Michael Freund (German historian)

Michael Freund (1902-1972) was German historian and Professor at the University of Kiel.

Freund's view was that Louis Napoleon was the only real revolutionist in 1848. Freund wrote, "After the solemn republican respectablity of 1848 it seemed that only with the Napoleonic experiment did a great revolutionary élan appear on the stage of history".^[1] "The state created by Napoleon was anti-socialist, but it was not the laissez-faire state of capitalism. The social ideals of the disciples of Saint-Simon were given by Napoleon, for the first time, a military and authoritarian aspect."^[2]

Writings of Freund

• "Napoleon III. Eine Betrachtung zur Krise der Democratie in Frankreich", Deutsche Zeitschrift, XLVIII (October, 1934-September, 1935).

References

1. Deutsche Zeitschrift, pg 181-183.
2. Liberalism and the Challenge of Fascism, Social Forces in England and France (1815-1870), J. Salwyn Schapiro, McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., NY, 1949. pg 328.