Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines the most important contexts in which Max Weber evokes Schicksal: the historical conditions of choice, the political meaning of death, and the formation of national solidarity. It discusses part of the pre-history of the nineteenth-century Caesarism dispute. The book describes the tradition of political "republicanism" in which Julius Caesar was an historical symbol for some of the most dangerous tendencies a polity could experience. Exploring the republican depiction of Caesar enables to contextualize and contrast the nineteenth-century Caesarism dispute that Max Weber adapted. Caesarism, Charisma and Fate combines markedly contrasting approaches to the study of Weber. To describe and to explain, the nature of political belonging and nationhood Weber invoked Schicksalsgemeinschaft, which translates into English as "community of fate".