 
translation [0.4] of [0.2] the German word [0.4] wissenschaft [0.4] which means 
[0.2] not the natural sciences in the sense of physics [0.3] or chemistry and 
so on [0.4] but means [0.5] any academic discipline [0.6] which [0.3] has its 
own [0.4] methodology [0.4] so science is used in a much broader sense [0.5] er 
to translate wissenchaft [0.3] than you might expect from its normal use [0.4] 
in [0.2] English [3.1] Ranke believed in the need for objectivity [0.2] in two 
related senses [0.5] the historian's conclusions [0.2] had to be of the kind 
that could be checked against the evidence [0.6] he also had to preserve his 
distance from the past [0.4] and not seek to impose modern standards on it [0.
8] Ranke once wrote [0.6] every epoch is directly under God [0.5] and its value 
[0.3] depends not on what comes from it [0.4] but f-, but in its existence 
itself [0.6] all generations of mankind [0.3] are equally justified [0.3] in 
the sight [0.4] of God [0.9] therefore [0.5] what is meant objectivity in 
practice for instance in his own history [0.3] was that as a Protestant 
historian [0.3] he tried to teach the he tried to treat the popes and the 
papacy [0.3] dispassionately [0.6] although [0.2] it's still possible when you 
actually read his history [0.3] to see 
his prejudices [0.2] against the Catholic church [0.4] coming through [2.5] 
Ranke was certainly concerned to get the facts right [0.4] but he was also very 
much concerned [0.2] with how you interpret those facts [0.6] and he insisted 
on combining accuracy [0.4] with [0.2] art [0.9] he disliked Walter Scott's 
inaccuracies [0.2] but he liked his literary style [0.7] Ranke [0.3] wanted the 
big bucks he wanted to write bestsellers for the general public [0.3] but to 
have them based [0.3] on historical veracity [0.4] and many historians will 
again tell you today that that's the kind of ideal they'd like to reach whether 
they [0.3] do is another matter [1.4] at the height of his powers Ranke wrote 
history as drama [0.5] using all sorts of literary devices such as flashbacks 
[0.3] to heighten the sense of excitement [1.1] when relating political history 
he didn't try and do a complete narrative A to Z [0.3] but would take episodes 
and little stories to illustrate the point [0.2] he wanted to make [0.9] he 
concentrated on what he considered to be [0.2] significant [0.4] and his prose 
operated [0.3] at three levels [0.4] the 
events of political history [0.4] the b-, sort of big thread [0.5] the 
colourful sort of pen portraits [0.2] of various characters [0.5] and then [0.
2] the philosophical reflections [0.2] that went with it [1.0] he was much 
given to writing in terms of the conflict between contrasting trends [0.3] and 
their influence [0.2] on [0.2] one another [0.3] in other words continuity 
versus change [0.3] the individual versus the community [0.4] political versus 
church interests [1.2] not everyone [0.2] was an admirer of his style [0.6] the 
poet Heinrich Heine [0.3] called it [0.3] well cooked mutton with plenty of 
carrots [0.5] but Ranke [0.4] was rarely [0.2] a dry as a dry as dust historian 
[0.3] in other words [0.2] his concern with scientific accuracy [0.3] did not 
mean that he thought he had to write [0.2] in a boring style [2.8] the 
philosophy which underlay Ranke's work was partly a reaction against what he 
called [0.2] philosophical history [0.5] but he also shared [0.2] some of the 
assumptions [0.2] of those [0.2] he attacked [0.9] at the same time [0.3] his 
historical viewpoint was also shaped [0.3] by his political [0.3] and religious 
[0.2] outlooks [0.9] so [0.5] what was 
he reacting against [0.6] first of all [0.2] he was reacting against the 
mainstream approach [0.3] of historians [0.3] who [0.3] were [0.2] influenced 
by [0.2] the Enlightenment [1.4] that kind of thinking believed that history [0.
