Hugh Seton-Watson | |
|---|---|
| Born | George Hugh Nicolas Seton-Watson ()15 February London |
| Died | 19 December () (aged&#;68) Washington, D.C. |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma&#;mater | New College, Oxford |
| Occupation | Historian |
| Years&#;active | – |
| Employer | University of London |
| Known&#;for | Russia and Eastern Europe Nationalism |
| Notable work | The Decline of Imperial Russia, – The Russian Empire, – Nations and States: an Enquiry into the Origins of Nations and the Politics of Nationalism |
| Spouse | Mary Seton-Watson (née Rokeling) |
| Children | Ursula Sims-Williams Catriona Seton-Watson Lucy Seton-Watson |
| Parent | Robert William Seton-Watson |
[1][2] | |
George Hugh Nicolas Seton-Watson, CBE, FBA (15 February – 19 December ) was a British historian and political scientist specialising in Russia.
Seton-Watson was one of the two sons of Robert William Seton-Watson, the activist and historian. He was educated at Winchester College and New College, Oxford, graduating in with First Class Honours in 'Modern Greats' (Philosophy, Politics and Economics).[3]
After working for the British Foreign Office in Belgrade and Bucharest at the start of the Second World War, Seton-Watson joined the British Special Operations Executive. Interned by the Italians after the fall of Yugoslavia to the Axis in , Seton-Watson was repatriated to Britain and later posted to the British special forces in Cairo, where he remained until In January , he moved to Istanbul, where he performed intelligence activities among the refugees coming from the Balkans.[4]
Seton-Watson wrote most of his first major work, Eastern Europe between the Wars, – in Cape Town while on his way from Italy to Britain after the fall of Yugoslavia, finishing it in Cairo during the battle of El Alamein in
In he was appointed praelector in politics at University College, Oxford. In he was appointed to the chair of Russian history at the University of London, where he remained until ,[5] exercising a major influence over British and American understandings of Russia during the Cold War. He subsequently became the Professor Emeritus of Russian history.[2]
Beginning in at Columbia University, he regularly visited institutions in the United States to lecture and conduct research.[6] During a three-month fellowship, beginning in October , at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars he became ill with pulmonary problems and was admitted to Georgetown University Hospital where he died three weeks later.[2]
After publishing The Decline of Imperial Russia, – in , Seton-Watson published his most famous work, The Russian Empire, – in [5] This became the standard history of late imperial Russia for a generation.[3]
Seton-Watson's Nations and States: an Enquiry into the Origins of Nations and the Politics of Nationalism () made a fundamental contribution to the study of nationalism,[7] though later overshadowed by the success of Benedict Anderson's more theoretical Imagined Communities[citation needed].
The New York Times Book Review called him "the outstanding authority on the satellite countries of Eastern Europe".[2]
Seton-Watson became a Fellow of the British Academy in , received a DLitt from Oxford in and an honorary doctorate from the University of Essex in In the New Year Honours he was appointed CBE.[3]