ABSTRACT
In 1939 there were 23 universities in Germany proper. This figure does not include colleges of university standing, such as 10 ‘Technische Hochschulen’ and 4 ‘Handelshochschulen’. Some of these were medieval foundations, the oldest of which was Heidelberg (1386). Prague (1348) and Vienna (1365) were earlier, but they were outside the area of modern Germany. Others date from the fifteenth century, such as Leipzig, Greifswald and Ttibingen. The development of universities in that century was due partly to the fact that the schism made it temporarily impossible for Germans to study at Paris, partly to the stimulus of humanism and the patronage of the territorial princes. To these factors was added in the sixteenth century the effect of the Reformation, which prompted Protestant rulers to set up universities in support of their cause. It was then that Marburg and Jemi, for example, came into being, while a Catholic university was founded at Würzburg. The next important influence was that of rationalism and the spirit of scientific inquiry, mirrored in the foundation of Halle in 1 694 and Gottingen in 1737. The upheavals following the French Revolution seriously disrupted German universities, and, of the 30 that existed towards the end of the eighteenth century, 18 were closed or lost. Some survived in part as theological colleges, others (like Munster and Cologne) were refounded later. The defeat of Prussia in 1806 led Frederick William III to say that she must replace in spiritual strength what had been lost in physical power, and it was in this spirit that the Prussian national University of Berlin came into being in 1810. Followed by the creation of a university at Bonn in 1818, this event marks the beginning of the modern period of German university development.
