George Peabody Gooch

Gooch, George Peabody

 

Born Oct. 21, 1873, London; died Aug. 31, 1968, near Beaconsfield. British historian.

Gooch was educated at London University and at Cambridge and then studied in Berlin and Paris. He was a member of Parliament from 1906 to 1910 and in 1913. In 1911 he became an editor of the monthly Contemporary Review. During World War I he was employed in the history department of the Foreign Office; he prepared materials for the British delegation to the Paris Peace Conference of 1919–20. From 1922 to 1925 he was president of the English Historical Association.

Gooch’s philosophical views were pragmatic-idealistic; the main sphere of his scholarly interest lay in the history of international relations and also the histories of Germany and France. He was one of the editors of The Cambridge History of British Foreign Policy (1922–23) and the series British Documents on the Origins of the War (1926–38). In his works on the events leading up to World War I he attempted to relieve both Great Britain and Germany of responsibility for the war. He also wrote a number of works on the history of political ideas.

WORKS

Before the War: Studies in Diplomacy, vols. 1–2. London-New York-Toronto [1936–38].
English Democratic Ideas in the 17th Century. London, 1927.
Germany and the French Revolution. London, 1920.
History of Modern Europe 1878–1919. London, 1923.
History of Our Time, 1885–1914, 2nd ed. London, 1947.
Political Thought in England From Bacon to Halifax. London-New York, 1950.
Some Conceptions of Liberty. Ledbury, 1948.
Studies in Modern History. London, 1931.

V. G. TRUKHANOVSKII