E.H. Carr Memorial Lecture 2016 - Professor Margaret MacMillan

On Thursday, 27 October 2016, the Department of International Politics at Aberystwyth University was very pleased to welcome celebrated historian Margaret MacMillan for the 33^rd E.H. Carr Memorial Lecture.  Professor MacMillan delivered an outstanding lecture entitled ‘Sometimes It Matters Who Is In Power’, in which she discussed the effects that individuals can have on the course of history.  This event drew a large audience, keen to hear a leading authority in both history and international relations explore the relationship between specific historical figures and major events.

 Professor MacMillan opened her lecture by challenging the view among some scholars, (including E.H. Carr himself), that focusing on the role of the individual can lead to reductionist history.  While acknowledging that historical narratives must attend to larger forces, such as economic factors, disease, changes in production and advances in technology, she contended that the choices made by individual leaders do influence how history unfolds.  As evidence, Professor MacMillan posed a series of counterfactuals, to prompt the audience to consider how history might have taken a different course.  If Stalin had died during an operation on his appendix in 1921, would the forced collectivization and crash industrialization of the Soviet Union have occurred?  Had Hitler died in the trenches in the First World War, would another leader have so relentlessly pursued war?  If Bismarck had continued managing his family estates rather than entering politics, or if he had never developed a close relationship with the Prussian king, Wilhelm I, would the unification of Germany have taken place at the same time and in the same way?  Professor MacMillan then delved into the details of each case to understand how the hopes and fears, personality and talent of each man shaped the choices that they made, and how, in turn, those decisions altered the course of history. 

 A vidcast of the 2016 E.H. Carr Memorial Lecture can be found HERE.  This lecture was supported in part by the Gwendoline and Margaret Davies Charity.  We would like to express our thanks for their ongoing support.