Houston Stewart Chamberlain, English-German philosopher and author (d. 1927)
Houston Stewart Chamberlain (; 9 September 1855 – 9 January 1927) was a British-German philosopher who wrote works about political philosophy and natural science. His writing promoted German ethnonationalism, antisemitism, Social Darwinism, and scientific racism; Michael D. Biddiss (a contributor to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography) described him as a "racialist writer". His best-known book, the two-volume Die Grundlagen des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts (The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century), published in 1899, became highly influential in the pan-Germanic Völkisch movements of the early-20th century and later influenced the antisemitism of Nazi racial policy. Indeed, Chamberlain has been referred to as "Hitler's John the Baptist".Born in Hampshire, Chamberlain emigrated to Dresden in adulthood out of an adoration for composer Richard Wagner, and was later naturalized as a German citizen. He married Eva von Bülow, Wagner's daughter, in December 1908, twenty-five years after Wagner's death.
1855Sep, 9
Houston Stewart Chamberlain
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Events on 1855
- 14Feb
Telegraphy
Texas is linked by telegraph to the rest of the United States, with the completion of a connection between New Orleans and Marshall, Texas. - 22Feb
State College, Pennsylvania
The Pennsylvania State University is founded in State College, Pennsylvania (as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania). - 1Jun
William Walker (filibuster)
The American adventurer William Walker conquers Nicaragua. - 4Jul
Leaves of Grass
The first edition of Walt Whitman's book of poems, Leaves of Grass, is published In Brooklyn. - 16Nov
Victoria Falls
David Livingstone becomes the first European to see the Victoria Falls in what is now Zambia-Zimbabwe.