Richard Cobb; Expert on French Revolution

Richard Cobb, 78, British historian and internationally recognized expert on the French Revolution. Cobb was educated at Oxford University, where he later taught. He fell in love with France on his first visit in the 1930s and moved there after serving in the British army during World War II. He remained for nine years, gathering material for his four-volume military history of the French Revolution, which he published between 1952 and 1963. Originally written in French, the book was titled “The People’s Armies” in its English translation. Cobb’s technique, assembling a mass of small details, episodes and anecdotes, was considered intensely scholarly as well as a delight for the reader. He taught at a number of universities in Britain before going to Oxford as professor of modern history in 1973. He was made a commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1978 and a knight of France’s Legion of Honor in 1985. On Jan. 15 in Abingdon, England.