The Epistolarium as Historiographical Source: Max Weber in First World War

Abstract

This article seeks to elucidate some features of the epistolarium as an historiographic source, in comparison with autobiographies. Sharing key aspects, their aims, biases, and the subjective positions of the authors, there are relevant differences between both. Departing from this conceptual issue, the letters by Max Weber during his military service in the Great War will be analyzed. With no public interventions during this period of time, the analysis is centered in the evolution of his assessment of the role of Germany in the war and in his specific activity in the lazarettos. Each of these aspects is related to a corresponding cornerstone of his work: the national problem and the bureaucratization process.