Editing Oswald Spengler (section)

==Biography==

=== Early life and family ===
Oswald Arnold Gottfried Spengler was born on 29 May 1880 in [[Blankenburg (Harz)|Blankenburg]], [[Duchy of Brunswick]], [[German Empire]], the oldest surviving child of Bernhard Spengler (1844–1901) and Pauline Spengler (1840–1910), [[Birth name|née]] Grantzow, the descendant of an artistic family.{{Sfn|Naeher|1984|p=19}}{{Sfn|Engels|2019|p=4}} Oswald's elder brother was born prematurely in 1879, when his mother tried to move a heavy laundry basket, and died at the age of three weeks. Oswald was born ten months after his brother's death.<ref>Koktanek, Anton Mirko, Oswald Spengler in seiner Zeit, Beck, 1968, p. 10</ref> His younger sisters were Adele (1881–1917), Gertrud (1882–1957), and Hildegard (1885–1942).{{Sfn|Naeher|1984|p=19}} Oswald's paternal grandfather, Theodor Spengler&nbsp;(1806–1876), was a metallurgical inspector (''Hütteninspektor'') in [[Altenbrak]].<ref>Koktanek, Anton Mirko, Oswald Spengler in seiner Zeit. Beck, 1968, p. 3, 517</ref>

Spengler's maternal great-grandfather, Friedrich Wilhelm Grantzow, a tailor's apprentice in Berlin, had three children out of wedlock with a Jewish woman named Bräunchen Moses ({{circa}} 1769–1849) whom he later married, on 26 May 1799.<ref name="selfimage">{{cite book|last1=Awerbuch|first1=Marianne|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ALhtAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Br%C3%A4unchen+Moses%22|title=Bild und Selbstbild der Juden Berlins zwischen Aufklärung und Romantik|last2=Jersch-Wenzel|first2=Stefi|publisher=Colloquium|year=1992|isbn=9783767808058|place=Berlin|page=91|language=de|trans-title=Image and self-image of the Jews of Berlin between the Enlightenment and Romanticism}}</ref> Shortly before the wedding, Moses was baptized as Johanna Elisabeth Anspachin; the surname was chosen after her birthplace—[[Ansbach|Anspach]].<ref name="beck1968">Koktanek, Anton Mirko, Oswald Spengler in seiner Zeit. Beck, 1968, p. 5</ref> Her parents, Abraham and Reile Moses, were both deceased by then. The couple had another five children,<ref name="selfimage" /> one of whom was Spengler's maternal grandfather, Gustav Adolf Grantzow (1811–1883)—a solo dancer and ballet master in Berlin, who in 1837 married Katharina Kirchner (1813–1873), a solo dancer from a Munich Catholic family;<ref name="beck1968" /> the second of their four daughters was Oswald Spengler's mother Pauline Grantzow.<ref>{{cite book|last=Spengler|first=Oswald|title=Ich beneide jeden, der lebt|year=2007|publisher=Lilienfeld|page=126|isbn=9783940357021|language=de|trans-title=I envy anyone who lives}}</ref> Like the Grantzows in general, Pauline was of a [[Bohemianism|Bohemian]] disposition, and, before marrying Bernhard Spengler, accompanied her dancer sisters on tours. In appearance, she was plump. Her temperament, which Oswald inherited, was moody, irritable, and morose.<ref>Fischer, Klaus P., ''History and Prophecy: Oswald Spengler and The Decline of the West''. P. Lang, 1989, p. 27</ref>

=== Education ===
When Oswald was ten years of age, his family moved to the university city of [[Halle, Saxony-Anhalt|Halle]]. Here he received a classical education at the local [[Gymnasium (school)|Gymnasium]] (academically oriented secondary school), studying Greek, Latin, mathematics and sciences. Here, too, he developed his propensity for the arts—especially poetry, drama, and music—and came under the influence of the ideas of [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]] and [[Friedrich Nietzsche]].{{Sfn|Hughes|1991|p=59}} At 17, he wrote a drama titled ''Montezuma''.{{Sfn|Engels|2019|p=4}}

After his father's death in 1901, Spengler attended several universities ([[University of Munich|Munich]], [[Humboldt University of Berlin|Berlin]], and [[University of Halle|Halle]]) as a private scholar, taking courses in a wide range of subjects. His studies were undirected. In 1903, he failed his [[doctoral thesis]] on [[Heraclitus]]—titled ''Der metaphysische Grundgedanke der heraklitischen Philosophie'' (''The Fundamental Metaphysical Thought of the Heraclitean Philosophy'') and conducted under the direction of [[Alois Riehl]]—because of insufficient references. He took the [[thesis defense|doctoral oral exam]] again and received his [[PhD]] from Halle on 6 April 1904. In December 1904, he began to write the secondary dissertation (''[[Staatsexamen]]sarbeit'') necessary to qualify as a high school teacher. This became ''The Development of the Organ of Sight in the Higher Realms of the Animal Kingdom'' (''Die Entwicklung des Sehorgans bei den Hauptstufen des Tierreiches''), a text now lost.<ref>Mark Sedgwick (ed.), ''Key Thinkers of the Radical Right: Behind the New Threat to Liberal Democracy'', Oxford University Press, 2019, p. 17.</ref> It was approved and he received his teaching certificate. In 1905, Spengler suffered a [[nervous breakdown]].

