A paper on Karl Marx

Essay by Bigdaddy8706High School, 12th gradeA-, April 2006

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Karl Heinrich Marx was born in Trier near the Moselle River in Germany on May 5, 1818. Karl was born to Hirschel and Henrietta Marx. Although Marx's family had been Jewish for many generations and there were man many Rabbis in his family tree, Marx's father has him baptized as a Protestant Christian so that he could continue to practice as a lawyer in Trier, where he was one of the most well known and successful lawyers in the town. In 1835, at the age of 17, Marx went to Bonn and enrolled at the University of Bonn law in the Faculty of Law. While in Bonn and attending the Faculty of Law, Marx became engaged to Jenny von Westphalen, who was the daughter of Baron von Westphalen, a very high up member of Trier society. It was Baron von Westphalen who was responsible for introducing Karl to Romantic literature and for showing him so different political ideas that would end up greatly influencing Karl on his way to developing his ideas about Communism.

About a year after Karl became engaged to Jenny von Westphalen and formed his relationship with Baron von Westphalen, Karl's father sent Karl to the, which at the time was a more serious and prestigious learning environment, and Karl ended up spending 4 years there. During his time at the University of Berlin, Karl became increasingly disillusioned and disgusted with the Hegelian ideas that were popular in Berlin during the time Marx became a member of the Young Hegelian movement shortly after finishing at the University of Berlin. The Young Hegelian group included the theologians Bruno Bauer and David Friedrich Strauss, and held views that were very critical of Christianity and were very radical for the time period. Marx and his fellow members in...