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Napoleon, a typical great man, said to have created the "Napoleonic" era through his military and political genius. The great man theory is an approach to the study of history popularised in the 19th century according to which history can be largely explained by the impact of great men, or heroes: highly influential and unique individuals who, due to their natural attributes, such as superior ...
Great Man theory and zeitgeist theory may be included in two main areas of thought in psychology. [7] For instance, Great Man theory is very similar to the trait approach. Trait researchers are interested in identifying the various personality traits that underline human behaviors such as conformity, leadership, or other social behaviors.
The political science term Führerprinzip was coined by Hermann von Keyserling, an Estonian philosopher of German descent. [13] Ideologically, the Führerprinzip considers organizations to be a hierarchy of leaders, wherein each leader (Führer) has absolute responsibility in, and for, his own area of authority, is owed absolute obedience from subordinates, and answers to his superior officers ...
Situational theory is another reaction to the trait theory of leadership. Social scientists argued that history was more than the result of intervention of great men as Carlyle suggested. Herbert Spencer (1884) (and Karl Marx) said that the times produce the person and not the other way around. [56]
The emergence of the concept of trait leadership can be traced back to Thomas Carlyle's "great man" theory, which stated that "The History of the World [...] was the Biography of Great Men". [6] Subsequent commentators interpreted this view to conclude that the forces of extraordinary leadership [a] shape history. [8]
Carlyle postulated the Great Man theory, a philosophy of history which contends that history is shaped by exceptional individuals. This approach to history was first promulgated in his lectures On Heroes and given specific focus in longer studies like Cromwell and Frederick the Great.
This proposition, based on the "Great Man Theory" of history has been effectively challenged by recent historians. Importantly, German economic historian Helmut Böhme argued that the Zollverein customs union of northern Germany, not Bismarck, was the most important agent in unifying Germany. [citation needed]
The German General Staff, originally the Prussian General Staff and officially the Great General Staff (German: Großer Generalstab), was a full-time body at the head of the Prussian Army and later, the German Army, responsible for the continuous study of all aspects of war, and for drawing up and reviewing plans for mobilization or campaign.