Lewis Bernstein Namier
Sir Lewis Bernstein Namier (* June 27, 1888 as Ludwik Niemirowski in Wola Okrzejska, Russian Empire (now Poland); † August 19, 1960 ) was an English historian.
Life
Lewis Namier came from a non-religious Jewish family and studied at the universities of Lemberg and Lausanne and at the London School of Economics. In Lausanne, he attended the lectures of Vilfredo Pareto.
In 1906 he emigrated to the United Kingdom and in 1913 became a British citizen. During the First World War, he fought with the 20th Royal Fusiliers, but was dismissed in 1915 because of poor eyesight. He then worked in the Propaganda and Information Ministry, as well as in the department of political enlightenment of the British Foreign Office. During the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, he was a member of the British delegation. He was responsible for Polish Affairs and an opponent Roman Dmowski, head of the Polish delegates. Namier was against the creation of a new Polish state. He campaigned in the drawing of the Curzon Line for the replacement of Lviv of the future Poland.
After leaving government service, he taught at Balliol College, Oxford University before he was doing business. Later Namier was active as a Zionist and worked from 1929 to 1931 for the Jewish Agency in Palestine. During this time he was a close friend and fellow Chaim Weizmann. That his relationship broke off to Namier, as this converted to Anglicanism in order to marry his second wife Marry.
From 1931 Namier was a professor at Manchester University until his retirement in 1953, with its theme of the 18th circled around European history until the 20th century. Groundbreaking and still academically lasting effect in the English historiography is his 1929 published book The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III, which analyzes the power relations in the age of Hanoverian England. In abutment the hitherto dominant story of the " great men " and the history of political ideas he propagated a new understanding of history. An epoch can only be understood if one inclusive with the thoughts and feelings of a large number of " ordinary" people in every detail, similar to the histoire total or the micro-history. He also emphasizes the importance of psychology and the unconscious for understanding historical processes and decisions and was amongst other things influenced by the theories of Sigmund Freud. His 1948 work published Diplomatic Prelude, 1938-1939 ( German 1949 as Diplomatic Prelude 1938-1939 ) on the outbreak of the Second World War, Hitler wrote an " intentionalist " policy, which was seen as in the public discourse until the 1960s. Namier had one of the earliest detectors before National Socialism and critics of appeasement; he was generally known for a pronounced Germanophobia in his political views.
Works
- England in the Age of the American Revolution, 1930.
- Skyscrapers and other Essays, 1931 ( also contains Namier essays on the Habsburg Galicia).
- In the Margin of History, 1939.
- Conflicts: Studies in Contemporary History, 1942.
- 1848: The Revolution of the Intellectuals, 1944.
- Facing East: Essays on Germany, the Balkans and Russia in the Twentieth Century, 1947.
- Diplomatic Prelude, 1938-1939, 1948 ( German Diplomatic Prelude 1938-1939, 1949).
- Europe in Decay: A Study in Disintegration, 1936-40, 1950.
- Avenues of History, 1952.
- In the Nazi Era, 1952.
- Basic Factors in Nineteenth - Century European History, 1953.
- Personalities and Powers, 1955.
- Vanished supremacies: Essays on European History, 1812-1918, 1958.
- Crossroads of Power: Essays on Eighteenth -century England, 1962.
- The House of Commons, 1754-1790, 1964 ( with John Brooke ).