3] was the in effect the working out of certain universal truths [0.3] about 
humanity [0.3] which were the same everywhere [0.7] and they would believe that 
the task of the historian was to recognize these universal truths [0.3] by 
means of reason [0.5] and demonstrate their presence in history [0.3] through 
selective deployment of the facts [0.3] in other words [0.3] you have your 
basic idea and thesis first and then you [0.4] cherry pick little facts [0.3] 
to try and back this up [1.0] this was a sort of philosophy of natural law [0.
3] which believed in the idea of progress [0.4] and saw the past [0.3] as being 
mainly important to teach you lessons [0.2] for the presence [0.7] and many of 
its er practitioners emphasized economic [0.3] and social history [1.3] now 
conservatives like Ranke [0.3] thought all these ideas of progress and 
everything were terribly dangerous [0.3] and had given rise to the 
French Revolution [0.5] and he blamed especially [0.3] the er [0.3] the great 
Enlightenment thinkers we know of [0.2] Voltaire [0.2] Montesquieu [0.3] 
Diderot [0.3] and so on [0.3] the philosophes [1.4] already in eighteen-twenty-
four [0.4] quite young [0.3] Ranke had written his famous counterblast [0.6] he 
said [1.4] history has had assigned to it the office of judging the past [0.3] 
and of instructing the present [0.3] for the benefit [0.2] of [0.2] the future 
[0.3] ages [0.7] to such high offices this present work the book he's writing 
[0.4] does not presume [0.4] it seeks only to show [0.4] what [0.4] actually [0.
4] happened and this is a key phrase which is er [0.7] yup [0.2] down there at 
the top of your sheet [0.3] in German wie ens-, wie es [0.2] eigentlich gewesen 
[1.5] Ranke wanted to start [0.2] from the particular [0.6] in other words 
specific cases [0.3] and then from that draw out [0.2] an idea of the universal 
[0.4] not start from some kind of universal view [0.3] and then go down to it 
[0.2] in orver-, in order to discover [0.3] the particular [2.0] so in this aim 
[0.2] Ranke was part of 
a wider movement [0.8] it didn't just concern history [0.2] but this anti-
movement was known [0.3] as historicism [0.4] or er German historian j-, er 
historians just called it historism [0.7] some critics have said that this word 
[0.2] historicism [0.4] has had so many different meanings in the last century 
[0.4] that it's probably best to leave it out because actually a confusing term 
[0.4] but it still appears in an awful lot of your books [0.3] and it has a 
clear meaning [0.3] for a particular set of ideas [0.3] that were prevalent [0.
3] during most of the nineteenth century [1.3] it has its antecedents [0.3] in 
the late Enlightenment [0.4] as a critique by some Enlightenment thinkers of 
others [0.5] in other words Vico's [0.3] The New Science in seventeen-twenty-
three [0.4] which has the idea that a nation or a society [0.3] develops 
through time this idea of progress again [0.6] or Herder's [0.4] Also a 
Philosophy of History [0.3] seventeen-seventy-four [0.5] in which he believes 
that [0.3] human progress is not a science [0.2] but an endeavour [0.5] 
historical texts can only be understood in context [0.3] and 
all values [0.2] are historically [0.4] conditioned [0.5] history may only be 
understood [0.5] he says [0.3] through empathy [0.3] not [0.2] through [0.3] 
reason [2.0] now this idea of historicism [0.2] was practised in the 
universities [0.2] at the turn of the eighteenth century and the beginning of 
the nineteenth century [0.4] by philologists [0.3] legal historians [0.4] and 
Roman historians [0.6] and it was expressed as being the nature of the 
historical discipline [0.3] shortly before Ranke came on the scene [0.4] in 
essays [0.3] by [0.2] Wilhelm von Humboldt [1.1] so what were the chief tenets 
what were the ideas behind this idea of historicism how do we define it [0.8] 
well [0.2] there are er [0.3] five or six key points [0.9] first [0.9] 
historicism believed that history [0.2] differs from the natural sciences [0.4] 
in that it studies [0.2] human actions [0.2] which display [0.2] great variety 
[0.5] not a pattern [0.2] which can be established by research [0.4] because [0.
