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Add The New York Times on Google When I was in college I learned about the great man theory of history. I didn’t quite buy it. And now, thanks to President Trump, I’d like to modify my objections. The theory, developed by the British historian Thomas Carlyle, is best summed up by his most famous quote, “The history of the world” was but “the biography of great men.” History moves mainly through the operations of powerful and influential individuals, and they influence history and culture more than history and culture influence them.
In this formulation, “great” isn’t a synonym for good. It refers more to impact rather than virtue. Winston Churchill was great and good. Adolf Hitler was great and evil. But they were both men who moved history. In its most extreme version, the theory can get a bit silly.
Even the greatest men and women are also products of their culture and their moment. Would Hitler have been able to create the Third Reich if he’d been operating in a nation that hadn’t recently lost a catastrophic war and that was formed and shaped in part by centuries of Prussian militarism?
ADVERTISEMENT SKIP ADVERTISEMENT At the same time, great men and women undeniably matter an enormous amount. Sticking with the World War II analogy, both Neville Chamberlain and Winston Churchill grew up on the same British cultural soil, but history did in fact hinge on which man was prime minister of Britain in June 1940, when France fell.
Think of it like this — both the great man and the normal man spring from a specific place and context, but the normal leader remains imprisoned by his time. For better and worse, he or she is the agent of continuity. The great man changes the direction of history.
Subscribe to The Times to read as many articles as you like. David French is an Opinion columnist, writing about law, culture, religion and armed conflict. He is a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and a former constitutional litigator. His most recent book is “Divided We Fall: America’s Secession Threat and How to Restore Our Nation.” You can follow him on Threads (@davidfrenchjag).
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