Wikipedia's first sentence called it “israeli historian in the hebrew university in jerusalem that studied the modern age”. Today it says “polish-born israeli historian and professor of modern history at the hebrew university of jerusalem”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Polish-born Professor of Modern History (1916-1980)”. It now reads “Polish-born Israeli historian (1916-1980)”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2005 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2005
Jacob Leib Talmon ( 1916 - 1980 ) was an Israeli historian in the Hebrew University in Jerusalem that studied the Modern Age , especially the French Revolution .1He coined the terms Totalitarian Democracy and Political Messianism .2He received the Israeli Prize in 1957 . The Origins of Totalitarian Democracy and Political Messiainism: The Romantic Phase. Talmon argued that Rousseau 's position may best be understood as " totalitarian democracy "; that is, as a philosophy in which liberty is realized "only in the pursuit and attainment of an absolute collective purpose." Author of the books : The Origins of Totalitarian Democracy, 1952; The Nature of Jewish History-Its Universal Significance, 1957; Political Messianism - The Romantic Phase, 1960; The Unique and The Universal, 1965; Romanticism and Revolt, 1967; Israel among the Nations, 1968; The Age of Violence,1974 ; The Myth of Nation and Vision of Revulotion, The Origins of Ideological Polarization in the 20th Century,1981 ; The Riddle of the Present and the Cunning of History 2000 (hebrew, p.m.)3
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 16673165.
The opening as it stood in 2010 4 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Jacob Leib Talmon ( Hebrew : יעקב טלמון) (born 1916, died 1980) was Professor of Modern History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem .He has been categorised as a ' Cold War liberal ' because of the anti-Marxism which permeates his main works.He studied the genealogy of totalitarianism , arguing that political Messianism stemmed from the French Revolution , and stressed the similarities between Jacobinism and Stalinism . He coined the terms Totalitarian Democracy and Political Messianism .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 358401557.
The opening as it stood in 2015 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
He has been categorised as a ' Cold War liberal ' because of the anti-Marxism which permeates his main works. He studied the genealogy of totalitarianism , arguing that political Messianism stemmed from the French Revolution , and stressed the similarities between Jacobinism and Stalinism . He coined the terms Totalitarian Democracy and Political Messianism .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 666045717.
The opening as it stood in 2020
He has been categorised as a ' Cold War liberal ' because of the anti-Marxism which permeates his main works. He studied the genealogy of totalitarianism , arguing that political Messianism stemmed from the French Revolution , and stressed the similarities between Jacobinism and Stalinism . He coined the terms " totalitarian democracy " and " Messianic democracy / political Messianism ".
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 860152143.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
He studied the genealogy of totalitarianism , arguing that political Messianism stemmed from the French Revolution , and stressed the similarities between Jacobinism and Stalinism . He coined the terms " totalitarian democracy " and " Messianic democracy / political Messianism ".
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1138234534.
The opening as it stood in 2025
He studied the genealogy of totalitarianism , arguing that political Messianism stemmed from the French Revolution , and stressed the similarities between Jacobinism and Stalinism . He coined the terms " totalitarian democracy " and " Messianic democracy / political Messianism ".
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1296317394. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “israeli historian in the hebrew university in jerusalem that studied the modern age”. Today it says “polish-born israeli historian and professor of modern history at the hebrew university of jerusalem”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Polish-born Professor of Modern History (1916-1980)”. It now reads “Polish-born Israeli historian (1916-1980)”. Read the current article and compare.
2005
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2005, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
israeli historian in the hebrew university in jerusalem that studied the modern age
Now
polish-born israeli historian and professor of modern history at the hebrew university of jerusalem
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
