Wilhelm von Humboldt

The French revolution

In the course of the journey mentioned earlier, Johann Heinrich Campe and his young friend reached

Paris in July 1789. The news of the storming of the Bastille had reached them in Aachen. This journey,

which had been planned as an educational visit, turned into a personal experience of world-shaking

events. Humboldt did not share the unbridled enthusiasm of his tutor, but he was well aware of the

historical importance of this revolution. In a letter dated 17 August, he complained that he was ‘rather

tired of Paris and France’, but said that ‘the political situation [is] now vitally important and had created

a state of ferment among the people and in men’s minds’ (Letters, p. 93).

Just how durable the ideas of the French Revolution were to prove is apparent from a letter

written years later to his wife Karoline (20 August 1814) in which he expressed his conviction that ‘all

the dynamism, all the life, all the vigour and freshness of the nation [...] can only reside in the people’

(Letters, p. 734). A letter written to a friend in August 1791—known under the title of ‘Ideas on the

Organization of the State Brought about by the New French Constitution’—later reflected the

experience and changed political views acquired in Paris: ‘The nobility joined forces with the Regent in

an endeavour to repress the people; that was the beginning of the end for the nobility [...]’ (GS, I,

p. 82). ‘Mankind had suffered from an extreme and was obliged to seek salvation in another extreme.’

Admittedly, Humboldt doubted whether the new constitution would last, but he did believe that it

would ‘throw a new light on ideas, help to foster every active virtue again and so spread its blessings

far beyond the frontiers of France’ (GS, I, p. 84).