R. W. Davies

R. W. Davies
Born
Robert William Davies

(1925-04-23)23 April 1925
London, England
Died13 April 2021 (aged 95)
Alma materUniversity of London
University of Birmingham
Scientific career
InstitutionsUniversity of Birmingham
Thesis The development of the Soviet budgetary system, 1917–1941  (1954)
Doctoral advisorAlexander Baykov
Doctoral studentsJulian Cooper
Catherine Merridale
Richard Sakwa

Robert William Davies (23 April 1925 – 13 April 2021), better known as R. W. Davies or Bob Davies, was a British historian, writer and professor of Soviet economic studies at the University of Birmingham.

Obtaining his PhD in 1954, Davies was promoted to full professor and made chair of the Centre for Russian and East European Studies (CREES) at the University of Birmingham in 1965. He retired from active teaching in 1988.

A collaborator and co-author with historian E. H. Carr on two volumes of his 14-volume History of Soviet Russia, Davies is best known for having carried Carr's work forward into the 1930s with seven additional volumes of economic history under the general title The Industrialisation of Soviet Russia.