“pierced the core of their faith and hope”
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Eric Hobsbawm
Eric John Ernest Hobsbawm was a British historian of the rise of industrial capitalism, socialism and nationalism. His best-known works include his tetralogy about what he called the "long 19th century" and the "short 20th century", and an edited volume that introduced the influential idea of "invented traditions". He was a life-long Marxist, and his socio-political convictions influenced the char…
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culture · British academic historian and Marxist historiographer (1917–2012) · writer · economic historian · social historian · university teacher · music journalist · political scientist · historian · also Eric Hobsbawm, Eric John Ernest Hobsbawm, E.J. Hobsbawm, Hobsbawm
Born 9 June 1917 · Died 1 October 2012 · Q34933
47 published statements · 0 followers
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2026· 6 entries
“In a period in which, as you might imagine, mass murder and mass suffering are absolutely universal, the chance of a new world being born in great suffering would still have been worth backing”
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“proved a reliable framework for liberal-democratic regimes”
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“s most prominent historians. As a Marxist historiographer he focused on analysis of the”
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New Statesman: Eric Hobsbawm, the man who knew almost everything
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UnHerd: Eric Hobsbawm's age of contradictions His vision of emancipation was flawed
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2025· 1 entry
insider.si.edu: Eric Hobsbawm : a life in history / Richard J. Evans
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2012· 5 entries
Died 2012-10-01.
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“El fracaso del socialismo soviético no empaña la posibilidad de otros tipos de socialismo.”
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“Pertenezco a la generación para quienes la revolución bolchevique representó una esperanza para el mundo.”
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“Liberalism was failing. If I'd been German and not a Jew, I could see I might have become a Nazi, a German nationalist. I could see how they'd become passionate about saving the nation. It was a time when you didn't believe there was a future unless the world was fundamentally transformed.”
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“[De los acontecimientos de finales de los sesenta, el 68 francés fue] «el más sorprendente, y, para los intelectuales de izquierdas, probablemente el más apasionante.”
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2011· 1 entry
“through almost all of the most extraordinary and terrible century in human history”
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2009· 2 entries
In regard to the emergence of a new historical system
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“There are plenty of people who still think so. I think very few attempts have been made to build a system on the total assumption of social ownership and social management. At its peak the Soviet system tried it. And in the past 20 or 30 years, the capitalist system has also tried it. In both cases, the results demonstrate that it won”
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2008· 3 entries
Awarded honorary doctor of the University of Girona (2008).
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Awarded honorary citizen of Vienna (2008).
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Awarded Bochum Historian Prize (2008).
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2003· 3 entries
Awarded Balzan Prize (2003).
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Received the Balzan Prize for European History since 1900, "for his brilliant analysis of the troubled history of 20th century Europe and for his ability to combine in-depth historical research with great literary tal
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The New York Times described him as "one of the great British historians of his age, an unapologetic Communist and a polymath whose erudite, elegantly written histories are still widely read in schools here and abroad"
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2002· 1 entry
Hobsbawm was described by right-leaning magazine The Spectator as "arguably our greatest living historian—not only Britain's, but the world's", while Niall Ferguson wrote: "That Hobsbawm is one of the great historians of
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2000· 1 entry
Awarded Ernst Bloch Award (2000).
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1999· 2 entries
Won Medlicott Medal (1999).
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Awarded Leipzig Book Award for European Understanding (1999).
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1998· 1 entry
Was appointed to the Order of the Companions of Honour
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1997· 1 entry
Awarded Wolfson History Prize (1997).
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1995· 3 entries
Awarded Lionel Gelber Prize (1995).
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Awarded Deutscher Memorial Prize (1995).
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“Low Marx: A Review of Eric Hobsbawm's Age of Extremes”
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1994· 1 entry
Neal Ascherson said of Hobsbawm: "No historian now writing in English can match his overwhelming command of fact and source
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1991· 2 entries
Contributed to the magazine Marxism Today
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“The dream of the October Revolution is still there somewhere inside me ... I have abandoned, nay, rejected it, but it has not been obliterated. To this day, I notice myself treating the memory and tradition of the USSR with an indulgence and tenderness.”
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1982· 1 entry
Becoming Emeritus Professor of History, and was appointed as president of Birkbeck in 2002
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1976· 1 entry
Became a Fellow of the British Academy
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1971· 1 entry
And a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2006
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1962· 1 entry
His second marriage was to Marlene Schwarz (in 1962), with whom he had two children, Julia Hobsbawm and Andy Hobsbawm.
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1959· 1 entry
Professor between 1970 and 1982 and an emeritus professor of history in 1982
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1956· 1 entry
Led thousands of its members to leave the British Communist Party – but Hobsbawm, unique among his colleagues, remained in the party but was mistrusted by its leadership and ceased political work by the end of the 1950s
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1948· 1 entry
Before the Cold War really started to take off
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1947· 1 entry
Became a lecturer in history at Birkbeck College, University of London which, unusually at the time, lacked any inclination towards anti-communism among staff or students
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1945· 1 entry
Applied to the BBC for a full-time post making educational broadcasts to help servicemen adjust to civilian life after a long period in the forces and was considered "a most suitable candidate"
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1942· 1 entry
And their monitoring of his activities was to affect the progress of his career for many years
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1931· 2 entries
And his sister Nancy were adopted by their maternal aunt, Gretl, and paternal uncle, Sidney, who married and had a son named Peter
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And the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) in 1936
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1929· 1 entry
When Hobsbawm was 12, his father died, and he started contributing to his family's support by working as an au pair and English tutor
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1917· 1 entry
Born 1917-06-09.
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