Editing Unification of Germany (section)

=== Writing the story of the nation ===
{{Further|Historiography and nationalism}}

Another important element in nation-building, the story of the heroic past, fell to such nationalist German historians as the liberal constitutionalist [[Friedrich Christoph Dahlmann|Friedrich Dahlmann]] (1785–1860), his conservative student [[Heinrich von Treitschke]] (1834–1896), and others less conservative, such as [[Theodor Mommsen]] (1817–1903) and [[Heinrich von Sybel]] (1817–1895), to name two. Dahlmann himself died before unification, but he laid the groundwork for the nationalist histories to come through his histories of the English and French revolutions, by casting these revolutions as fundamental to the construction of a nation, and Dahlmann himself viewed Prussia as the logical agent of unification.{{Sfn|Blackbourn|Eley|1984|p=241}}

Heinrich von Treitschke's ''History of Germany in the Nineteenth Century'', published in 1879, has perhaps a misleading title: it privileges the history of Prussia over the history of other German states, and it tells the story of the German-speaking peoples through the guise of Prussia's destiny to unite all German states under its leadership. The creation of this [[Borussian myth|''Borussian'' myth]] (''Borussia'' is the Latin name for Prussia) established Prussia as Germany's savior; it was the destiny of all Germans to be united, this myth maintains, and it was Prussia's destiny to accomplish this.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Friedrich |first=Karin |title=The Other Prussia: Royal Prussia, Poland and Liberty, 1569–1772 |date=2000 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-5210-2775-5 |location=New York |page=5 |ol=7714437M}}</ref> According to this story, Prussia played the dominant role in bringing the German states together as a nation-state; only Prussia could protect German liberties from being crushed by French or Russian influence. The story continues by drawing on Prussia's role in saving Germans from the resurgence of Napoleon's power in 1815, at Waterloo, creating some semblance of economic unity, and uniting Germans under one proud flag after 1871.{{Efn|Many modern historians describe this myth, without subscribing to it.{{page needed|date=May 2025}}<ref>See, e.g.: {{Cite book |last=Koshar |first=Rudy |title=Germany's Transient Pasts: Preservation and the National Memory in the Twentieth Century |date=1998 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |isbn=978-0-8078-4701-5 |location=Chapel Hill |oclc=45729918 |ol=689805M}}; {{Cite book |last=Kohn |first=Hans |title=German History; Some New German Views |date=1954 |publisher=Beacon |location=Boston |oclc=987529 |ol=24208090M |author-link=Hans Kohn}}; {{Harvnb|Nipperdey|1996}}.</ref>}}

Mommsen's contributions to the ''[[Monumenta Germaniae Historica]]'' laid the groundwork for additional scholarship on the study of the German nation, expanding the notion of "Germany" to mean other areas beyond Prussia. A liberal professor, historian, and theologian, and generally a titan among late 19th-century scholars, Mommsen served as a delegate to the Prussian House of Representatives from 1863 to 1866 and 1873 to 1879; he also served as a delegate to the ''Reichstag'' from 1881 to 1884, for the liberal [[German Progress Party]] (''Deutsche Fortschrittspartei'') and later for the [[National Liberal Party (Germany)|National Liberal Party]]. He opposed the [[Antisemitism|antisemitic]] programs of Bismarck's ''Kulturkampf'' and the vitriolic text that Treitschke often employed in the publication of his ''Studien über die Judenfrage'' (''Studies of the Jewish Question''), which encouraged assimilation and Germanization of Jews.{{Sfn|Llobera|Goldsmiths' College|1996}}