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The Great man theory is a theory held by some that aims to explain history by the impact of "Great men", or heroes: highly influential individuals, either from personal charisma, genius intellects, or great political impact.
For example, a scholarly follower of the Great Man theory would be likely to study the Second World War by focusing on the big personalities of the conflict — Sir Winston Churchill, Hirohito, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Stalin, etc. — and view all of the historical events as being tied directly to their own individual decisions and orders.
It is often linked to 19th century philosopher and historian Thomas Carlyle, who commented that "The history of the world is but the biography of great men." This theory is usually contrasted with a theory that talks about events occurring in the fullness of time, or when an overwhelming wave of smaller events cause certain developments to occur. The Great Man approach to history was most popular with professional historians in the 19th century; a popular work of this school is the Encyclopedia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1911) which contains lengthy and detailed biographies about the great men of history, but very few general or social histories. For example to read about (what is known today as) the "Migrations Period", one would consult the biography of Atilla the Hun.
One of the main matters of the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche, is what he called "der Uebermensch" or "the Overman" which could be said to be a reaction to the "Great Man" approach philosophy among historians in the 19th century, especially after the work of Thomas Carlyle, whom Nietzsche disliked. The Overman, Nietzsche argued would not be men such as Napoleon (or to put it in better terms, Hitler or Mussolini) because of Nietzsche's hatred towards nationalism and standing armies, but rather polymaths like Goethe or Da Vinci, geniuses that would set an example for the smug bourgeoisie.
A staunch opponent of the great man theory in its own time was Leo Tolstoy, who devoted the entire (non-fictional) beginning of the third volume of War and Peace to debunking it, using Napoleonic wars as an example.
Today the great man theory is out of favor as a singular explanation for why things happened. Historians also look at other factors such as economic, societal, environmental, and technological which are just as or more significant to historical change. History which only follows around "great men", especially when "greatness" is determined primarily by political status, is a shallow view of the past, and additionally one which excludes entire groups of people from being part of "history", including labor forces, ethnic minorities and cultural minorities.
This has spread to other fields such a literary criticism where the New Historicism of Stephen Greenblatt argues that societies create works of art, not just authors.
When this theory is applied to film theory, this theory tends to explain film history and the evolution of film almost exclusively in terms of "Great Men", with some notable directors. It however, neglects the efforts of crews, assistants and outside constraints. It could be described as the film history equivalent to the star system or the auteur theory.
References
- Thomas Carlyle, On Heroes, Hero-Worship and the Heroic in History (1843)
- Chris Krygier, Great Men in Theory and Practice: A Study of Three Great Dons (2005)
See also
"Great man theory"