Joseph Arthur de Gobineau was a French writer and secretary. In 1835, he failed the entrance examination to the military school of Saint-Cyr (France). He then wrote books. From 1849 he was secretary for foreign affairs. He continued to write. His book ‘Versuch über die Ungleichheit der Menschenracen’ (1853 – 1855) contained the first ‘racial theory’ and made him a pioneering thinker. He believed that humans had emerged from a perfect ‘Nordic’, ‘Aryan’ ‘primal race’ created by God. All other ‘races’ were subordinate to this one. His ideas were taken up by Adolf Hitler in ‘Mein Kampf’ and formed the basis for the racial mania of National Socialism.
