ABSTRACT
The first roots of German physical education were marked by the publication of J. C. F. GutsMuths' book Gymnastics for Youth in 1793. Translated versions of this book soon came to have widespread significance as a stimulus for the practice of physical education within school curricula in other European countries such as Denmark and Sweden. A distinct influence on GuthsMuths were his studies at the University of Halle, where A. H. Wolff was elected as the first German Professor of Pedagogy, a new type of science separated from religious studies. However, the influences on GutsMuths were not uniquely German. Other determinants included the work of several French physicians, but especially the educational philosophy embedded in naturalism and drawn from the gymnastic exercises of Ancient Greece and pedagogue Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The assimilation process and the formulation of a collection of gymnastic exercises with running, jumping, playing, swimming, etc., were assisted by the various contributions of GutsMuths' European students emanating from Austria, France, Denmark, Hungary and Portugal amongst other countries. Thus GutsMuths' ‘system’ of physical education was the culmination of an assimilation of pan-European ideas, requested vocational qualifications and implemented practices during his professional career in the Philanthropium at Schnepfenthal in the 1780s (see GutsMuths 1793).
