Andrew Lossky (born Andrey Nikolayevich Lossky, ; 1917 – 1998) was a

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n-born

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

historian. He was born in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

, Russia. His father was a professor of philosophy at

Saint Petersburg State University Saint Petersburg State University (SPBGU; ) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the Great, the university from the be ...

. In 1922 he and his family sought refuge in

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

after being expelled by the

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

. He was educated in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

and was taught English and French at home. From 1935 until 1938 he lived in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

for his university education. With the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia in 1938, his parents decided to send Andrew abroad. He passed the doctoral exams for

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

in 1941 and joined the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

, where he served as an intelligence specialist in North Africa and Italy. He gained United States' citizenship in 1944.Geoffrey Symcox, �
Andrew Lossky
��, ''University of California: In Memoriam'' (2000), pp. 155–157. Retrieved 19 September 2020. He returned to Yale in 1946 and completed his doctoral dissertation (‘The Baltic Question, 1679–1689’). He joined

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

's history department in 1950, where he lectured on

early modern Europe Early modern Europe, also referred to as the post-medieval period, is the period of European history between the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, roughly the mid 15th century to the late 18th century. Histori ...

an history. He focused on the régime of

Louis XIV of France LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

and argued that the absolute monarchies of the ''

ancien régime ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for " ancient, old" ** Société des anciens textes français * the French for "former, senior" ** Virelai ancien ** Ancien Régime ** Ancien Régime in France {{disambig ...

'' were different from the

totalitarianism Totalitarianism is a political system and a form of government that prohibits opposition from political parties, disregards and outlaws the political claims of individual and group opposition to the state, and completely controls the public s ...

of the 20th century. Lossky stressed the cosmopolitanism of early modern European culture. He was also a founding member of the Western Society for French History. He retired in 1986. In 1990 a ''

festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

'' dedicated to Lossky was published, titled ''The Reign of Louis XIV''.Paul Sonnino (ed.), ''The Reign of Louis XIV: Essays in Celebration of Andrew Lossky'' (Humanities Press International, 1990). William Beik said " is is no ordinary festschrift. Its well-coordinated, thematic essays constitute the first new synthesis on Louis XIV to appear for some time in English".William Beik, ‘Review: Celebrating Andrew Lossky: The Reign of Louis XIV Revisited’, ''French Historical Studies'', Vol. 17, No. 2 (Autumn, 1991), p. 526. Beik also said that the "genial figure of Andrew Lossky, radiating charm and perhaps a trace of mystery, has been a familiar sight for anyone who frequents French history conferences. His soft-spoken comments, delivered with a touch of central European elegance, have enriched many a session. His writings on the age of Louis XIV have made an important contribution, but his influence as mentor and teacher has extended farther, reaching for some the point of legend". In 2000, Geoffrey Symcox, one of Lossky's doctoral students, said Lossky "was a true cosmopolitan, a reincarnated citizen of the Republic of Letters, in the Europe of the Old Regime that he studied and loved. ... He was a profound scholar, an inspiring teacher, and a humane, wise friend".

Works

*''Louis XIV, William III, and the Baltic Crisis of 1683'' (University of California Press, 1954). *‘Introduction’, in Lynn White Jr. (ed.), ''The Transformation of the Roman World: Gibbon's Problem after Two Centuries'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1966, 1973), pp. 1–29. *‘The Absolutism of Louis XIV: Reality or Myth?’, ''Canadian Journal of History'', Volume 19 Issue 1 (Spring 1984), pp. 1–16. *''Louis XIV and the French Monarchy'' (Rutgers University Press, 1994).

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lossky, Andrew 1917 births 1998 deaths Yale University alumni United States Army personnel of World War II University of California, Los Angeles faculty Writers from Prague 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers Historians from California 20th-century American male writers Soviet emigrants to Czechoslovakia Czechoslovak expatriates in the United Kingdom Czechoslovak emigrants to the United States