Abstract
Describes the philosophical origins of the 'Annales' review and methods based on correspondence between the journal's founders Marc Bloch (1886-1944) and Lucien Febvre (1878-1956) in the years 1928-33. Febvre's and Bloch's letters reveal the contemporary motivations for their new historiographic initiatives, which were based on their concern for combating the spread of fascism and economic decline by initiating a new global humanism. Thus they collaborated with international scholars to create a new interdisciplinary focus for what would become universal histories based on social and economic foundations. Through their intellectual endeavors Bloch and Febvre hoped to foster a sense of global fraternity that would discourage the fractiousness developing out of the racism and nationalism of the interwar years.