Great man theory
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The great man theory is an approach to the study of history popularised in the 19th century. According to it, history can be largely explained by the impact of great men, or heroes: highly influential
Napoleon, a typical great man, said to have created the "Napoleonic" era through his military and political genius
Bust of Thomas Carlyle by Thomas Woolner
Herbert Spencer was a contemporary critic of Carlyle's great man theory.
William James was a 19th-century philosopher and psychologist.
On Heroes, Hero-Worship, & the Heroic in History is a book by the Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher Thomas Carlyle, published by James Fraser, London, in 1841. It is a collection of six lec
Title page of the first English edition
'Thomas Carliles Lectures' by Jemima Blackburn, with John Gibson Lockhart and William Macready in the audience
Monument to Thomas Carlyle by William Kellock Brown, Kelvingrove Park, Glasgow