Wolfgang Justin Mommsen (German pronunciation: [vɔlfgaŋ jʊʃtiːn mɔmzn̩]; 5 November 1930 – 11 August 2004) was a German historian. He was the twin brother of historian Hans Mommsen and the great-grandson of Theodor Mommsen.

Biography

Wolfgang Mommsen was born in Marburg, the son of the historian Wilhelm Mommsen and great-grandson of the Roman historian Theodor Mommsen. He was educated at the University of Marburg, the University of Cologne, and the University of Leeds between 1951 and 1959. He was assistant professor at the University of Cologne (1959–1967) and full professor University of Düsseldorf (1967–1996); he directed the German Historical Institute in London between 1978 and 1985. In 1965, he married Sabine von Schalburg, with whom he had four children.^[1]

Mommsen wrote a biography of Max Weber in 1958. His dissertation, on Max Weber and German politics, published in English in 1984, revolutionized the "understanding of the 20th century's most influential sociologist by setting him firmly in the context of his times, and showing him to be a liberal nationalist and imperialist, much to the horror of many of his admirers. He went on to demonstrate that a knowledge of Weber's political thought and action was essential if one were to grasp accurately his theory of power. This was an outstanding achievement, and Wolfgang followed it up by playing a leading role in editing a new, comprehensive edition of Weber's works.... The Mommsens were related to Weber by marriage, so there was something particularly iconoclastic in Wolfgang's book, which caused a huge storm when it first appeared."^[2] His main area of expertise was 19th- and 20th-century British and German history. His interests were wide-ranging and he wrote about diplomatic, social, intellectual, and economic history. Mommsen championed a Sonderweg ("special path") interpretation of German history. Echoing the views of Hans-Ulrich Wehler and Fritz Fischer, he argued that 19th-century Germany was only partially modernized, as economic modernization was not accompanied by political modernization. Much of Mommsen's comparative studies of British and German history concerns why, in his view, the British had both a political and economic modernization, but the Germans had only the latter. An Anglophile, Mommsen greatly enjoyed teaching and living in the United Kingdom.^{[citation needed]}

In Mommsen's view, the foreign policy of the German Empire was driven by domestic concerns, as the German elite sought distractions abroad to hold off demands for democracy at home. For Mommsen, the major responsibility for the outbreak of the First World War rested on Germany's shoulders. Furthermore, the November Revolution of 1918 did not go far enough and allowed the pre-1918 elite to continue to dominate German life, thus leading inevitably to Nazi Germany. Mommsen has written books condemning appeasement.^{[citation needed]}

In the Historikerstreit ("historians' dispute"), Mommsen took the position that the Holocaust was a uniquely-evil event and should not be compared to the Stalinist Terror in the Soviet Union.^[3]

Wolfgang Mommsen served as an editor for the Max Weber-Gesamtausgabe project, which was a republication of all of Max Weber's writings.^[4] The project concluded in 2020 and contains forty-five volumes.^[5]

He drowned in a swimming accident in the Baltic Sea on 11 August 2004.^[6]