Oswald Spengler

Oswald Arnold Gottfried Spengler was born 29 May 1880 in Germany, a polymath who moved between history, philosophy, mathematics, science, and art. His two-volume work The Decline of the West, published in 1918 and 1922, presented an organic theory of history: cultures as biological entities with limited, predictable lifespans. He forecast that Western civilization would enter a period of pre-death emergency around 2000, followed by 200 years of Caesarism - extra-constitutional rule by strongmen - before final collapse. A German nationalist and critic of republicanism, Spengler became a prominent voice in the Weimar-era Conservative Revolution. The Nazis tried to claim him as intellectual cover, but he criticized their racialist and antisemitic elements and fell out of favor. He pointed to figures like Benito Mussolini and mining magnate Cecil Rhodes as prototypes of the coming Caesars, though Mussolini's colonial ambitions later disappointed him. He died 8 May 1936, his thesis still hanging in the air.