2] the human will [0.2] is unpredictable in other words it doesn't work like a 
scientific experiment [1.5] two [0.5] because the human world is in constant 
flux [0.3] it cannot be explained by reason [0.5] only 
by the study [0.3] of its historical [0.2] development [0.3] it's a very clear 
[0.2] reaction against the Enlightenment there [1.0] three [0.8] states [0.6] 
historicism believed [0.2] states are ends in themselves [0.4] they are not 
utilitarian in other word they're not there just to serve the interests of the 
population of the er the state [0.5] the aim of the state is to achieve [0.2] 
strength and independence [0.3] in competition [0.3] with [0.3] other states [1.
4] all domestic affairs and domestic politics [0.3] have to be subordinate [0.
3] to foreign policy [0.3] foreign policy comes first [0.8] reasons of state 
have to override everything else [0.2] as only a strong state can guarantee 
freedom [0.3] culture [0.3] and the rule of law [1.5] next [0.6] ethical and 
moral values are norms for a society [0.3] but they arise within a particular 
[0.2] historical tradition [0.5] human values are not universal [0.4] not based 
on reason [0.3] but bound by any particular [0.4] culture [0.7] therefore [0.3] 
political institutions [0.3] aren't transferable because they're culturally 
different [0.3] so you can't transfer for instance French [0.3] political 
institutions [0.3] to 
Germany [0.3] and again that's a very clear counterblast against people like 
Napoleon attempting to [0.3] spread a universal code [0.3] all over Europe [1.
5] next [0.4] historicism rejects conceptual thinking [0.4] in favour of 
reaching understanding by contemplation [0.6] intuition [0.4] and empathy [1.9] 
so these views [0.2] were not limited [0.3] to the discipline of history by the 
middle of the nineteenth century [0.3] the belief was all over Europe [0.2] 
that every institution [0.3] and every human and cultural activity had a 
history [0.4] and could only be understood [0.3] by examination of that history 
[0.4] especially in its specific [0.3] national [0.4] manifestations [0.4] so 
this is obviously part of the big rise in nationalism [0.3] during the 
nineteenth century people trying to find their own culture [0.4] making that 
history part of it [0.3] and then examining that [1.1] as part of that kind of 
national [0.5] er national development [1.3] thereafter [0.2] there was a 
revolt against this outlook in disciplines like law [0.4] and literature [0.4] 
which only this revolt only came later [0.3] to [0.3] history [2.7] Ranke [0.5] 
and 
other historicists [0.3] were partly in revolt against [0.5] idealism [0.9] 
this was a set of ideas [0.2] propounded most systematically [0.3] by the 
philosopher [0.3] Hegel [0.6] but they also shared [0.2] some of his 
assumptions [0.5] now idealism had nothing to do with being idealistic about 
the future or whatever [0.4] it was about [0.2] ideas [0.3] not about ideals [1.
8] this Hegelian philosophy [0.3] was dominant [0.3] at the University of 
Berlin again Ranke's own institution [0.3] in the eighteen-twenties [0.8] and 
what Hegel did [0.3] was to apply [0.3] dialectical reason [0.3] later used of 
course by Marx in a different way [0.6] applied dialectical reason [0.2] to 
deciding what was important in history [0.5] and insisted on seeing the past [0.
3] through the present [0.8] for Hegel [0.3] individuals [0.2] states and 
nations [0.3] were manifestations of abstract ideas [0.3] which were the only 
[0.2] reality [0.4] and that of course makes him the heir of Emmanuel Kant [0.
2] who was coming up [0.3] with many of these sort of similar ideas [0.2] in 
the late Enlightenment [0.2] at the end [0.2] of the eighteenth century [1.8] 
now Ranke [0.2] saw individuals [0.3] and institutions [0.3] 
as manifestations of the human spirit [0.6] but this was an idea [0.4] that was 
[0.8] basically very similar [0.3] to [0.4] Hegel's [0.3] Hegel's big er [1.5] 
big idea in effect [0.3] was er [0.3] the idea of the er [0.5] world spirit 
which [0.8] supposedly controlled all human progress [0.4] which in German [0.
