Evans was born in London and went to Oxford University for his education. He has taught at Columbia University and Birkbeck, University of London, and has been Regius Professor Emeritus of History at Cambridge since 2014. An celebrated three-volume history of the Third Reich and a new collection of essays, The Third Reich in History and Memory, are among his many writings. He is a past recipient of the Wolfson History Prize and was twice a History Honoree at the Los Angeles Times Book Awards. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and the Royal Society of Literature. In 2012, he was knighted in the Queen's birthday honors list for his contributions to scholarship.