The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century
| Author | Houston Stewart Chamberlain |
|---|---|
| Translator | from the German: by John Lees, MA, with an introduction by Lord Redesdale |
| Subjects | Nineteenth century History--Philosophy Civilization--History |
| Published | 1911 |
| Publisher | London, New York, John Lane |
| Media type | Book (Print, Microform, Electronic, etc.) |
| Pages | 2 v. illus., maps. 22 cm. |
| OCLC | 1219756 |
| 901 | |
| LC Class | CB83 .C45 1911 |
The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century (Die Grundlagen des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts, 1899) is a book by British-born Germanophile Houston Stewart Chamberlain. In the book, Chamberlain advances various racist and especially völkisch antisemitic theories on how he saw the Aryan race as superior to others, and the Teutonic peoples as a positive force in European civilization and the Jews as a negative one. It was his best-selling book.
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, he saw 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?
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, in this scenario, saved Western civilization from Semitic domination. Chamberlain's thoughts were influenced by the writings of Arthur de Gobineau (1816-1882), 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 élite. The Aryan, or "noble" race was always changing as superior peoples supplanted inferior ones in evolutionary struggles for survival.
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