Annales school

Group of historians formed in France in 1929, centred on the journal Annales d'histoire économique et sociale that pioneered new methods of historical enquiry. Its leading members included Fernand Braudel, who coined the term ‘total history’, and Marc Bloch. Their view was that to arrive at worthwhile conclusions on broad historical debates, all aspects of a society had to be considered. Thus they widened the scope of research away from political history to include social and economic factors as well.

The main criticism of this historical tradition comes from Marxists who complain that it has no overall theory of societal development.