Page "What Is History?" Paragraph 9

In the same way, Carr argued that no individual is truly free of the social environment in which they live, but contended that within those limitations, there was room, albeit very narrow room for people to make decisions that have an impact on history.

Carr made a division between those who, like Vladimir Lenin and Oliver Cromwell, helped to shape the social forces which carried them to historical greatness and those who, like Otto von Bismarck and Napoleon, rode on the back of social forces over which they had little or no control.

Though Carr was willing to grant individuals a role in history, he argued that those who focus exclusively on individuals in a Great man theory of history were doing a profound disservice to the past.

As an example, Carr complained of those historians who explained the Russian Revolution solely as the result of the " stupidity " of Emperor Nicholas II ( which Carr regarded as a factor, but only of lesser importance ) rather than the work of great social forces.