The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Lamprecht, Karl

LAMPRECHT, läm'prĕkt, Karl, German historian: b. Jessen, near Wittenberg, 25 Feb. 1856; d 11 May 1915. He was educated at Göttingen, Leipzig and Munich and in 1885 became professor of history at Bonn, in 1890 at Marburg and in 1891 was appointed to a similar office at Leipzig, which was admirably equipped for his work. As a teacher he was original in his methods, and to him history meant as much the revelation of sociology as of political events. In 1905 he represented Germany at the Congress of Science held at Saint Louis. He founded in 1882 the ‘Westdeutsche Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Kunst.’ He was the chief exponent of the Kulturgeschichte and believed intensely in the superiority of German kultur. Shortly before his death he repudiated, with some indignation, the conception of Germany's part in the Great War as having been dictated by the “War Lords,” and avowed that in regard to it that Germany was a unit. His writings include ‘Beiträge zur Geschichte des französischen Wirtschaftslebens im elten Jahrhundert’ (1878); ‘Die römische Frage von König Pippin bis auf Kaiser Ludwig den Frommen’ (1889); ‘Deutsche Geschichte’ (13 vols., 1891-1908); ‘Zur jungsten deutschen Vergangenheit’ (1901); ‘What is History’ (1905); ‘Americana’ (1906).