Select any link to see items in a related category.
more general categories information about this item 10. Noble Prize 10. Noble Prize Peace (130) 11. Award Year 11. Award Year 1920s (54) 1927 (7) 12. Winner Type 12. Winner Type Person (904) 13. Gender 13. Gender Male (853) 14. Birth Year 14. Birth Year 1850s (38) 1858 (5) 15. Place of Birth 15. Place of Birth Europe (459) Europe, central (101) Germany (84) Bremen (1) 16. Death Year 16. Death Year 1940s (35) 1941 (7) 17. Place of Death 17. Place of Death Europe (331) Europe, western (182) Switzerland (26) Geneva (2) 19. Given Name 19. Given Name L-R (240) L (30) 20. Family Name 20. Family Name L-R (258) Q (3) 23. Religion 23. Religion z-Missing value reason (465) Source data not available (465) 24. Age at Award Time 24. Age at Award Time 70 - 79 (179) 32. Occupations 32. Occupations Management Occupations (53) Top Executives (53) Legislators (53) 34. Citizens 34. Citizens Europe (450) Europe, central (117) Germany (98) 35. Worked for Government 35. Worked for Government Europe (31) Europe, central (3) Germany (3) Leader (3) Legislator (1) 36. Government Status at Award Time 36. Government Status at Award Time After office (37) 42. Affilliation with College or University 42. Affilliation with College or University Europe (535) Europe, central (165) Germany (154) Göttingen (44) University of Göttingen (44) Alumni (20) Europe, western (390) France (92) Strasbourg (20) University of Strasbourg (20) Alumni (12) 44. Memberships 44. Memberships A-D (656) B (102) Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities (67) complete name: Ludwig Quidde nobel prize: peace award year: 1927 together with: Ferdinand Buisson prize share: Prize share: 1/2 rational: The Nobel Peace Prize 1927 was awarded jointly to Ferdinand Buisson and Ludwig Quidde." biography: Biography laureate facts: Facts laureate lecture: Lecture given name: Ludwig family name: Quidde occupation: politician occupation: historian occupation: medievalist field of work: history work location: University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany description: Ludwig Quidde was a German pacifist who is mainly remembered today for his acerbic criticism of German Emperor Wilhelm II and a politician. Quidde's long career spanned four different eras of German history: that of Bismarck (up to 1890); the Hohenzollern Empire under Wilhelm II (1888-1918); the Weimar Republic (1918-1933); and, finally, Nazi Germany. In 1927, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Born into a wealthy bourgeois merchant family, Quidde grew up in Bremen, read history and also got involved in the activities of the German Peace Society (Deutsche Friedensgesellschaft). In his younger years he had already opposed Bismarck's policies. In 1881 he received his PhD at the University of Göttingen. In 1894 Quidde published a 17-page pamphlet entitled Caligula. Eine Studie über römischen Caesarenwahnsinn (Caligula: A Study of Imperial Insanity). Containing 79 footnotes, the short essay is exclusively about the Roman Empire of the 1st century AD. However, Quidde drew an implicit parallel between the Roman Emperor Caligula and Wilhelm II, de facto accusing both rulers of megalomania. The author had insisted on publishing his pamphlet under his real name, which effectively ended his academic career as a historian when, in some periodical, a short review explained the parallels which otherwise might have gone unnoticed. After he made a derogatory comment on a new medal in honour of William the Great, German Emperor from 1871 to 1888, he was criminally convicted of lèse majesté, and sentenced to three months in prison, which he served in Stadelheim Prison. After the end of the First World War, Quidde, like most other Germans, vehemently opposed the Treaty of Versailles but for different reasons from German militarists, who hated mainly the vast restrictions laid upon the German armed forces and the impending economic disaster that would be caused by payment of the high reparations that were decreed. He and other German pacifists thought ahead and hoped that US President Woodrow Wilson would win the day, pointing out that such severe conditions would already sow the seeds of a new war: Ein gedemütigtes, zerrissenes und zu kümmerlichem wirtschaftlichen Dasein verdammtes deutsches Volk wäre ebenso eine stete Gefahr für den Weltfrieden, wie ein in seinen unveräußerlichen Rechten und Daseinsbedingungen geschütztes eine starke Stütze desselben sein würde.Mögen jene, die heute die Macht haben, über den nächsten Tag hinaus an die Zukunft der Menschheit denken. Eine ungeheure Verantwortung liegt auf ihnen. Etwas ganz Neues kann heute zum Segen aller Völker geschaffen werden. Kurzsichtiger Missbrauch der heutigen Macht kann alles verderben.A humiliated and torn German nation condemned to economic misery would be a constant danger to world peace, just as a protected German nation whose inalienable rights and subsistence are safeguarded would be a strong pillar of such world peace.May those who are in power today think beyond this day and consider the future of mankind. Their responsibility is enormous. Today, an altogether new order can be created for the benefit of all peoples. Short-sighted misuse of that power can ruin everything.("Announcement of the German Peace Society", November 15, 1918, co-authored by Quidde) When Hitler came to power in 1933, Quidde escaped to Switzerland, finally settling down in Geneva for the rest of his days. He remained an optimist throughout his life. Aged 76, he published his essay "Landfriede und Weltfriede" (1934) at a time when militarism was again on the rise, believing that modern technology might serve as a deterrent from war: […] die Entwicklung der Technik, die den modernen Krieg immer mehr zu einem selbstmörderischen Wahnsinn gemacht hat, dem Kriege ein Ende setzen wird. Das hat im Grunde genommen schon Kant vorausgesehen, der die Schaffung eines "ewigen Friedens" nicht etwa von einer Hebung der Moral erwartete, sondern vom Kriege, der so unerträglich werden würde, dass die Menschheit sich genötigt sehen würde, den Frieden zu sichern.[It is] today's technological development which has turned modern war into a suicidal nightmare and which will put an end to war. This was already predicted by Kant, who expected "perpetual peace" to be established not due to the moral perfection of man but due to modern warfare, which would be so unbearable that mankind would see itself forced to guarantee everlasting peace. Ludwig Quidde died in his Swiss exile in 1941, aged 82. image copyright: Photo from the Nobel Foundation archive. image citation: The Nobel Peace Prize 1927. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Media AB 2018. <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1927/summary/> date birth: 1858 date death: 1941 usual name: Ludwig Quidde
