E. H. Carr

Edward Hallett Carr (1892–1982) was a British historian, diplomat, and international-relations scholar. His works include a multivolume history of Soviet Russia and the influential essay collection What Is History?.

What Is History?: E. H. Carr’s 1961 book examines historical knowledge, evidence, and the relationship between historians and the past. This work states Carr’s view that historical facts gain significance through historians’ selection and interpretation.
A History of Soviet Russia: E. H. Carr’s fourteen-volume history traces the Soviet Union from the 1917 revolutions through 1929. This large-scale project shows Carr’s method applied to the formation of the Soviet state.
Foreign Office: The Foreign Office is the British government department responsible for diplomacy and foreign policy. Carr worked there before turning from diplomatic service to a career in scholarship.
Idealism (international relations): Idealism in international relations emphasizes law, institutions, and cooperation as means of reducing conflict among states. Carr argued that interwar idealists underestimated power and the conflicts of interest among states.
Historicism: Historicism explains ideas and institutions through the historical conditions in which they developed. Carr treated historical understanding as inseparable from the conditions shaping people and events.
The Twenty Years' Crisis: E. H. Carr’s 1939 book analyzes international politics between the First and Second World Wars. Carr uses the crisis of the interwar order to challenge idealist approaches to international relations.
Russian Revolution of 1917: The Russian Revolution of 1917 consists chiefly of the February overthrow of the tsar and the October Bolshevik seizure of power. These events became the starting point for Carr’s long history of Soviet Russia.
E. H. Carr–Isaiah Berlin debate: The Carr–Berlin debate concerned the interpretation of Russian history and the moral judgment of political actors. Their disagreement exposed competing standards for explaining and evaluating the Russian Revolution.
Historical materialism: Historical materialism explains social change through material conditions, economic relations, and class conflict. Marxist analysis informed Carr’s accounts of revolutionary change and Soviet development.
Russian Revolution: The Russian Revolution comprises the upheavals of 1917 that ended imperial rule and brought the Bolsheviks to power. Carr’s central historical work examines the revolution’s origins, course, and consequences.

Linked from 7 pages