of of

Less as a reaction against philosophical idealisnl applied to history than as an effort to satisfy history's own demands for knowledge and objectivity, another strand of Germany's great contribution in this period began to appear in the 1820s. We have already seen how archaeology and the spreading interest in documentary collections had been providing more and more source material for students of the past. On the other hand, the works of Thiers, Mignet and other chroniclers of the Revolution seemed to challenge the very possibility of history's being written without partisan bias.