Ludwig Quidde Quotes
I am convinced that when the history of international law comes to be written centuries hence, it will be divided into two periods: the first being from the earliest times to the end of the nineteenth century, and the second beginning with the Hague Conference.
Quidde, Ludwig. "Security and Disarmament." 12 Dec. 1927, Oslo, Norway. Nobel Lectures, Peace 1926-1950, edited by Frederick W. Haberman, Elsevier Publishing Company, 1972.
Ingersoll was considered to be the greatest orator and political thinker of his day, but his overt atheistic views curtailed his elected political career. Ever since the founding of our republic, the concept of a World Court has been polarizing. In the early days of the nation, many Americans did not trust the more powerful European states to be fair. When we became the most powerful state, many of us didn’t trust the weaker nations to be fair and maintain our standards of law.
With Germany’s WWII history of military aggression, even over 60 years later, that country was very cautious about any use of military force and unilateral force was out of the question.
Born into a wealthy bourgeois merchant family, Quidde grew up in Bremen, read history and also got involved in the activities of the German Peace Society (Deutsche Friedensgesellschaft). In his younger years he had already opposed Bismarck's policies. In 1881 he received his PhD at the University of Göttingen. In 1894 Quidde published a 17-page pamphlet entitled Caligula. Eine Studie über römischen Caesarenwahnsinn (Caligula: A Study of Imperial Insanity). Containing 79 footnotes, the short essay is exclusively about the Roman Empire of the 1st century AD. However, Quidde drew an implicit parallel between the Roman Emperor Caligula and Wilhelm II, de facto accusing both rulers of megalomania. The author had insisted on publishing his pamphlet under his real name, which effectively ended his academic career as a historian when, in some periodical, a short review explained the parallels which otherwise might have gone unnoticed. After he made a derogatory comment on a new medal in honour of William I, German Emperor, German Emperor from 1871 to 1888, he was criminally convicted of lèse majesté, and sentenced to three months in prison, which he served in Stadelheim Prison.