=== Career ===
Spengler briefly served as a teacher in [[Saarbrücken]] then in [[Düsseldorf]]. From 1908 to 1911 he worked at a grammar school (''Realgymnasium'') in [[Hamburg]], where he taught science, German history, and mathematics. Biographers report that his life as a teacher was uneventful.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Oswald Spengler - an intellectual life |url=https://engelsbergideas.com/portraits/oswald-spengler-an-intellectual-life/ |access-date=2024-11-09 |website=Engelsberg ideas |language=en}}</ref>

In 1911, following his mother's death, he moved to [[Munich]], where he lived for the rest of his life. While there, he was a cloistered scholar, supported by his modest inheritance. Spengler survived on very limited means and was marked by loneliness. He owned no books, and took work as a tutor and wrote for magazines to earn additional income. Due to a severe heart problem, Spengler was exempted from military service.{{Sfn|Engels|2019|p=4}} During the war, his inheritance was useless because it was invested overseas; thus, he lived in genuine poverty for this period.{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}}

He began work on the first volume of ''The Decline of the West'' intending to focus on Germany within Europe. However, the [[Agadir Crisis]] of 1911 affected him deeply, so he widened the scope of his study. According to Spengler the book was completed in 1914, but the first edition was published in the summer of 1918, shortly before the end of [[World War I]].{{Sfn|Engels|2019|p=5}} Spengler wrote about the years immediately prior to World War I in ''Decline'':

{{Blockquote|At that time the World-War appeared to me both as imminent and also as the inevitable outward manifestation of the historical crisis, and my endeavor was to comprehend it from an examination of the spirit of the preceding centuries—not years. ... Thereafter I saw the present—the approaching World-War—in a quite other light. It was no longer a momentary constellation of casual facts due to national sentiments, personal influences, or economic tendencies endowed with an appearance of unity and necessity by some historian's scheme of political or social cause-and-effect, but the type of ''historical change of phase'' occurring within a great historical organism of definable compass at the point preordained for it hundreds of years ago.<ref>Spengler, Oswald. [https://archive.org/stream/Decline-Of-The-West-Oswald-Spengler/Decline_Of_The_West#page/n62/mode/1up ''The Decline of the West'']. V. 1, Alfred A. Knopf, 1926, pp. 46–47.</ref>}}

When the first volume of ''The Decline of the West'' was published, it was a wild success.{{Efn|The original Preface is dated December 1917 and ends with Spengler expressing hope that "his book would not be unworthy of German military achievements".}} Spengler became an instant celebrity.{{Sfn|Engels|2019|p=5}} The national humiliation of the [[Treaty of Versailles]] (1919), followed by [[economic depression]] in 1923 and [[hyperinflation]], seemed to prove Spengler right. ''Decline'' comforted Germans because it could be used as a rationale for their diminished pre-eminence, i.e. due to larger world-historical processes. The book met with wide success outside of Germany as well, and by 1919 had been translated into several other languages.{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}}

The second volume of ''Decline'' was published in 1922. In it, Spengler argued that German [[socialism]] differed from [[Marxism]]; instead, he said it was more compatible with traditional German conservatism. Spengler declined an appointment as Professor of Philosophy at the [[University of Göttingen]], saying he needed time to focus on writing.{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}}

The book was widely discussed, even by those who had not read it. Historians took umbrage at his unapologetically non-scientific approach. Novelist [[Thomas Mann]] compared reading Spengler's book to reading [[Arthur Schopenhauer]]'s works for the first time. Academics gave it a mixed reception. Sociologist [[Max Weber]] described Spengler as a "very ingenious and learned dilettante", while philosopher [[Karl Popper]] called the thesis "pointless". The first volume of ''Decline'' was published in English by [[Alfred A. Knopf]] in 1926, the second in 1928.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Frye |first=Northrop |date=1974 |title="The Decline of the West" by Oswald Spengler |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20024181 |journal=Daedalus |volume=103 |issue=1 |pages=1–13 |issn=0011-5266}}</ref>

===Aftermath===
In 1924, following the social-economic upheaval and [[hyperinflation]], Spengler entered politics in an effort to bring [[Reichswehr]] General [[Hans von Seeckt]] to power as the country's [[leadership|leader]]. The attempt failed and Spengler proved ineffective in practical politics.{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}}

