SYBEL, HEINRICH VON ( German historian, was born on Dec. 2, 1817, at DUsseldorf. Sybel was educated at the gymnasium of his native town, and then at the University of Berlin, where he came under the influence of Savigny and of Ranke, whose most distinguished pupil he was to become. In 1841 he settled at Bonn as Privatdozent in history. He was already known by his Geschichte des ersten Kreuzzuges (Dussel dorf, 1841; new ed., Leipzig, 1881; Eng. trans. by Lady Duff Gordon, 1861). This was followed by a study on the growth of German kingship (Die Entstehung des deutschen Konigtums, Frankfurt, 1844, and again 1881), after which he was appointed professor. In the same year (1844) Sybel came forward as an opponent of the Ultramontane party. In 1846 he was appointed professor at Marburg, while a seat in the Hessian Landtag gave him his first experience of political affairs. In 1848 he was present. at Frankfurt, but did not sit in the National Assembly. His oppo sition to the revolutionary party made him unpopular with the mob, who broke his windows, as his liberalism made him suspected at court. He sat in the Erfurt parliament of 185o, and was attached to the Gotha party, which hoped for the regeneration of Germany through the ascendancy of Prussia. During the years of reaction that followed all political activity was impossible, but he was fully occupied with his great work, Geschichte der Revo lutionzeit 1789-1869, for which he had made prolonged studies in the archives at Paris and elsewhere. The later editions of the earlier volumes are much enlarged and altered, and a new edition was published at Stuttgart in 1882. The first three volumes have been translated into English by W. C. Perry (1867-69). In this work he for the first time showed the connection between the internal and external history of France; he was also the first, by a systematic study of the records, to check and correct the tradi tional accounts of numerous episodes connected with the internal history.
In 1856 Sybel accepted the post of professor at Munich. Here
he founded the Historische Zeitschrift, the original and model of the numerous technical historical publications which now exist. In the political excitement which followed the war of 1859 he found that he could not hope for the unreserved support of the king, and therefore in 1861 he accepted a professorship at Bonn, which he held till 1875. He was at once elected a member of the Prussian Lower House, and during the next three years was an active member, opposing the policy of Bismarck, not only on financial but also on the Polish and Danish affairs. In 1864 he did not stand for re-election. In 1866 he was one of the first to point out the way to a reconciliation between Bismarck and his former opponents. He had a seat in the Constituent Assembly of 1867, and while he joined the National Liberals he distinguished him self by his opposition to the introduction of universal suffrage, the effects of which he, as did many other Liberals, much dis trusted. In 1874 he again accepted a seat in the Prussian parlia ment, supporting the Government against the Clericals, and after 1878 against the Socialists. In 188o he retired.
In 1875 he had been appointed by Bismarck director of the Prussian archives. Under his superintendence was begun the great series of publications, besides that of the correspondence of Frederick the Great, in the editing of which he himself took part. His last years were occupied on his great work, Die Begriindung des deutschen Reiches durch Wilhelm I. (Munich, 7 vols., 1889 94 Eng. trans., 189o-91), for which he was allowed to use the Prussian state papers, and was therefore enabled to write a history of his own time with full access to the most secret sources of information. As a history of Prussian policy from 1860 to 1866 it is of incomparable value. After the fall of Bismarck permission to use the secret papers was withdrawn, and therefore vols. vi. and vii., which deal with the years 1866 to 1870, are of less importance. He died at Marburg on Aug. 1, 1895.