Droysen, Johann Gustav

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Johann Gustav Droysen (yōhän´ gŏŏs´täf droi´zən), 1808–84, German historian. A member of the Frankfurt Parliament, he was a leading proponent of German unification under the leadership of his native Prussia. His Geschichte der preussischen Politik [political history of Prussia] (14 vol., 1855–86) poses the goal of German unification as the dominant theme of Prussian history.

See his Outlines of the Principles of History (1858, tr. 1893, repr. 1967).