On the Spot: Rodric Braithwaite
‘Great leaders are much less in control of events than people imagine.’
Why are you a historian of Russia?
My family had Russian associations: writing its history helps me understand the place.
What’s the most important lesson history has taught you?
Great leaders are much less in control of events than people imagine.
Which history book has had the greatest influence on you?
Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
What book in your field should everyone read?
E.H. Carr’s What is History?
Which moment would you most like to go back to?
Elizabeth I’s great speech at Tilbury. I’d like to know what she actually said.
Which historian has had the greatest influence on you?
Gibbon is the one I most admire.
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