Oswald Spengler

Oswald Spengler
Born	Oswald Arnold Gottfried Spengler (1880-05-29)29 May 1880 Blankenburg, Duchy of Brunswick, German Empire
Died	8 May 1936(1936-05-08) (aged 55) Munich, Bavaria, Nazi Germany
Alma mater	University of Munich University of Berlin University of Halle
Era	20th century philosophy
Region	Western philosophy
Main interests	Philosophy of history
Influences Leo Frobenius Johann Wolfgang von Goethe G. W. F. Hegel Heraclitus Friedrich Nietzsche Arthur Schopenhauer Johann Joachim Winckelmann
Influenced Theodor Adorno Northrop Frye Karl Haushofer Ernst Jünger George F. Kennan Henry Kissinger H. P. Lovecraft Malcolm X Henry Miller Paul Nitze J. Ortega y Gasset Arnold J. Toynbee G. H. von Wright Ludwig Wittgenstein Martin Heidegger Julius Evola
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Oswald Arnold Gottfried Spengler (29 May 1880 – 8 May 1936) was a German historian and philosopher of history whose interests included mathematics, science, and art. He is best known for his book The Decline of the West (Der Untergang des Abendlandes), published in 1918 and 1922, covering all of world history. Spengler's civilization model postulates that any civilization is a superorganism with a limited and predictable lifespan.

He wrote extensively throughout World War I and the interwar period, and supported German hegemony in Europe. His other writings made little impact outside Germany. In 1920 Spengler produced Prussiandom and Socialism (Preußentum und Sozialismus), which argued for an organic, nationalist brand of non-Marxist socialism and authoritarianism. Some Nazis, including Joseph Goebbels, saw Spengler as an intellectual precursor, but he was ultimately ostracized by the Nazis in 1933 for his pessimism about the future of Germany and Europe, his refusal to support Nazi ideas of racial superiority, and his critical work The Hour of Decision.

Oswald Spengler was born in 1880 in Blankenburg (the Duchy of Brunswick, the German Reich) as the second child of Bernhard (1844–1901) and Pauline (1840–1910) Spengler. Oswald's elder brother was born prematurely (eight months) in 1879, when his mother tried to move a heavy laundry basket, and he died three weeks after birth. Oswald was born ten months after his brother's death. His younger sisters were Adele (1881–1917), Gertrud (1882–1957), and Hildegard (1885–1942).

Oswald's paternal grandfather, Theodor Spengler (1806–76), was a metallurgical inspector (Hütteninspektor) in Altenbrak. Oswald's father, Bernhard Spengler, held the position of a postal secretary (Postsekretär) and was a hard-working man with a marked dislike of intellectualism, who tried to instil the same values and attitudes in his son.

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