Robert Alexander Clarke Parker (15 June 1927 – 23 April 2001) was a British historian who specialised in Britain's

appeasement Appeasement, in an International relations, international context, is a diplomacy, diplomatic negotiation policy of making political, material, or territorial concessions to an aggressive power (international relations), power with intention t ...

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

and the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Fellow historian Kenneth O. Morgan called him "perhaps the leading authority on the international crises of the 1930s, appeasement and the coming of war".Kenneth O. Morgan,
Alastair Parker
, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' (25 April 2001), retrieved 12 January 2020.

Early life

Parker was born in

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

to a family with

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

roots, which Parker was proud of; he changed his first name to Alastair. He served in the Royal Navy during the Second World War and after the war's end won a scholarship to

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church (, the temple or house, ''wikt:aedes, ædes'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by Henry V ...

. He studied modern history, for which he gained a First. For his doctoral thesis, Parker studied Coke of Norfolk and the

British Agricultural Revolution The British Agricultural Revolution, or Second Agricultural Revolution, was an unprecedented increase in agricultural production in Britain arising from increases in labor and land productivity between the mid-17th and late 19th centuries. Agricu ...

. The thesis was eventually published in 1975.

Academic career

In 1952

Lewis Namier Sir Lewis Bernstein Namier (; 27 June 1888 – 19 August 1960) was a British historian of Polish-Jewish background. His best-known works were '' The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III'' (1929), ''England in the Age of the Ame ...

appointed Parker to a lectureship in history at

Manchester University The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

, a post he held until 1957. From 1957 until his retirement in 1997, he was a Fellow and tutor at

The Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault, queen of England. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassi ...

. His main area of historical study was

Neville Chamberlain Arthur Neville Chamberlain (; 18 March 18699 November 1940) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from ...

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

and the

of Germany. He taught a special subject on the origins of the Second World War at The Queen's College. In his 1997 work ''Chamberlain and Appeasement'', Parker argued that Chamberlain did not pursue appeasement in order to buy time, as some of his defenders claimed. He added that Churchill's alternative strategy of an Anglo-French alliance was a realistic and more honourable course. In his last book, ''Churchill and Appeasement'' (2000), Parker noted what he considered to be Churchill's misjudgments over India and the Spanish Civil War but said Churchill was completely right on the threat from

and argued that Churchill's proposal of an Anglo-Soviet alliance might well have deterred

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

if it had been adopted. He also edited a collection of essays on Churchill which were published in 1995. Parker held Old Labour political views and canvassed for the Labour Party at elections.

Works

*''Europe: 1918-1945'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1969; first published in 1967 in German as part of the series ''Fischer Weltgeschichte'') * (re-titled ''The Second World War'' in 1997 for paperback) *''Chamberlain and Appeasement'' (Palgrave Macmillan, 1993) *''Churchill and Appeasement: Could Churchill have prevented the Second World War?'' (Macmillan, 2000)

Notes

1927 births 2001 deaths Fellows of the Queen's College, Oxford Academics of the University of Manchester People from Barnsley 20th-century British historians Royal Navy sailors Royal Navy personnel of World War II Military personnel from South Yorkshire {{UK-historian-stub