6] is known as [1.7] geist [0.6] which can be translated as ghost but i think 
[0.3] spirit is probably better here [0.5] er [0.2] and er [0.2] this idea was 
adapted again by Marx later on in the century [0.4] to say that Hegel had a lot 
of this right but instead of being spirit [0.3] it was actually class that was 
the defining factor [0.5] so [0.5] this Hegelian idea [0.2] has a big 
intellectual hold on many of the thinkers [0.3] in the nineteenth [0.2] century 
[1.7] Hegel said that in time this spirit geist [0.2] which ultimately derived 
from God [0.4] became enshrined [0.2] in increasingly [0.2] rational [0.2] 
institutions [0.7] and Ranke [0.2] in the tradition of philo-, philological 
critique [0.3] or hermeneutics and s-, again that's on your [0.2] your sheet [0.
6] er said that the spirit [0.3] manifested 
itself in individual forms [0.6] individuals [0.2] states [0.3] nations [0.4] 
cultures [0.3] and mankind as a whole [0.5] all of whom all of these could not 
be grasped by reason [0.4] but only by studying texts [0.3] and then applying 
your intuition [0.8] ultimately [0.3] Ranke thought [0.6] God was the supreme 
idea [0.4] or spirit [2.3] so Ranke shared many ideas with other idealists 
despite the fact that he was reacting against them to some extent [0.5] such as 
er Herder for instance [0.4] some of these shared ideas with the idealists 
includes the idea that [0.4] God is present [0.2] in [0.2] all of humanity [0.
5] as and all of history [0.4] as the tutor of mankind [1.0] the idea that 
history is organic [0.3] that it in other words that it works itself out in the 
same way that a human life does [0.3] by a process of development [0.2] 
maturity [0.3] and decline so in effect [0.3] history is parallel to human 
lives in that sense [0.9] he also believed that all states go through a similar 
cycle of [0.2] development maturity [0.2] and decline [0.8] and he also 
believed [0.2] that [0.2] each historical period has its own spirit [0.3] geist 
[0.5] and therefore 
its own [0.3] value [2.3] the notion that [0.2] institutions had this spirit by 
the way [0.2] may well have something to do with another [0.3] idea which 
flourish er which flourished [0.2] from the end of the eighteenth century [0.3] 
to around [0.2] eighteen-forty [0.4] and then came back again [0.3] at the end 
of the nineteenth century [0.5] and this is a relatively [0.3] little known 
idea [0.3] called vitalism [0.5] and this was an [0.7] alternative outlook 
within the natural sciences [0.3] which argued [0.3] that a purely mechanical 
view a scientific [0.5] rational view [0.2] of the natural world [0.4] failed 
to explain the order [0.2] which existed [0.3] in nature [0.8] because life 
itself had to be explained [0.7] living bodies according to vitalism [0.2] were 
not merely elements of matter impinging on one another [0.6] but there had to 
be some breath of life within them [0.2] which set them in motion [0.4] so they 
would believe that [0.3] in the human body [0.3] there's a vital energy in 
every part of your body [0.3] which is responsible [0.2] for its generation [0.
3] nutrition [0.4] and reproduction [0.4] and if you look through Ranke's 
writings 
as you will for the seminar [0.3] you will see that the adjective vital [0.3] 
comes up [0.3] over and over again [0.3] in his writings [2.4] also thinking 
about [0.7] Ranke's philosophy [0.4] it's important to look at that phrase that 
key phrase i mentioned [0.3] wie es eigentlich gewesen [0.3] as it really was 
[0.5] 'cause it's got a hidden meaning [0.3] that the English translation 
doesn't always manage to [0.4] bring out [1.0] that's this [0.7] eigentlich [0.
