Historian

===Professionalization in Germany===
[[Image:Leopold Von Ranke 1877.jpg|thumb|upright|right|[[Leopold von Ranke|Ranke]] established history as a professional academic discipline in Germany.]]
The modern academic study of history and methods of historiography were pioneered in 19th-century German universities. [[Leopold von Ranke]] was a pivotal influence in this regard, and is considered as the founder of modern source-based [[history]].<ref>Frederick C. Beiser (2011) ''The German Historicist Tradition'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=w2c6YaKf9usC&pg=PA254 p.254]</ref><ref>Janelle G. Reinelt, Joseph Roach (2007), ''Critical Theory and Performance'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=asORYuvznpQC&dq=rankean+positivism&pg=PA193 p. 193]</ref><ref>Stern (ed.), ''The Varieties of History'', p. 54: "Leopold von Ranke (1795–1886) is the father as well as the master of modern historical scholarship."</ref><ref>Green and Troup (eds.), ''The Houses of History'', p. 2: "Leopold von Ranke was instrumental in establishing professional standards for historical training at the University of Berlin between 1824 and 1871."</ref>

Specifically, he implemented the seminar teaching method in his classroom and focused on archival research and analysis of historical documents. Beginning with his first book in 1824, the ''History of the Latin and Teutonic Peoples from 1494 to 1514'', Ranke used an unusually wide variety of sources for a historian of the age, including "memoirs, diaries, personal and formal missives, government documents, diplomatic dispatches and first-hand accounts of eye-witnesses". Over a career that spanned much of the century, Ranke set the standards for much of later historical writing, introducing such ideas as reliance on [[primary source]]s ([[empiricism]]), an emphasis on [[narrative history]] and especially international politics (''[[political history|aussenpolitik]]'').<ref>E. Sreedharan, ''A textbook of historiography, 500&nbsp;BC to AD&nbsp;2000'' (2004) p 185</ref>  Sources had to be hard, not speculations and rationalizations. His credo was to write history the way it was. He insisted on primary sources with proven authenticity.<ref>Andreas Boldt, "Ranke: objectivity and history." ''Rethinking History'' 18.4 (2014): 457–474.</ref>