Annales school lucien febvre biography images

Lucien Paul Victor Febvre 22 July — 11 September was a French historian best known for the role he played in establishing the Annales School of history. Lucien Febvre was born and brought up in Nancy, in northeastern France.

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His father was a philologist , who introduced Febvre to the study of ancient texts and languages, which significantly influenced Febvre's way of thinking. Between and , he concentrated on studying history and geography. After the outbreak of World War I in , Febvre was forced to leave his teaching post to join the army, where he served for four years.

Febvre took up a position at the University of Strasbourg in when the province was returned to France. While there, Febvre became acquainted with Marc Bloch , who shared Febvre's philosophical and political approach, which brought the two men together. The time Febvre spent in Paris played an enormous role in reshaping his outlook on the world.

Prevalent approaches to art, philosophy and modern ways of thinking strongly influenced Febvre. He embraced 20th century modernism to the extent that he later claimed to have become "untuned" from the old world and the old ways of thinking. In his approach to history, Febvre contextualized events against the geography, psychology and culture of the times about which he wrote.

Annales school of history pdf

History as a mere collection of historical facts no longer held any interest for Febvre. In this work, Febvre tried to demonstrate the context that shows events in their true light. Febvre reconstructed the life of villagers and town dwellers in a small traditional province in France by contextualizing historical events in terms of the geography and environment of the times.

With this approach, Febvre was also able to reveal a negative influence that the French Government of the time played in the life of this province.