2] in German is an adverb [0.3] which can equally mean [0.4] actually [0.4] or 
essentially [0.3] or [0.4] really [1.3] now [0.5] whatever Ranke may have meant 
when he first used this phrase [0.5] er polemically against the philosophical 
historians [0.6] with time [0.2] it became apparent that what Ranke was 
actually trying to do his main purpose [0.3] was to go behind the mere surface 
facts [0.3] to explain [0.2] far more [0.7] a grasp of the facts was the 
initial basis for a deeper understanding [0.3] of origins [0.3] causes [0.3] 
intentions [0.2] and interactions in history [0.9] Ranke held that the ultimate 
truth [0.3] can never [0.3] fully be known in history [0.3] but only [0.3] 
divined [1.0] history [0.2] he felt [0.2] was the 
product of God's purposes [0.5] Ranke often writes in terms of the hand of God 
[0.2] the finger of God [0.3] or the breath of God [0.7] these purposes he 
believed could not be discovered by reason [0.4] but only intuitively [0.2] and 
by empathy [1.5] he was able to do this or he was able to suggest that this 
could be done [0.5] because the spark of God [0.3] was in every person [0.4] 
who can then hope by a process of intuitive understanding [0.4] to penetrate [0.
3] that divine [0.3] purpose [0.6] now this approach [0.3] doesn't really sound 
all that scientific i mean not in the terms that we're talking about [0.8] it's 
more romantic in a sense [0.2] it's more subjective than objective [0.3] and 
indeed it does have a very mystical [0.2] type of quality [0.5] as it [0.2] 
equates scholarship in effect with worship [0.3] remember what we said at the 
beginning about or what i said at the beginning [0.3] about [0.3] Ranke in 
effect thinking that history was a sort of priestly [0.3] vocation [0.8] so in 
those senses Ranke was not scientific he was not an empiricist [0.3] in the 
sense that he believed that [0.3] only what you 
can see with your own eyes [0.2] has reality [0.5] for him [0.2] all phenomena 
[0.4] all historical [0.6] phenomena [0.4] were the expression [0.3] of 
metaphysical [0.3] intangible [0.3] forces [2.3] okay the last element [0.2] 
which shapes Ranke's view [0.2] of [0.2] the course of history [0.4] were his 
own [0.4] political views [0.9] when he was employed between eighteen-thirty-
two [0.2] and eighteen-thirty-six [0.3] to edit a semi-official journal in 
Prussia [0.3] which aimed at supporting the monarchy in Prussia [0.6] he 
declared [0.4] like [0.2] again sort of er our great leader today [0.3] that he 
was advocating a quote third way [0.6] and his third way [0.5] was claimed to 
be between the revolution [0.4] and reaction [0.6] something in between [0.5] 
he wanted a state that was controlled [0.3] neither by the great landowning 
aristocracy of Germany the junkers [0.4] nor by the kind of the ordinary 
populace [0.5] but by [0.3] something in between [0.3] a bureaucracy [0.2] 
which would be loyal to the state [0.4] and not pursuing their own interests [0.
2] but working for the greater good of the state [1.5] er Ranke claimed that he 
wanted to adopt 
new ideas [0.4] only in so far [0.2] as they corresponded [0.3] to the 
interests of the state [0.8] in fact he spent most of his period as a 
journalist attacking er liberals [0.5] and later on [0.3] he became even more 
conservative [0.4] and only accepted change for instance after the unification 
of Germany [0.2] in eighteen-seventy-one [0.3] when it was obvious that it was 
a fait accompli anyway [0.2] and anything he said [0.3] wasn't going to change 
it [0.4] so he became a bit more of a last ditcher by the end you know 
resisting all change [0.2] until he absolutely had to accept it [2.0] as a 
result [0.4] his secret of world history [0.4] the pattern he discerned in 
modern times [0.4] was [0.5] the rise [0.2] and decline of states [0.3] with 
creative forces [0.3] to advance [0.2] civilization [0.6] this was this great 
[0.2] underlying pattern through all of history that he saw [0.3] and which he 
was pushing [0.3] in the later part of his work [0.3] in these great fat books 
[0.9] so for instance whereas in medieval times [0.2] the univer-, er the er 
sorry the unity of Christendom [0.3] had been preserved by the papacy [0.7] 
when the papacy 
declined again this pattern that happened everywhere [0.3] rise maturity 
decline [0.3] so when the papacy declined [0.5] it was replaced in its turn [0.
3] by nation states [0.3] which were aided and abetted by the forces of [0.2] 
the Reformation [1.0] a special constructive role [0.2] in Ranke's history [0.
