Richard Evans

Sir Richard John Evans (born 29 September 1947 in Woodford, Essex, England) is a pre‑eminent British historian whose scholarship has reshaped the study of modern Germany and the broader historiography of Europe. Raised by Welsh parents Ieuan Trefor Evans and Evelyn (Jones) Evans, he attended Forest School before earning an MA at Jesus College, Oxford and a DPhil at St Antony's College, Oxford, where his dissertation on the German feminist movement laid the groundwork for his first monographs, The Feminist Movement in Germany, 1894–1933 (1976) and The Feminists (1977). Influenced early on by Fritz Fischer and the Annales school, Evans challenged the Bielefeld School’s Sonderweg thesis, arguing that the social and cultural currents of the 19th‑century German middle class seeded the rise of National Socialism while emphasizing the importance of ‘history from below’. His groundbreaking edited volume Society and Politics in Wilhelmine Germany (1978) and subsequent works such as Death in Hamburg (1987) and Rituals of Retribution (1996) demonstrated his skill in combining quantitative analysis, social history, and anthropological insight. Between 2003 and 2008 Evans produced The Third Reich Trilogy—The Coming of the Third Reich, The Third Reich in Power, and The Third Reich at War—which have been praised as definitive syntheses of Nazi Germany, earning accolades from scholars such as Peter Mansoor and Antony Beevor. His role as an expert witness in the landmark Irving v Penguin Books and Lipstadt trial (2000) cemented his reputation as a public intellectual defending rigorous historical methodology against denialism. Appointed Regius Professor of History at Cambridge (2008‑2014), President of Wolfson College (2010‑2017), and Provost of Gresham College (2014‑present), Evans has also edited the Journal of Contemporary History and served on numerous advisory panels. Knighted in 2012 for services to scholarship, he continues to publish influential works, including The Pursuit of Power (2016) and The Hitler Conspiracies (2020), and remains a leading voice on European history, historiographical theory, and the ethical responsibilities of historians.