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Alan Bullock
Alan Louis Charles Bullock, Baron Bullock (13 December 1914 – 2 February 2004) was a British historian. He is best known for his book Hitler: A Study in Tyranny (1952), the first comprehensive biography of Adolf Hitler, which influenced many other Hitler biographies.
Bullock was born in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England, the only child of Edith (née Brand) and Reverend Frank Allen Bullock, the latter a gardener turned Unitarian preacher. Alan was educated at Bradford Grammar School and Wadham College, Oxford, where he studied classics and modern history. After graduating in 1938, he worked as a research assistant for Winston Churchill, who was then writing his History of the English-Speaking Peoples. Bullock was a Harmsworth Senior Scholar at Merton College, Oxford, from 1938 to 1940. During World War II, he worked for the European Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). After the war, he returned to Oxford as a history fellow at New College.
Bullock was the censor of St Catherine's Society (1952–1962) and then founding master of St Catherine's College, Oxford (1962–1981), a college for undergraduates and graduates, divided between students of the sciences and the arts. He was credited with massive fundraising efforts to develop the college. Later, he was the first full-time Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University (1969–1973).
Bullock served as chairman of the National Advisory Committee on the Training and Supply of Teachers (1963–1965), the Schools' Council (1966–1969), the Committee of Inquiry into Reading and the Use of English (1972–1974), and the Committee of Inquiry on Industrial Democracy (1976–1977).
Bullock became widely known to the general public when he appeared on the informational BBC radio program The Brains Trust.
In 1952, Bullock published Hitler: A Study in Tyranny, the first comprehensive biography of Adolf Hitler, which used the recently available transcripts of the Nuremberg Trials, traditional resources, like letters, diaries, speeches and memoirs. The biography dominated Hitler scholarship for many years and portrayed the German dictator as an opportunistic Machtpolitiker (power politician). In Bullock's opinion, Hitler was a mountebank and adventurer, devoid of scruples or beliefs, whose actions throughout his career were motivated only by a lust for power. Early in the book, Bullock writes the following about Hitler's formative pre-First World War years in Vienna when he was alone and struggling:
Such were the principles which Hitler drew from his years in Vienna. Hitler never trusted anyone; he never committed himself to anyone, never admitted any loyalty. His lack of scruple later took by surprise even those who prided themselves on their unscrupulousness. He learned to lie with conviction and dissemble with candour.
Bullock's interpretation of Hitler led to a debate in the 1950s with Hugh Trevor-Roper, who argued that Hitler did possess beliefs, albeit repulsive ones and that his actions were motivated by them. Bullock was somewhat swayed by this debate and partially modified his assessment of Hitler. In his later writings, such as Hitler and Stalin: Parallel Lives (1991), Bullock depicted the dictator as more of an ideologue who had pursued the ideas expressed in Mein Kampf and elsewhere despite their consequences.
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Alan Bullock
Alan Louis Charles Bullock, Baron Bullock (13 December 1914 – 2 February 2004) was a British historian. He is best known for his book Hitler: A Study in Tyranny (1952), the first comprehensive biography of Adolf Hitler, which influenced many other Hitler biographies.
Bullock was born in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England, the only child of Edith (née Brand) and Reverend Frank Allen Bullock, the latter a gardener turned Unitarian preacher. Alan was educated at Bradford Grammar School and Wadham College, Oxford, where he studied classics and modern history. After graduating in 1938, he worked as a research assistant for Winston Churchill, who was then writing his History of the English-Speaking Peoples. Bullock was a Harmsworth Senior Scholar at Merton College, Oxford, from 1938 to 1940. During World War II, he worked for the European Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). After the war, he returned to Oxford as a history fellow at New College.
Bullock was the censor of St Catherine's Society (1952–1962) and then founding master of St Catherine's College, Oxford (1962–1981), a college for undergraduates and graduates, divided between students of the sciences and the arts. He was credited with massive fundraising efforts to develop the college. Later, he was the first full-time Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University (1969–1973).
Bullock served as chairman of the National Advisory Committee on the Training and Supply of Teachers (1963–1965), the Schools' Council (1966–1969), the Committee of Inquiry into Reading and the Use of English (1972–1974), and the Committee of Inquiry on Industrial Democracy (1976–1977).
Bullock became widely known to the general public when he appeared on the informational BBC radio program The Brains Trust.
In 1952, Bullock published Hitler: A Study in Tyranny, the first comprehensive biography of Adolf Hitler, which used the recently available transcripts of the Nuremberg Trials, traditional resources, like letters, diaries, speeches and memoirs. The biography dominated Hitler scholarship for many years and portrayed the German dictator as an opportunistic Machtpolitiker (power politician). In Bullock's opinion, Hitler was a mountebank and adventurer, devoid of scruples or beliefs, whose actions throughout his career were motivated only by a lust for power. Early in the book, Bullock writes the following about Hitler's formative pre-First World War years in Vienna when he was alone and struggling:
Such were the principles which Hitler drew from his years in Vienna. Hitler never trusted anyone; he never committed himself to anyone, never admitted any loyalty. His lack of scruple later took by surprise even those who prided themselves on their unscrupulousness. He learned to lie with conviction and dissemble with candour.
Bullock's interpretation of Hitler led to a debate in the 1950s with Hugh Trevor-Roper, who argued that Hitler did possess beliefs, albeit repulsive ones and that his actions were motivated by them. Bullock was somewhat swayed by this debate and partially modified his assessment of Hitler. In his later writings, such as Hitler and Stalin: Parallel Lives (1991), Bullock depicted the dictator as more of an ideologue who had pursued the ideas expressed in Mein Kampf and elsewhere despite their consequences.