Alan Louis Charles Bullock, Baron Bullock, (13 December 1914 – 2 February 2004) was a British historian. He is best known for his book '' Hitler: A Study in Tyranny'' (1952), the first comprehensive biography of

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

, which influenced many other Hitler biographies.

Early life and career

Bullock was born in

Trowbridge Trowbridge ( ) is the county town of Wiltshire, England, on the River Biss in the west of the county. It is near the border with Somerset and lies southeast of Bath, 31 miles (49 km) southwest of Swindon and 20 miles (32 km) southeas ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

, England where his father worked as a

gardener A gardener is someone who practices gardening, either professionally or as a hobby. Description A gardener is any person involved in gardening, arguably the oldest occupation, from the hobbyist in a residential garden, the home-owner supplem ...

and a Unitarian preacher. He was educated at

Bradford Grammar School Bradford Grammar School (BGS) is a co-educational independent day school located in Frizinghall, Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. Entrance is by examination, except for the sixth form, where admission is based on GCSE results. The school ...

and

Wadham College, Oxford Wadham College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street and Parks Road. Wadham College was founded in 1610 by Dorothy W ...

, where he read classics and modern history. After graduating in 1938, he worked as a research assistant for

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

, who was writing his ''

History of the English-Speaking Peoples ''A History of the English-Speaking Peoples'' is a four-volume history of Britain and its former colonies and possessions throughout the world, written by Winston Churchill, covering the period from Caesar's invasions of Britain (55 BC) to the en ...

.'' He was a Harmsworth Senior Scholar at Merton College, Oxford, from 1938 to 1940. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Bullock worked for the European Service of the

British Broadcasting Corporation #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

(BBC). After the war, he returned to Oxford as a history fellow at New College. Bullock was the censor of St Catherine's Society (1952-1962) and then founding

master Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans *Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...

St Catherine's College, Oxford St Catherine's College (colloquially called St Catz or Catz) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford and is the newest college admitting both undergraduate and graduate students. Tracing its roots back to 1868 (although t ...

(1962-1981), a college for undergraduates and graduates, divided between students of the sciences and the arts. He was credited with massive fundraising efforts to develop the college. Later, he was the first full-time

Vice-Chancellor A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system. In most Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations, the chancellor ...

of Oxford University (1969-1973). Bullock served as chairman of the National Advisory Committee on the Training and Supply of Teachers (1963-1965), the School's Council (1966-1969), the Committee of Inquiry into Reading and the Use of English (1972-1974), and the Committee of Inquiry on Industrial Democracy (1976-1977). Bullock first became known to the general public when he appeared on the informational BBC radio program ''

The Brains Trust ''The Brains Trust'' was an informational BBC radio and later television programme popular in the United Kingdom during the 1940s and 1950s, on which a panel of experts tried to answer questions sent in by the audience. History The series was ...

''.

''Hitler: A Study in Tyranny''

In 1952, Bullock published ''Hitler: A Study in Tyranny'', the first comprehensive biography of

, which he based on the transcripts of the

Nuremberg Trials The Nuremberg trials were held by the Allies against representatives of the defeated Nazi Germany, for plotting and carrying out invasions of other countries, and other crimes, in World War II. Between 1939 and 1945, Nazi Germany invaded m ...

. This book dominated Hitler scholarship for many years. The book characterised Hitler as an opportunistic ''Machtpolitiker'' ("power politician"). In Bullock's opinion, Hitler was a " mountebank", an opportunistic adventurer devoid of principles, beliefs or scruples whose actions throughout his career were motivated only by a lust for power. Bullock's views led in the 1950s to a debate with

Hugh Trevor-Roper Hugh Redwald Trevor-Roper, Baron Dacre of Glanton (15 January 1914 – 26 January 2003) was an English historian. He was Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford. Trevor-Roper was a polemicist and essayist on a range of ...

, who argued that Hitler had possessed beliefs, albeit repulsive ones, and that his actions had been motivated by them. Bullock's '' Guardian'' obituary commented that "Bullock's famous maxim 'Hitler was jobbed into power by backstairs intrigue' has stood the test of time".Frankland, Mark. ''Lord Bullock of Leafield'', ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''. 3 February 2004. When reviewing ''Hitler and Stalin'' in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'' in 1991, John Campbell wrote of ''Hitler: A Study in Tyranny'': "Although written so soon after the end of the war and despite a steady flow of fresh evidence and reinterpretation, it has not been surpassed in nearly 40 years: an astonishing achievement." In subsequent works, Bullock to some extent changed his mind about Hitler. His later writings show the dictator as much more of an ideologue, who pursued the ideas expressed in '' Mein Kampf'' (and elsewhere) despite their consequences. That has become a widely-accepted view of Hitler, particularly in relation to the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

. Taking note of the shift in interest among professional historians towards social history in the 1960s, Bullock agreed that in general, deep long-term social forces are decisive in

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

, but there are times in which the Great Man is in his views decisive. In revolutionary circumstances, "It is possible for an individual to exert a powerful even a decisive influence on the way events develop and the policies that are followed".

