Education
He initially studied philology at the University of Bonn, where one of his instructors was Friedrich Wilhelm Ritschl (1806-1876). Afterwards he studied history under Georg Waitz (1813-1886) at the University of Göttingen.
He initially studied philology at the University of Bonn, where one of his instructors was Friedrich Wilhelm Ritschl (1806-1876). Afterwards he studied history under Georg Waitz (1813-1886) at the University of Göttingen.
In 1864 he earned his doctorate at the University of Berlin, and two years later obtained his habilitation. He later performed historical research in Siena and Rome. As a combatant during the Franco-Prussian War, he was killed in the Battle of Mars-la-Tour on August 16, 1870 at age 28.
Pabst was the author of Geschichte des langobardischen Herzogthums (History of the Lombard Duchies) (1862), and edited the second volume of Siegfried Hirsch"s Jahrbücher des Deutschen Reichs unter Heinrich II (Annals of the German Empire under Henry II).