John Erickson, FRSE, FBA, FRSA (17 April 1929 – 10 February 2002)[1] was a British historian and defence expert who wrote extensively on the Second World War.
He was educated at South Shields High School for Boys and St John's College, Cambridge, where he graduated MA Hons.
[6] Erickson wrote of his research for his two-volume history of Stalin's war with Germany that he was surprised with the extent of personal archives (lichnye arkhivy) held by former Red Army soldiers of many ranks, and:[7] The Edinburgh Conversations were a series of meetings that took place between 1983 and 1989[8][9] between prominent political & military leaders in Western countries and their Soviet counterparts.
Although both sides approached the initial meeting with suspicion, the knowledge of Erickson and his insistence upon "academic rules" contributed to their ongoing success.
[10][3] In recognition of Erickson's achievement, Sir Michael Eliot Howard declared that ‘Nobody deserves more credit for the ultimate dissolution of the misunderstandings that brought the Cold War to an end and enabled the peoples of Russia and their western neighbours to live in peace.’[5][11]