Wilhelm Oncken

Christian Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Oncken ( born December 19, 1838 in Heidelberg, † August 11 1905 in Gießen ) was a German historian.

Life

Wilhelm Oncken came on 19 December 1838 as the son of Heidelbergers lawyer and scholar Anton Wilhelm Oncken and his wife Marie Eleonare Thaden in Heidelberg to the world.

After his school education studied Wilhelm Oncken classical philology, history and philosophy in Heidelberg, Göttingen and Berlin. During his studies, he became in 1856 a member of the fraternity Franconia Heidelberg. In 1862 he received his doctorate from Ludwig Hausser and was first private, then in 1866 associate professor of history of ancient Greece in Heidelberg.

In 1870 he moved to Giessen to teach there as a professor of history. He regarded history as an instrument of national policy formation. Initially, he worked on Greek history and later he turned to the history of Prussia and the German Association for. In the 1870s was William Oncken Member of the National Liberals in the Hesse Landtag and the Reichstag. In 1873 he refused a professorship at the University of Königsberg. In the years 1877 and 1878 he stood in front of the University of Giessen as rector.

From 1876 to 1891 William Oncken gave the work " General History in individual representations " out in 44 volumes. In addition, he held nationwide countless popular science, national held lectures on the history of Germany. Commissioned by William I, William Oncken wrote a biography of him for posterity. The work "The Age of Kaiser Wilhelm " was finished but until two years after the death of Wilhelm I.. - He was a member of the Masonic Lodge Giessen Ludewig for loyalty and sometimes the master of the chair.

In 1900 Wilhelm Oncken was professor emeritus. He died on August 11, 1905 in Giessen at the age of 67 years. Wilhelm Oncken was the brother of the economist August Oncken.

Importance

In the general population Wilhelm Oncken found due to its countless popular scientific lectures resonance in his field very little attention. His works were characterized less by new knowledge or scientific originality than by voluminous histories. His contribution was more likely to participate after the Empire founded in 1870 on the national identity formation.

Works

• Oncken, William: " Athens and Hellas "
• Oncken, William: "Research for national and political history of the ancient Greeks ", 1865/66,
• Oncken, William, " town, castle and university Heidelberg, images from her past ", 1874,
• Oncken, William: "Age of Revolution, the Empire and the War of Liberation ", 1884 /86
• Oncken, William: "The era of Kaiser Wilhelm ", 1890.
• Baron Eduard von charging and his country on the Rhine. - Bong, Berlin 1904 ( Digitized edition of the University and State Library Dusseldorf )