Veit Valentin

Veit Valentin (25 March 1885, Frankfurt – 12 January 1947, Washington D.C.) was a German historian who was Professor of History at the University of Freiburg.[1]

In comments that caused a storm of controversy in Germany, Valentin attacked Ernst Graf zu Reventlow's Deutschlands Auswärtige Politik in 1916: "It is a classic example of historiographical demagogy and we have no choice but to warn the public against the book and its author".[2] During the First World War, Gustav Stresemann tried to have Valentin sent to court for alleged treasonable utterances.[3]

Valentin was appointed by the German Foreign Office to write a history of German foreign policy, permitting him access to their papers. This was published in 1921 as Duetschlands Aussenpolitik, 1890-1918. In assessing responsibility for causing the World War during the July Crisis, Valentin ranked Russia as the country most to blame, followed by Austria-Hungary, with France, England and Germany joint third. Valentin wrote: "None of the Powers was wholly innocent, none alone guilty. The world spirit was ready for the world war".[2]

In a conversation with Paul Nikolaus Cossmann, the editor of the Süddeutsche Monatshefte, Valentin accused Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz of doctoring statistics related to Germany's performance in the U-boat campaign.[4] Cossmann launched a legal action against Valentin and he resigned his professorship, thus ending his academic career in Germany.[4]

Notes
  1. Paul Honigsheim, 'Veit Valentin (1885-1947): Der Weg eines deutschen Historikers zum Pazifismus', Die Friedens-Warte Vol. 47, No. 4/5 (1947), pp. 274
  2. G. P. Gooch, 'Recent Revelations on European Diplomacy', Journal of the British Institute of International Affairs Vol. 2, No. 1 (Jan., 1923), p. 5.
  3. Hans W. Gatzke, 'The Stresemann Papers', The Journal of Modern History Vol. 26, No. 1 (Mar., 1954), p. 55, n. 29.
  4. Frederick A. Hale, 'Fritz Fischer and the Historiography of World War One', The History Teacher, Vol. 9, No. 2 (Feb., 1976), p. 262.

Further reading
  • H. Bauer, 'Veit Valentin, 1885-1947', in S. W. Halperin (ed.), Some 20th-Century Historians (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1961), pp. 103–141.
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