Marc Bloch, the Teachings of History, and the Possibilities of Historical Forecasts

Abstract

The article focuses on the last years of the eminent French historian and co-founder of the Annales-school, Marc Bloch who was killed in 1944 by the Nazis. The main point of discussion lies upon Bloch’s last two books which were published only after his death: L’étrange défaite and the unfinished Apologie pour l’histoire ou Métier d’historien, a text which provides us with the summa of Bloch’s concept of history. The article shows how the genuine scientific concept of history, Bloch had developed, led him to political activity and joining the résistance-movement. The article also aims to discuss the possible content and to reconstruct some of the unwritten chapters of the Apologie.