Arthur de Gobineau

Arthur de Gobineau was a French writer and diplomat.

He is best known for introducing ideas about "racial demography" and the theory of an "Aryan" master race. These ideas, which he developed through a concept called Nordicism, suggested that certain groups were naturally superior to others. Modern scholars classify his work as pseudoscience. This means his theories were presented as scientific but lacked actual scientific basis or qualifications. Gobineau had no formal training in anthropology to support his claims.

Gobineau was born on July 14, 1816, to an aristocratic family of counts. His father, Louis de Gobineau, was a royalist military officer. His mother was Anne-Louise Magdeleine de Gercy.

His upbringing was marked by significant instability and trauma. His parents' marriage disintegrated, and his mother lived a life that Gobineau found deeply embarrassing. She eventually turned to fraud, which led to her imprisonment. These personal struggles contributed to his pessimistic view of society. He grew up valuing traditional aristocratic and Catholic ideals during a time of great political change.

Politically, Gobineau was a Legitimist. This means he supported the House of Bourbon and believed in royalist rule. He strongly opposed the French Revolution and the rise of democracy. He also disliked the House of Orléans, which took power after the July Revolution of 1830. Gobineau viewed this revolution as a disaster for France. He believed the new government was corrupt and driven by money rather than virtue. He famously described this era as an "age of national mediocrity." He felt that money had replaced honor as the primary principle of power.

As a young man, Gobineau was fascinated by the Orient, the term used in the 19th century for the Middle East.

He studied at the Collège de Bironne in Switzerland and became fluent in German. He loved the Oriental tales translated by Antoine Galland. He even once claimed he wanted to become a Muslim and make a pilgrimage to Mecca. In 1835, he moved to Paris with only fifty francs to pursue a career as a writer. He struggled with poverty for much of his life. To survive, he worked as a part-time employee of the Post Office while writing novels and articles.

Gobineau achieved his first major literary success in 1841.

He published an article about the Greek statesman Count Ioannis Kapodistrias in the prestigious journal *Revue des deux Mondes*. This achievement placed him among the most famous writers of his time. Later, his diplomatic career allowed him to serve as a minister in several nations. He served in Persia, Brazil, Greece, and Sweden starting in 1861. These roles gave him a broader view of international politics, which he often discussed in his writings.

His views on global power were often negative. He criticized the British Empire, viewing it as a nation driven by greed. He also expressed concern regarding the growing power of Imperial Russia. Gobineau believed that the Russian Empire was a youthful power that would eventually dominate Asia. He viewed the rise of Russia as a triumph of Asia over Europe.

These political observations were part of his larger, pessimistic worldview regarding the direction of human civilization.

In his most famous work, *An Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races*, Gobineau argued that aristocrats were superior to commoners. He claimed aristocrats possessed more "Aryan" genetic traits because they practiced less interbreeding with other groups.

Although his work was poorly received in France, it found followers elsewhere. In the United States, pro-slavery writers like Josiah C. Nott and Henry Hotze translated his book. They omitted approximately 1,000 pages of the original text to suit their own interests.

Gobineau's influence extended deep into European history. His ideas inspired a social movement in Germany known as "Gobinism." His writings influenced various figures, including the composer Richard Wagner and his son-in-law, Houston Stewart Chamberlain. His work was also utilized by the Romanian politician A. C. Cuza. Most notably, leaders of the Nazi Party later edited and republished his writings to support their own ideologies. This demonstrates how pseudoscientific theories can be used to shape major political and social movements over many decades.