J. van Zanten

De biograaf als bijziende historicus : Over biografie, micro- en metageschiedenis

During the first decades of the twentieth century biography, as a vital and living discipline within academic historiography, became more and more marginalised. Young historians, eager to professionalise their craft and to incorporate new social theories and methods, dismissed biography as a short-sighted, subjective, bias, nationalistic and old-fashioned way of writing history. Today, academia still struggles to recognise biographical writing as a scientific genre, and therefore it remains controversial. Or as Richard Holmes has put it: ‘For the most part, it has been left to itself, outside the established institutes of learning’. Biographers have attempted to counteract the academic loss of status by ‘using’ theoretical concepts from other disciplines like micro- and metahistory. But by doing so they more or less have failed to ask themselves whether biography as a discipline initially was rightfully sacrificed by academic historians in their pursuit of history as a modern, objective and professional science.

'Bataille à boire': tweehonderd jaar Waterloogeschiedschrijving

The bicentennial celebrations in 2015 of the Battle of Waterloo have rekindled public interest in the history and heritage of this historical event. The commemoration also led to a massive increase in publications. Many of these are based on new sources (ego-documents, archaeological finds, and archival sources) discovered in the last decades. These new sources have allowed historians to move away from official accounts and towards a view from below. This approach has added significantly to our understanding of the battle, but in some cases the new sources have caused confusion and led to new historiographical controversies, both on a national and transnational level. At the same time historians in and outside academia are moving beyond national histories of the battle to more balanced and transnational accounts. Recent interest in heritage and memory has resulted in new research on the appropriation of Waterloo by various interested parties. At the same time it is to be regretted that academic historians almost exclusively focus on heritage and memory and have been neglecting the story of the battle. As a result they have been largely absent during the commemorations. Public interest in Waterloo has been mostly served by popular historical publications and re-enactment events.