3] was given [0.3] to the Latin and Germanic nations in other words generally 
the western [0.2] and northern Europeans [0.4] Ranke was not going to suggest 
[0.2] the Slavs [0.3] and certainly not the non-European peoples [0.3] had 
anything to do [0.2] with this progressive [0.2] civilizational [0.3] advance 
[1.3] he stated that states developed through external struggle [0.5] and were 
harmed by internal conflict [0.3] so war with other countries in effect is 
worthwhile [0.3] but civil wars [0.2] are harmful [1.2] states he felt [0.2] 
expressed the spirit of nations [0.3] and in different eras [0.3] different 
states had the greater energy [0.3] and the vital spiritual forces [0.4] which 
would enable them [0.2] to triumph [0.2] over [0.3] their rivals [1.4] at the 
same time [0.3] the states of Europe acted in concert [0.4] to prevent any 
individual 
state [0.3] obtaining [0.3] power [0.2] which was hegemonic over the others in 
other words [0.3] dominant power [0.6] by the operation of a principle which 
again is still used today [0.4] of balance of power [0.9] the statesman in 
charge of each state [0.2] thought Ranke [1.6] had er a duty [0.2] to fulfill 
that state's particular mission [0.4] which the historian can help him uncover 
[0.4] by unravelling [0.2] how it had developed [0.8] so by the eighteen-
fifties quite late on in his career [0.3] Ranke had come to believe [0.4] that 
the struggle of the secular and spiritual powers [0.3] that had characterized 
the period before the French Revolution [0.6] had been replaced [0.3] by a new 
struggle [0.3] between revolution [0.3] and counter-revolutionary forces [0.8] 
so having started out by rejecting the idea of progress [0.3] he was really 
coming to some quite similar sort of idea suggesting that you have these cycles 
these dialectical cycles which [0.4] dear old Hegel of course was er talking 
about before [0.5] er and as these cycles sort of have thesis and antithesis 
and move forward [0.3] eventually [0.2] 
you progress onwards in history [0.4] so er [0.2] he came round in a sense sort 
of contradicting [0.3] his earlier thoughts there [2.6] let's now for er one of 
the last sections talk about [0.3] the dangers in [0.3] Ranke's [0.2] method 
the problems with the kind of history [0.2] that he put forward [1.1] these 
dangers which Ranke himself sometimes realized [0.2] were magnified by later 
historians who weren't as subtle as he was [0.3] and took these ideas [0.3] 
they had their own political agendas often [0.4] and they lacked Ranke's 
caution [0.2] in historical ability [0.3] so in a sense we're also criticizing 
Ranke's heirs here [0.2] rather than necessarily just Ranke himself [1.5] okay 
[0.3] problem number one [0.6] with this method of [0.2] just the facts ma'am 
[0.4] it became very easy [0.3] to [0.2] become totally absorbed in the records 
and the facts [0.4] and lose sight [0.2] of the wider interpretation and Ranke 
did that in his first book which was just you know on [0.4] twenty years period 
but it's very very dense and thick [0.3] and you can't really see the wood for 
the trees [1.4] second danger [0.9] 
was Ranke's [0.3] in a sense [0.2] philosophical stroke political position [0.
3] of seeing the state itself as being an ethical good [1.1] because if you 
believe that the state is the most important thing not the individual [0.5] 
then [0.5] this [0.2] can lead you in the direction of glorifying power [0.2] 
for its own sake [1.0] now [0.5] the defi-, er now Ranke had some sort of 
caution on this [0.2] he of course had this idea of God and the divine 
restraint [0.3] which er Ranke felt that good states would have that they would 
never go too far 'cause they were run [0.2] for the benefit [0.4] er the 
ultimate benefit of all [0.9] and he believed also [0.3] that certain moral 
standards [0.3] were timeless and would always apply to states [0.6] but later 
historians [0.3] who had [0.3] his [0.2] admiration for the state [0.3] but did 
not have his religious convictions [0.4] abandoned [0.2] the latter part of the 
idea so they glorified power [0.3] without talking about the kind of religious 
brakes that could be put [0.4] on abuses of state power [0.8] so historians 
such as Treitschke [0.5] who i think it's er yes it's 
on your sheet as well [0.3] Treitschke [0.2] and others [0.5] saw Prussia [0.3] 
and the German state [0.3] which emerged as the ultimate goal [0.3] of all [0.
3] history in other words [0.3] this new sort of Prussian and German 
nationalism emerging in the late nineteenth century [0.4] was heavily 
underpinned [0.3] by an idea of history [0.3] which came from Ranke [0.3] but 
wasn't exactly what he was saying [0.3] and it was an idea that the German 
state was kind of glorious and must be glorified [0.3] above [0.3] the 
interests of individual [0.2] Germans [1.6] now [0.3] Ranke himself [0.2] did 
slip [0.3] in his history of seventeenth century England [0.4] he played down 
the role of Parliament [0.5] and saw the struggles of that century in other 
words talking about the Civil War period [0.6] as mainly being religious 
problems with the papacy [0.8] and he put [0.3] much more emphasis in the [0.2] 
er the seventeenth century history [0.4] on England's role in Europe [0.3] 
rather than on the constitutional conflicts [0.3] which is what we think about 
er the Civil War [1.3] and of course [0.3] in contrast to this more liberal 
German historians of 
the period [0.4] looked to the achievements of the English parliament and 
Oliver Cromwell and so on [0.3] as being a model for their own [0.2] newly 
emerging [0.2] unified [0.4] country [0.4] so liberal German historians were 
looking at [0.2] the Civil War and thinking you know this is a great example 
you can get rid of the king you know [0.3] abuse of power and so on [0.3] 
whereas Ranke was saying oh dear no all this civil war very bad idea don't 
worry about that [0.2] think about England having power abroad instead and 
managing to throw its weight around [0.3] that's a much better way [0.3] for 
you to be thinking [0.3] so there's an aspect of [0.3] contemporary German 
politics [0.3] in the way in which history [0.3] is being defined [1.6] a third 
problem [0.3] Ranke's view was highly Eurocentric [0.6] he dismissed the 
history of China and India [0.3] because he claimed they had no historians or 
written sources [0.3] which were worthy [0.3] of the name [0.8] he also took a 
very narrow view of the bits of Europe that were interesting [0.4] er in other 
words again mainly western and northern 
Europe [0.4] despite [0.3] the fact that he'd actually written a book [0.2] on 
Serbia [0.5] and on the Ottoman empire [0.3] early on [0.2] in his career [2.4] 
another problem and Ranke believed that it was wrong to pass judgement on the 
political actions of the past [0.5] but nonetheless [0.3] he was prepared to 
condemn massacres and other actions [0.3] which were evil [0.3] by standards 
which he held [0.3] to be [0.3] universal [1.0] now we may not m-, consider 
that to be necessarily a bad thing [0.3] but it was something of a 
contradiction [0.4] in method [0.6] nevertheless [0.3] by j-, er by regarding 
as justified all actions by states [0.2] which pursued their own interests [0.
5] he also opened the door [0.2] to the concept of relativism [0.4] the view 
that success [0.3] is the only criterion that matters that ends justify means 
[0.6] and that [0.5] therefore [0.4] you cannot see men as evil [0.3] you can 
only judge them [0.3] by whether they succeed [0.4] or not [2.0] another 
problem [0.6] Ranke deliberately neglected devoting much attention [0.2] to 
social and economic trends [0.5] and did not see how overwhelum-, [0.2] 
overwhelmingly important [0.3] 
they were [0.2] especially of course in the era of industrialization which was 
really in full [0.2] swing [0.3] when he was working [0.8] now from his point 
of view these omissions of social and economic history [0.3] were explicable [0.
