Heinrich Friedrich Otto Abel

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Heinrich Friedrich Otto Abel (22 January 1824–28 October 1854) was a German historian.

[edit] Life

He was born at Reichenbach Priory in the Black Forest, a Protestant religious house, where his father was a clergyman. Beginning in 1824, Abel visited the universities of Tübingen, Jena, Heidelberg, Bonn and Berlin, studying history. Among his teachers was Friedrich Christoph Dahlmann.

Abel also showed political interest in the events of 1848, and published a tract Das neue deutsche Reich und sein Kaiser in which where he enthused about the new Prussian empire. As a result, Prussian minister of external affairs, Heinrich von Arnim, offered him a place in the Prussian embassy in Frankfurt. However, his high expectations were disappointed many times over. He quit the diplomatic service in 1850 and in the ensuing period devoted his energies to the Monumenta Germaniae Historica.

In 1851, Abel inaugurated his formal academic career with his appointment as a lecturer ("Privatdozent") at the University of Bonn. The best known of his scholars was Heinrich von Treitschke. While travelling in 1853, Abel was affected by pulmonary phthisis and died in 1854 in the care of his uncle in Leonberg.