In 1836 Marx went to the University of Berlin to study philosophy. There he studied under, and was greatly influenced by Hegal. He joined a group of young men, the Doctors Club, who believed that the key to understanding human nature and history was in Hegal's approach to philosophy. Hegal believed that all of reality was God. God was in everything which means that God could also be found in culture and civilization. This idea broke from traditional theological views that God and the world were separate, and many of his young followers used his ideas to criticize the church. Hegal also believed, "History consists in the gradual self-realization of God in the sequence of time. What makes history knowledgeable is that its essence is Mind, and what produces history is the continuous struggle of Mind to realize itself in the perfect form" (Stumpf 365). This gives an idea about how history develops. History is a dialectic process mov

Marx used Hegal's dialectic view on history, and Feuerbach's thoughts on the material order of the universe to produce his own concept of historical materialism. According to Marx, the history of society is the history of class struggles. From the beginning of known history there has always been the oppressor and the oppressed. These two forces are always at conflict, and the outcome is either the destruction of both classes, or the reconstitution of society. There has always been classes in society, and in every period of history there are subordinate classes. In Marx's time society had split into two major classes termed the bourgeois and the proletariat. The bourgeois represents the rich ruling ruling class, and the proletariat the poor working class.

Another person who greatly influenced Marx while he was at the university was Feuerbach. In 1841 he wrote "The Essence of Christianity." Feuerbach takes God out of Hegel's philosophy. He states "...the starting point for humanity must be real man living in the real, material world" (Giddens 3). Hegal sees the real world as coming from the divine, whereas Feuerbach sees the divine as an illusion of what is truly real. Feuerbach also states "...thought proceeds from being, not being from thought" (Giddens 3). Feuerbach's philosophy says that god only exists as far as man believes in him. Man sees God as a perfect, all-powerful being in contrast to himself who seems imperfect. Feuerbach says that all the love that we once put toward God must be redirected towards man. This had a huge impact on Marx and the rest of the Doctors Club.

Marx had a good idea with historical materialism and his theories in The Communist Manifesto. However, his ideas did not translate to the real world very well. His theory about the nation borders being broke down by the world market and free trade were correct. How correct is still yet to be seen. Marx gave the world a lot to think about and his philosophy has greatly influenced many nations and the world.

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