The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century
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The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century (Die Grundlagen des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts, 1899) was the most important work by Houston Stewart Chamberlain. Chamberlain, who was born an Englishman, was a germanophile who adopted German citizenship and wrote most of his works in German (on numerous subjects, from biographies to biology).
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[edit] Synopsis
Published in German, the book focuses on the controversial notion that Western civilization is deeply marked by the influence of the Teutonic peoples. Chamberlain grouped all European peoples—not just Germans, but Celts, Slavs, Greeks, and Latins—into the "Aryan race", a race built on the ancient Proto-Indo-European culture. At the helm of the Aryan race, and, indeed, all races, were the Nordic or Teutonic peoples.
| “ | Certain anthropologists would fain teach us that all races are equally gifted; we point to history and answer: that is a lie! The races of mankind are markedly different in the nature and also in the extent of their gifts, and the Germanic races belong to the most highly gifted group, the group usually termed Aryan... Physically and mentally the Aryans are pre-eminent among all peoples; for that reason they are by right ... the lords of the world. Do we not see the homo syriacus develop just as well and as happily in the position of slave as of master? Do the Chinese not show us another example of the same nature?[1] | ” |
Chamberlain's book focused on the claim that the Teutonic peoples were the heirs to the empires of Greece and Rome, something which Charlemagne and some of his successors also believed. He argued that when the Germanic tribes destroyed the Roman Empire, Jews and other non-Europeans already dominated it. The Germans, therefore, saved Western civilization from Semitic domination. Chamberlain's thoughts were influenced by the writings of Arthur de Gobineau who had argued the superiority of the "Aryan race". This term was increasingly being used to describe Caucasian or European peoples, as opposed to Jews, who were conceptualised as "infusing Near Eastern poison into the European body politic". For Chamberlain the concept of an Aryan race was not simply defined by ethno-linguistic origins. It was also an abstract ideal of a racial elite (see Racism). The Aryan, or 'noble' race was always in the process of creation as superior peoples supplanted inferior ones in evolutionary struggles for survival.
Building somewhat on the theories of de Gobineau and Georges Vacher de Lapouge, Chamberlain developed a relatively complex theory relating racial origins, physical features and cultural traits. According to Chamberlain, the modern Jew (Homo judaeica) mixes some of the features of the Hittite (H. syriaca) - notably the "Jewish nose", retreating chin, great cunning and fondness for usury[2] and of the true Semite - the Bedouin Arab (H. arabicus), in particular the dolichocephalic (long and narrow) skull, the thick-set body, and a tendency to be anti-intellectual and destructive.[3] According to this theory, the product of this miscegenation was compromised by the great differences between these two stocks:
| “ | All historically great races and nations have been produced by mixing; but wherever the difference of type is too great to be bridged over, then we have mongrels. That is the case here. The crossing between Bedouin and Syrian was — from an anatomical point of view — probably worse than that between Spaniard and South American Indian.[4] | ” |
Chamberlain used an old biblical notion of the ethnic make up of Galilee to argue that while Jesus may have been Jewish by religion, he was not Jewish by race. Otherwise, he suggested, God must be a Jew. During the inter-war period, certain pro-Nazi theologians developed these ideas as part of the manufacture of an Aryan Jesus.
[edit] Reception
The Foundations sold extensively: eight editions and 60,000 copies within ten years, 100,000 copies by the outbreak of World War I and 24 editions and more than a quarter of a million copies by 1938.[5]
The 1911 translation received positive reviews in most of the English press. It was praised in The Spectator as " a monument of erudition"; the Birmingham Post said that it was "glowing with life, packed with fresh and vigorous thought"; the Glasgow Herald thought that it would be difficult to "over-estimate the stimulating qualities of the book." In the Times Literary Supplement it was declared to be "one of the books that really mattered". In the left-wing Fabian News George Bernard Shaw called it a "historical masterpiece". Those who failed to read it, he continued, would be unable to talk intelligently about contemporary sociological and political problems. In the U.S., Theodore Roosevelt, altogether more cautious, highlighted the extreme bias of the author, a judgement that seems to have escaped other contemporary readers, but praised Chamberlain's denunciation of social egalitarianism.
The book was important to Wilhelm II, who became Chamberlain's friend (the two held a correspondence), and as a "spiritual" foundation of the Third Reich. Chamberlain's ideas on race were greatly influential to Adolf Hitler, who readily adapted them into his Nazi ideology, Chamberlain himself joined the Nazi party.
[edit] Publishing history
The U.S. Library of Congress owns and lists six distinct editions or imprints of this text for the following years: 1911, 1912, 1913 (two), 1968, and 2005.
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ Foundations, 542.
- ^ Foundations, 394.
- ^ Foundations, 374.
- ^ Foundations, 389.
- ^ William, L. Shirer The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, 1959, p.107 of 1985 Bookclub Associates Edition.
[edit] Primary Reference(s)
- LC Control No.: a 11000252
- Type of Material: Book (Print, Microform, Electronic, etc.)
- Personal Name: Chamberlain, Houston Stewart, (1855-1927)
- Main Title: The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century, by Houston Stewart Chamberlain;
- a translation from the German :by John Lees, MA, with an introduction by Lord Redesdale.
- Published/Created: London, New York, John Lane, 1911.
- Related Names: Lees, John, translator
- Description: 2 v. illus., maps. 22 cm.
- Subjects: Nineteenth century
- History--Philosophy
- Civilization--History
- LC Classification: CB83 .C45 1911
- Dewey Class No.: 901
- Other System No.: (OCoLC)1219756