Other works

Bullock's other works included ''The Humanist Tradition in the West'' (1985), ''Has History a Future?'' (1977), ''Great Lives of the Twentieth Century'' (1989), ''Meeting Teachers' Management Needs'' (1988), ''The forming of the nation'' (1969), ''Is History Becoming a Social Science? The Case of Contemporary History'' (1977) and ''The Life and Times of Ernest Bevin'' (1960), a three-volume biography of British Labour Foreign Secretary

Ernest Bevin Ernest Bevin (9 March 1881 – 14 April 1951) was a British statesman, trade union leader, and Labour Party politician. He co-founded and served as General Secretary of the powerful Transport and General Workers' Union in the years 1922–194 ...

. He was also editor of ''The Harper Dictionary of Modern Thought'' (1977), a project he suggested to the publisher when he found he could not define the word "

hermeneutics Hermeneutics () is the theory and methodology of interpretation, especially the interpretation of biblical texts, wisdom literature, and philosophical texts. Hermeneutics is more than interpretative principles or methods used when immediate ...

". He had earlier co-edited with

Maurice Shock Sir Maurice Shock (15 April 1926 – 7 July 2018) was a British university administrator and educationalist. Shock was educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham and later read philosophy, politics and economics (PPE) at Balliol College, Oxf ...

a collection on ''The Liberal Tradition: From Fox to Keynes''. In the mid-1970s, Bullock used his committee skills to produce a report which proved to be influential in the classroom: '' A Language for Life'', about reading and the teaching of English, was published in 1975. Bullock also chaired the committee of inquiry on

industrial democracy Industrial democracy is an arrangement which involves workers making decisions, sharing responsibility and authority in the workplace. While in participative management organizational designs workers are listened to and take part in the decisi ...

commissioned in December 1975 by the second Labour Government of Harold Wilson. The committee's report, which was also known as the Bullock Report, published in 1977, recommended worker's control in large companies with employees having a right to hold representative worker directorships. Bullock also appeared as a political pundit, particularly during the BBC's coverage of the 1959 British general election.

Later works

Late in his life, Bullock published '' Hitler and Stalin: Parallel Lives'' (1991). A massive and influential work which he described in the introduction as "essentially a political biography, set against the background of the times in which they lived". He showed how the careers of Hitler and

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

fed off each other to some extent. Bullock comes to a thesis that Stalin's ability to consolidate power in his home country and, unlike Hitler, not to over-extend himself enabled him to retain power longer than Hitler. It was awarded the 1992

Wolfson History Prize The Wolfson History Prizes are literary awards given annually in the United Kingdom to promote and encourage standards of excellence in the writing of history for the general public. Prizes are given annually for two or three exceptional works ...

. American historian Ronald Spector, writing in ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', praised Bullock's ability to write about the development of

Nazism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) i ...

and

Soviet Communism The ideology of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) was Bolshevist Marxism–Leninism, an ideology of a centralised command economy with a vanguardist one-party state to realise the dictatorship of the proletariat. The Soviet Un ...

without either abstract generalization or irrelevant detail. "The writing is invariably interesting and informed and there are new insights and cogent analysis in every chapter," he wrote. Amikam Nachmani says Hitler and Stalin "come out as two blood-thirsty, pathologically evil, sanguine tyrants, who are sure of the presence of determinism, hence having unshakeable beliefs that Destiny assigned on them historical missions—the one to pursue a social industrialized revolution in the Soviet Union, the other to turn Germany into a global empire."

Honours

Bullock was decorated with the award of the Chevalier, Legion of Honour in 1970, and knighted in 1972, becoming Sir Alan Bullock and on 30 January 1976 he was created a life peer as Baron Bullock, ''of

Leafield Leafield is a village and civil parish about northwest of Witney in West Oxfordshire. The parish includes the hamlet of Langley, west of Leafield village. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 945. The village is above sea lev ...

in the County of Oxfordshire''. His writings always appeared under the name "Alan Bullock". In May 1976, Bullock was awarded an honorary degree from the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...

as Doctor of the University.

Death

Bullock died on 2 February 2004, in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, England.

Early life and career

''Hitler: A Study in Tyranny''

Other works

Later works

Honours

Death

See also

References

Further reading

Primary sources