6] because Ranke believed that the strength of the state [0.5] was to be 
explained [0.3] by religion and law [0.3] not [0.2] by [0.2] money [0.8] social 
history was in effect irrelevant for Ranke [0.3] except in so far as social 
movements [0.3] detracted [0.3] from the strength er [0.2] of the state [0.4] 
so social movements in that sense could be important if they were bad and 
helped to sap a sate's strate's state's strength [0.5] but he didn't see them 
[0.3] as being [0.2] positive [1.8] you do find [0.2] in Ranke's work [0.4] 
quite full social analyses [0.3] of the elite classes in papal Rome for 
instance [0.3] all of the German peasantry [0.2] on the eve of their revolt [0.
2] in fifteen-twenty-five [0.6] but these were very much subordinated [0.3] to 
his account of the political struggle [0.3] between the papacy [0.3] and the 
European powers [0.5] or between the emperor [0.3] and the princes in the 
empire [0.4] and its 
enmeshing [0.3] with [0.2] the Reformation [1.4] certainly Ranke [0.2] did not 
neglect culture [0.7] that was a key element [0.2] in the spirit of nations [0.
2] which was harboured [0.3] by [0.2] their states [1.2] so Ranke used the 
popular pamphlets of the Reformation in Germany [0.6] discussed French 
literature [0.2] as part of Louis the Fourteenth's drive [0.3] for [0.2] 
domination of Europe [0.5] and the eighteen-thirties he actually published 
separate histories of art and poetry [0.3] in Renaissance Italy [0.8] so [0.3] 
in that sense Ranke was certainly a cultural historian [0.5] as well as a 
historian of politics [0.5] but the neglect of most economic and social factors 
[0.3] became increasingly anachronistic [0.3] as the nineteenth century 
advanced [0.3] and that meant that some of Ranke's ideas were already outdated 
[0.3] by [0.3] the end of the century in which he lived [1.9] last flaw [2.1] 
by the time [0.6] of [1.0] Ranke's death really but certainly his late [0.2] 
working period [0.9] most historians considered that it was no longer adequate 
to rely on intuition [0.3] this great idea of empathy and intuition that [0.3] 
this sort of 
almost mystical belief that he had [0.5] it was no longer considered adequate 
to rely on that [0.3] for a deeper understanding of the forces at work in 
history [0.8] historians [0.3] while accepting the need to research facts with 
impartiality [0.5] looked for their interpretation to other ideas [0.3] 
hypotheses [0.3] concepts [0.3] and the methodology of the social sciences [0.
2] economics [0.3] sociology and so on [0.2] which were beginning to emerge [0.
3] at this time [1.9] er 
nm0087: so er these are some of the er the the areas in which Ranke perhaps 
fell down either at the time [0.3] or in retrospect [0.2] they don't detract 
from his great contribution [0.3] but they need to be understood [0.4] to er [0.
2] see where his ideas have been adapted [1.6] so to er to 
finish off [1.4] despite [0.2] these flaws [0.4] Ranke [0.3] either laid the 
groundwork for [0.3] or consolidated [0.3] many of the features of history [0.
3] as a discipline [0.3] which most historians today regard as being [0.2] 
absolutely obvious [0.7] for instance the need [0.2] for impartial research and 
faithfulness to the sources [0.3] once they've been critically [0.4] appraised 
[1.0] the need for the historian to set aside [0.4] her or his subjective 
opinions [0.3] while seeking empathy with the past [1.1] an appreciation of the 
variety of history [0.5] and an open view [0.2] about historical development in 
the future [1.0] the combination of an academic approach [0.2] with literary 
skill [0.5] so as to make history both reliable [0.2] and readable [0.8] and 
last but not least [0.4] the view that history is 
an important way [0.3] to understand [0.3] humanity [0.5] now if you think 
about those four or five [0.2] factors which are [0.2] Ranke's contribution [0.
8] i don't think there's very much that seems all that much out of place [0.3] 
at the end of the twentieth century [0.3] and if you understand that [0.4] then 
you'll understand quite why Ranke's so influential [0.4] and why we still ask 
you to read this [0.4] now no longer much read [0.4] nin-, er er [0.3] er 
historian [0.3] from Germany [0.2] of the late nineteenth century [0.8] okay [0.
2] please do remember to put in your exam forms if you haven't done so please 
namex's group don't forget to go to namex [0.2] thanks er [0.3] you can [0.2] 
head off