The French historical revolution (500:1.c.201.120) is a book by the Cambridge Professor and historian, Peter Burke, about the École des Annales, also known as Annales, a historiographic school which marked a turning point in the study of history. They focussed on social history rather than the previous predominance of political history and the power elites. Despite the fact that it had had some precedents (for instance Henri Berr), this school represented a radical change, undertaken in the first half of the 20^th century by a small group of French historians –particularly Marc Bloch and Lucien Febvre– that set the basis of the methodological and theoretical approach of historical writing that was hegemonic from the 1930’s to the 1960’s; although its influence went much further and is embedded in the contemporary practice of history.

The school started with the foundation of the academic journal Annales d’histoire économique et sociale in 1929. It is worth clarifying that the school was not fully homogeneous in its ideas from the start, and we can see differences among its members, called Annalistes. In addition, several generations of scholars followed this historiographical movement, adding ideas and changing their approach to the historians’ job. After the war, the movement was associated with the Sixth Section for economic and social sciences of the École pratique des hautes études in Paris (EPHE –precedent of the École des hautes etudes en sciences sociales– EHESS). A key concept of the school was the longue durée history, that is to say, they were keen on studying long-term historical structures. The school has also contributed to the history of mentalities, especially in the generations that followed. In general they were opposed to the class analysis of Marxist historiography. Interestingly, although Annales was not meant to cover a particular time in history, most of their members were experts in either Middle Ages, or early modern period. Continue reading “‘La nouvelle histoire’ or the French historical revolution” →