A 1928 ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' review of the second volume of ''Decline'' described the immense influence and controversy Spengler's ideas enjoyed during the 1920s: "When the first volume of ''The Decline of the West'' appeared in Germany a few years ago, thousands of copies were sold. Cultivated European discourse quickly became Spengler-saturated. Spenglerism spurted from the pens of countless disciples. It was imperative to read Spengler, to sympathize or revolt. It still remains so".<ref>{{cite magazine|date=10 December 1928|title=Patterns in Chaos|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time Magazine]]|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,928375,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071122151616/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,928375,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=22 November 2007|access-date=9 August 2008}}</ref>

In 1931, he published ''[[Man and Technics]]'', which warned against the dangers of [[technology]] and [[industrialism]] to culture. He especially pointed to the tendency of Western technology to spread to hostile "Colored races" which would then use the weapons against the West.{{Sfn|Hughes|1991|p=}} It was poorly received because of its anti-industrialism.{{citation needed|date=July 2010}} This book contains the well-known Spengler quote "Optimism is cowardice".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Spengler |first1=Oswald |last2=Atkinson |first2=Charles Francis |title=Man and technics; a contribution to a philosophy of life; translated from the German by Charles Francis Atkinson |date=1932 |publisher=A.A. Knopf}}</ref>

Despite voting for [[Hitler]] over [[Paul von Hindenburg|Hindenburg]] in 1932, Spengler found the Führer vulgar. He met Hitler in 1933 and after a lengthy discussion remained unimpressed, saying that Germany did not need a [[heldentenor|heroic tenor]] but a real [[hero]] ". He quarreled publicly with [[Alfred Rosenberg]], and his pessimism and remarks about the Führer resulted in isolation and public silence. He further rejected offers from [[Joseph Goebbels]] to give public speeches. However, Spengler did become a member of the German Academy that year.{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}}

''The Hour of Decision'', published in 1934, was a bestseller, but was later banned for its critique of [[National Socialism]]. Spengler's criticisms of [[liberalism]]<ref>Tate, Allen (1934). "Spengler's Tract Against Liberalism," ''[[The American Review (literary journal)|The American Review]]'' April 1934.</ref> were welcomed by the Nazis, but Spengler disagreed with their biological ideology and [[anti-Semitism]].{{Sfn|Farrenkopf|2001|pp=237–38}}  While racial mysticism played a key role in his own worldview, Spengler had always been an outspoken critic of the racial theories professed by the Nazis and many others in his time, and was not inclined to change his views during and after Hitler's rise to power.{{Sfn|Engels|2019|p=6}}  Although a German nationalist, Spengler viewed the Nazis as too narrowly German, and not [[Western world|occidental]] enough to lead the fight against other peoples. The book also warned of a coming world war in which Western Civilization risked being destroyed, and was widely distributed abroad before eventually being banned by the [[National Socialist German Workers Party]] in Germany.  A ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' review of ''The Hour of Decision'' noted Spengler's international popularity as a polemicist, observing that "When Oswald Spengler speaks, many a Western Worldling stops to listen". The review recommended the book for "readers who enjoy vigorous writing", who "will be glad to be rubbed the wrong way by Spengler's harsh aphorisms" and his pessimistic predictions.<ref>{{cite news|date=12 February 1934|title=Spengler Speaks|work=Time Magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,746957,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517053047/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,746957,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=17 May 2008|access-date=9 August 2008}}</ref>

=== Later life and death ===
[[File:Grab Oswald Spengler.jpg|thumb|alt=Oswald Spengler's grave on a snowy day.|Spengler's grave]]
On 13 October 1933, Spengler became one of the hundred senators of the [[Deutsche Akademie|German Academy]].<ref>''Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der Karl-Marx-Universität Leipzig''. V. 17, 1968, p. 71</ref><ref>[https://www.google.co.uk/search?newwindow=1&hl=en&tbm=bks&q=%22Dr.+Oswald+Spengler%2C+München%2C+Senator+der+Deutschen+Akademie%22 ''Mitteilungen''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405180100/https://www.google.co.uk/search?newwindow=1&hl=en&tbm=bks&q=%22Dr.+Oswald+Spengler,+M%C3%BCnchen,+Senator+der+Deutschen+Akademie%22 |date=5 April 2023 }}. Deutsche Akademie, 1936, p. 571. "Dr. Oswald Spengler, München, Senator der Deutschen Akademie"</ref>

Spengler spent his final years in Munich, listening to [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]], reading [[Molière]] and [[Shakespeare]], buying several thousand books, and collecting ancient [[Classical Anatolia|Turkish]], [[History of Iran#Median and Achaemenid Empire (680–330 BC)|Persian]] and [[History of India#Classical period (c. 200 BCE – c. 650 CE)|Indian]] weapons. He made occasional trips to the [[Harz mountains]] and to Italy.

Spengler died of a [[myocardial infarction|heart attack]] on 8 May 1936, in Munich, at age 55.{{Sfn|Hughes|1991|p=136}} He was buried in the [[Nordfriedhof (Munich)|Nordfriedhof]] in [[Munich]].