1 Discuss the origins of the Annales School and its main characteristics.
By the late eighteen hundreds several professional historians began to express their disappointment with the state of the historical profession. The focus of their discontent was the neo-Rankean tradition and they increasingly began to call for progress beyond Ranke’s political history. This called for many outspoken critics of the historical establishment at the time. However, during the early twentieth century, notable historians around the world also began to purport the importance of social and economic history. I will be discussing in this assignment the movement within history beyond Ranke and discuss the origins of the Annales school of thought, giving reference to its main characteristic, its inter-disciplinary approach.
There were a lot of historians who were not convinced that history should be a subject in isolation and that academic alliances from different disciplines should take place. Lamprecht was one of these historians who believed this. But he was not alone. During the early twentieth century, notable historians in the United States and France also began to purport the importance of social and economic history. Within their own countries, historians such as Frederick Jackson Turner (US) and Marc Bloch (France) were met with increasing enthusiasm. Though the new attention granted to ‘total history’, including all aspects of society, as well as drawing on ideas from a variety of disciplines, began to take root in the United States, the development of this path of historical studies became associated with a
Comment [MG1]: Avoid using ‘I’ where possible. This can make an academic piece of work casual as it can prompt subjectivity in an assignment if used incorrectly. Comment [MG2]: There is a grammatical issue here. School should have a capital ‘s’ as it is speaking about a specific school of thought. Comment [MG3]: Introduce an individual by mentioning their first and last name, there after their last name can be used. Comment [MG4]: This is a very short sentence that seems to be “hanging” in the paragraphs. It could be incorporated with the next sentence. Comment [MG5]: When writing abbreviations, write the whole word out initially followed by the abbreviation. Eg: United States of America (USA). Once this has been done, the abbreviation can be used throughout the assignment.
group of French historians.
Comment [MG6]: This should be replaced with the abbreviation mentioned earlier in the paragraph.
Lucien Febvre and Marc Bloch were both well known French historians who created the Annales
Comment [MG7]: Bloch was already introduced to the reader in the previous paragraph, so his surname only has to be used.
d’histoire Economique et Sociale. This journal embodied the new approach of History would work with other disciplines such as Politics and Economics. This became known as the Annales tradition.1 As this tradition was perceived as being radical for its time, any historian who associated themselves with the Annales tradition was seen as opposing more traditional perspectives. This includes Leopold von Ranke’s work. Inter-disciplinary cooperation was one of the features of the Annales school. 2 This incorporated various political, social and economic structures. While Bloch and Febvre were committed to this interdisciplinary approach, the protagonists of the Annales tradition could be divided into three generations. 1
Burke, P. History and Social Theory. (Polity Press: U.K., 1992), 230. 2 Tosh, J. The Pursuit of History: Aims, Methods and New Directions in the Study of Modern History. (The Silver Library, Longman, London, 2000), 182.
Comment [MG8]: Were these the dominant subjects that History worked with? Comment [MG9]: This word has been repeated a lot throughout this paragraph. Use synonyms where possible.
Comment [MG10]: This is not a strong topic sentence, which automatically weakens the paragraph. The topic sentence should be critical and prepare the reader for what will be discussed in the paragraph. Comment [MG11]: It is unclear why this information is relevant in answering the question. If it is relevant, be specific and clear as to how to relates to answering the essay question.
2 The first generation included the founders of the movement: Bloch and Febvre while the second generation included the renowned historian, Fernand Braudel, whose work The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II (1929) is widely regarded as the most important historical work of the twentieth century. However, the most well-known Annales historian of the third generation is Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, who is still a practicing historian.
By being inter disciplinary, the Annales school started changing perceptions as to what constituted history. Not only was cooperation between different disciplines encouraged, but contributions to the
Comment [MG12]: This is historically incorrect information. Double check key dates and individuals for your history assignment. Also work through a couple of drafts for your assignments to avoid small mistakes such as grammatical issues and inaccuracy of information. Comment [MG13]: This section of the paragraph has deviated from the topic sentence. While the first sentence discusses the inter- disciplinary approach, the reader expects more detailed analysis about topic.
political, social and economic structures were vital in the Annales tradition. This was reflected in new subject areas such of research, methods, theories and concepts. History was bound to change and at this moment in time the Annales school’s tradition is evident in the history we study today. History scholars started to understand that disciplines were linked and could work together to improve subjects. Not only would this ensure that disciplines were more objective but it would also create a wider academic community contributing to fields that would not have been possible before. We have Bloch and Febvre to thank for their contribution to history as it has changed the course of history and the perspectives of historians throughout the world. Bibliography Burke, P. History and Social Theory. Polity Press, U.K., 1992. Burke, P. The French Historical Revolution: The Annales School 1929-89. Polity Press, Cambridge, 1990 Iggers, G.G. Historiography in the Twentieth Century: From Scientific Objectivity to the Post-modern Challenge. Wesleyan University Press, London, 1997. Tosh, J. The Pursuit of History: Aims, Methods and New Directions in the Study of Modern History. 3rd edition, The Silver Library, Longman, London, 2000.
Comment [MG14]: This paragraph is incomplete and needs a reference/ evidence to help demonstrate and support what has been said in the topic sentence. Comment [MG15]: Avoid clichés as it makes assignments more informal. Other clichés that are commonly used include ‘at the end of the day’, ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ and so forth. Comment [MG16]: This section is very informal. It could be reworded to become more academic. For examples ‘history that is currently studied’ is more formal than ‘history we study today’. Comment [MG17]: Avoid using 3rd person as it can make an assignment too informal and subjective.