Treitschke was born in Dresden.

He was the son of an officer in the Saxon army who rose to

be governor of Knigstein and military governor of Dresden. Treitschke went deaf at a
young age, and so was prevented from entering public service. After studying at the
universities of Leipzigand Bonn, where he was a student of Friedrich Christoph Dahlmann,
he established himself as a Privatdozent at Leipzig, lecturing on history and politics. At one
point he became very popular with the students, but his political opinions made it
impossible for the Saxon government to appoint him to a professorship.
At that time Treitschke was a strong Liberal; he hoped to see Germany united into a single
state with a parliamentary government, and all the smaller states swept away. In one
statement he said: "Every virile people has established colonial power. All great nations in
the fullness of their strength have desired to set their mark upon barbarian lands and
those who fail to participate in this great rivalry will play a pitiable role in time to come."
This harsh statement reflects his increasing aggressiveness of European nationalism
after Otto von Bismarck's wars toward the unification of Germany. It also discusses
the Social Darwinian theories of brutal competition among races. In an essay published in
1862, Treitschke praised the "pitiless racial struggle" of Germans against Lithuanians, Poles
and Old Prussians; he claimed that "magic" emaneted from "eastern German soil" which
had been "fertilised" by "noble German blood". While his main objective was to give
historical legitimisation to germanising of Poles that found themselves under Prussian rule,
the praise of a mythical migration eastward conducted by German ancestors would
eventually become a means of legitimising claims to further eastern territories. [2]
In 1863 he was appointed professor at Freiburg; in 1866, at the outbreak of the AustroPrussian War, his sympathies with the Kingdom of Prussia were so strong that he went to
Berlin, became a Prussian subject, and was appointed editor of the Preussische Jahrbcher.
His violent article, in which he demanded the annexation of the Kingdoms
of Hanover and Saxony, and attacked with great bitterness the Saxon royal house, led to
an estrangement from his father, a personal friend of the king. It was only equalled in its ill
humour by his attacks on Bavaria in 1870. After holding appointments
at Kiel and Heidelberg, he was made professor at Humboldt University in Berlin in 1874.

Political career[edit]
In 1871, Treitschke became a member of the Reichstag, and from that time till his death he
was one of the most prominent figures in Berlin.
On Heinrich von Sybel's death Treitschke succeeded him as editor of the Historische
Zeitschrift. He had outgrown his early Liberalism and become the chief panegyrist of
the House of Hohenzollern. He made violent and influential attacks on all opinions and all
parties which appeared in any way to be injurious to the rising power of Germany. He
supported the government in its attempts to subdue by legislation the
Socialists, Poles and Catholics (Kulturkampf).
As a strong advocate of colonial expansion Treitschke was a bitter enemy of the British
Empire. He was to a large extent responsible for the chauvinistic anti-British feeling of the
last years of the 19th century.
In the Reichstag Treitschke had originally been a member of the National Liberal Party, but
in 1879 he was the first to accept the new commercial policy of Bismarck, and in his later

years he joined the Moderate Conservatives, though his deafness prevented him from
taking a prominent part in debate.
Treitschke was one of the few important public figures who supported antisemitic attacks
which became prevalent from 1878 onwards. He accused German Jews of refusing to
assimilate into German culture and society, and attacked the flow of Jewish immigrants
from Russian Poland. Treitschke popularized the phrase "Die Juden sind unser Unglck!"
("The Jews are our misfortune!"), which was adopted as a motto by
the Nazi publication Der Strmer several decades later. He made several antisemitic
remarks such as The Jews at one time played a necessary role in German history, because
of their ability in the management of money. But now that the Aryans have become
accustomed to the idiosyncrasies of finance, the Jews are no longer necessary. The
international Jew, hidden in tile mask of different nationalities, is a disintegrating
influence; he can be of no further use to the world.[3]
Because of his respected status, Treitschke's remarks aroused widespread controversy. [4]
Treitschke was held in high regard by political elites of Prussia and Chancellor Bernhard
von Blow personally declared that he kept a copy of von Treitschke'sBOOK
for "several
years" on his desk.[5] In 1896, Treitschke died in Berlin at the age of 61. He is buried at
the Alter St.-Matthus-Kirchhof Berlin. In 2003, the bust of Treitschke was stolen from his
tombstone. At last report, it has not been recovered. [6]
Throughout his life, Treitschke supported the idea of war and racism, going as far as
praising conquest of other nations and eradication of those who perish, writing "Brave
peoples expand, cowardly peoples perish." and claiming that people of African heritage are
"inferior"[7][8][9] Supporting the idea of humiliating conquered nations he wrote "In the
unhappy clash between races, inspired by fierce mutual enmity, the blood-stained
savagery of quick war of annihilation is more humane, less revolting, than the specious
clemency of sloth which keeps the vanquished in a state of brute beasts", and his works
were late