Pioneering theorist for what became nazi racial beliefs in the 1930s. Though born in Britain and educated in an English boarding school, Chamberlain was influenced by a German tutor whom he met in 1870. The tutor communicated a love of the fatherland, and Chamberlain eventually married Eva Wagner, daughter of German composer Richard Wagner, and settled in Switzerland to pursue his university studies.<\/p>\n
In 1899 he published Foundations of the Nineteenth Century. In it he presented a racial theory of history based upon two basic notions: first, that humanity is divided into several distinct races, each having its own physical structure and mental and moral capacity; and second, that history is best understood as a struggle between these different races. Chamberlain marked historical epochs by the coming to prominence of a dominant racial type. He saw European history in the late 19th century as the product of six important influences from previous epochs: Greek philosophy and art; Roman law and organizational skill; the revelation of Christ, racial chaos following the fall of the Roman Empire, the negative influence of the Jews; and the creative and regenerative mission of the Teutonic (or Aryan) race. Modern European civilization was built on foundations laid by the Germanic people. Chamberlains ideas also drew upon traditional anti-Semitic ideas which he pushed to new extremes, rejecting the notion that Jesus was Jewish.<\/p>\n
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Pioneering theorist for what became nazi racial beliefs in the 1930s. Though born in Britain and educated in an English boarding school, Chamberlain was influenced by a German tutor whom he met in 1870. The tutor communicated a love of the fatherland, and Chamberlain eventually married Eva Wagner, daughter of German composer Richard Wagner, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-210547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-h"],"yoast_head":"\n