Braudel's Three-Speed History

Braudel's tripartite model of historical time: the longue durée (deep structural time — geography, climate, slow-changing social structures), conjonctures (medium-term economic and demographic cycles), and événements (short-term political events).

Against event history: traditional history focused on wars, treaties, and great men — événements. Braudel argued these surface events were determined by deeper structures. The longue durée: the nearly immobile history of geography and ecology — the constraints of Mediterranean climate, mountain barriers, sea routes. Conjonctures: the 50–100 year economic and demographic cycles that shape what events are possible. Events: the froth on the surface. A revolution in historiography that shaped the Annales School and inspired quantitative economic history.