Wolfgang Justin Mommsen (born November 5, 1930) is an left-wing German historian and the twin brother of Hans Mommsen. He was born in Marburg, the son of the historian Wilhelm Mommsen. He was educated at the University of Marburg, University of Cologne and University of Leeds between 1951-59. He served as professor at the University of Cologne (1959-1967), University of Dusseldorf (1967-1978) and finally as the director of the German Historical Institue in London between 1978-1985.

Mommsen first rose to fame through an biography of Max Weber in 1959. Mommsen's main areas of expertise are in 19th century-20th century British and German history. His interests are wide-ranging and he has written about diplomatic, social, intellectual, and economic history. Mommsen's champions an Sonderweg intrepration of German history. Echoing the views of Hans-Ulrich Wehler, Mommsen has argued that 19th century Germany only partially modernized. Economic modernization was not accompanied by political modernization. Much of Mommsen's comparative studies of British and German history concern why in his view, the British had both an political and economic modernization while the Germans had only the latter.

In Mommsen's view, the foreign policy of the Second Reich was driven by domestic concerns as the German elite sought distractions abroad to hold off demands at home for democracy. For Mommsen, the major responsbility for the outbreak of the First World War rests on Germany's shoulders. Furthermore, the November Revolution of 1918 did not go far enough and allowed the pre-1918 elite to continue to dominate German life, thus leading inevitably to the Third Reich. Mommsen has written books condemning appeasement. In 1965, he married Sabine von Schalburg, who he had three children by.

In the Historikerstreit, Mommsen took the position that the Holocaust was a uniquely evil event that should not compared to Stalinist terror in the Soviet Union. In 1998, several of the younger German historians critized Mommsen for not denouncing the Nazi past of his mentors while a university student in the 1950s.

Work

• Max Weber und die deutsche Politik, 1890-1920, 1959.
• "The Debate on German War Aims" pages 47-74 from Journal of Contemporary History, Volume 1, 1966.
• "Die latente Krise des Deutschen Reiches, 1909-1914" from Handburch der deutschen Geschichte, Volume 4: Deutsche Geschichte der neuesten Zeit von Bismarcks Entlassung bis zur Gegenwart, 1973.
• The Age of Bureaucracy: Perspectives on the Politicial Sociology of Max Weber, 1974.
• Imperialismustheorien, 1977.
• Der europäpäische Imperialismus: Aufsätze und Abbandlunge, 1979.
• The Emergence of the Welfare State in Britain and Germany, 1850-1950 co-edited with Wolfgang Mock, 1981.
• Sozialprotest, Gewalt, Terror: Gewaltanwendung durch politische und gesellschaftliche Randgruppen im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert, 1982.
• The Fascist Challenge and the Policy of Appeasement, co-edited with Lothar Kettenacker, 1983.
• The Development of Trade Unionism in Great Britain and Germany, 1880-1914, co-edited with Hans-Gerhard Husung, 1985.
• Imperialism and After: Continuities and Discontinuities co-edited with Jürgen Osterhammel, 1986.
• Bismarck, Europe, and Africa: The Berlin Africa Conference, 1884-1885, and the Onset of Partition, co-edited with Stig Förster and Ronald Robinson, 1988.
• The Political and Social Theory of Max Weber: Collected Essays, 1989.
• Intellektuelle im Deutschen Kaiserreich, co-edited with Gangolf Hubinger, 1993.