The first country in which the profession of historian it defines itself on the institutional level as Germany .
In 1819 is established in Berlin by the former minister von Stein, the Gesellschaft für Deutschlands ältere Geschichtskunde [ Society for the Ancient History of Germany ]:the first European historical society destined to collect and publish materials and sources for national history and to scientifically promote the study of history.
Compared to Germany and to France , England Victorian seems to be strangely behind in its historiographical acquisitions. In the mid-nineteenth century, only the universities of Oxford and Cambridge had professorships in history (mostly by direct appointment and therefore purely honorific) that do not show particular dynamism, nor are they occupied by personalities of European importance.
In the twentieth century , historians have focused less on epic narratives and nationalistic, which often tended to glorify the nation or individuals, and more realistic chronologies .
Some French historians have introduced Quantitative Historiography , using a large amount of data to profile the lives of typical individuals, and played a prominent role in the creation of Cultural History . The American historians , driven by the era of civil rights, they have placed their attention on ethnic, racial groups and socio-economic factors previously not considered.
Leopold von Ranke (1795-1886) professor of history at the University of Berlin from 1823 to his death, he is the greatest German historian of the 8th century.
His methodological lesson is based on the precept that "scientific" historiography must be based above all on primary sources , that is, on archival sources, rather than on secondary ones, ie on the bibliography.
For Ranke the historian must limit himself to describing the facts « wie es eigentlich gewesen »(As they are really occurred), without distorting them with their own interpretative hypotheses.
Ranke suggests that whenever a historian uses the past to present their ideas about how people should behave and act, the resulting picture of the past is false and distorted. The historian should never overstep his task: to show the way things really were .
From this it follows that each historical period is unique and must be understood in its relative context; rejecting any a priori negative judgment. Ranke states that there are no epochs inferior or superior to others, but that all must be understood in their specificity .