Changing Methodologies in Historicism: An Analysis for Rise and Fall of Rankean Historiography

Leopold von Ranke is a revolutionary historian who made a massive impact on history writing by promoting empiricism, objectivity, and reliance on state archives in the 19th century. Still, his methodology was challenged by newcomer historians of the 20th century in terms of subjectivity and suspicion. As the new century witnessed many political, economic, and cultural changes, the generation raised in the mid-20th century matured their historical approach in parallel with these changes. Revision is one of the formal prerequisites for history writing, which allowed both Ranke and the historians of the mid-20th century to develop their methods for their generations. As anything born, live, and die, Rankean historical methodology got its share, naturally.