Geoffrey Roberts

Geoffrey Roberts (born 1952) is a British historian of the Second World War. He specializes in Soviet diplomatic and military history of the Second World War. He is a professor of modern history at University College Cork in Ireland and was formerly head of the School of History at UCC.

Early career

Geoffrey Roberts was born in Deptford, south London in 1952. His father worked as a labourer at the local power station, while his mother worked as a cleaner and tea lady. A pupil of Addey and Stanhope Grammar School, he left aged 16 and started his working life as a clerk with the Greater London Council. In the 1970s he was an International Relations undergraduate at North Staffordshire Polytechnic and postgraduate research student at the London School of Economics. In the 1980s he worked in the Education Department of NALGO, the public sector trade union.

Published work

He returned to academic life in the 1990s following the publication of his acclaimed first book The Unholy Alliance: Stalin’s Pact with Hitler, 1989.
Many books and articles followed: