A. J. P. Taylor – författare

The system of international repression ended with the fall of Metternich in 1848. The conflicting ideals of international revolution and collective security came into being with Lenin and Wilson in 1918. Nationalism, tempered by the Balance of Power, dominated Europe in the intervening seventy years.Drawing on a wealth of diplomatic documents, A. J. P. Taylor examines the relations of the Great Powers, when Europe was still the centre of the world. Written in characteristically vigorous prose, this is a challenging and original diplomatic history, that also considers the political and economic forces which made continental war inevitable.

This book begins on 4 August 1914, the day Britain entered the 'Great War', and describes the three decades of unparalleled upheaval and change up to the defeat of Japan in 1945, which marked the end of the Second World War.Twin themes of international conflict and mass unemployment in England predominate - besides giving a full account of foreign and domestic politics which were elaborated to deal with them, Taylor also pays particular attention to the impact of events on everyday lives.This book is an essential work from one of the finest historians of the twentieth century, which no one interested in the affairs of the UK will want to be without.

A. J. P. Taylor was one of the most acclaimed and uncompromising historians of the twentieth century. In this clear, lively and now-classic account of the First World War, he tells the story of the conflict from the German advance in the West, through the Marne, Gallipoli, the Balkans and the War at Sea to the offensives of 1918 and the state of Europe after the war. Containing photographs and maps, this an essential history of the war that 'cut deep into the consciousness of modern man'.

A history of the Habsburg monarchy from the end of the Holy Roman Empire to the monarchy's dissolution in 1918. The book offers an insight into the problems inherent in the attempt to give peace, stability and common loyalty to a hetergeneous population.

A.J.P. Taylor's bestselling The Origins of the Second World War overturns popular myths about the outbreak of war.One of the most popular and controversial historians of the twentieth century, who made his subject accessible to millions, A.J.P. Taylor caused a storm of outrage with this scandalous bestseller. Debunking what were accepted truths about the Second World War, he argued provocatively that Hitler did not set out to cause the war as part of an evil master plan, but blundered into it partly by accident, aided by the shortcomings of others.Fiercely attacked for vindicating Hitler, A.J.P. Taylor's stringent re-examination of the events preceding the Nazi invasion of Poland on 1st September 1939 opened up new debate, and is now recognized as a brilliant and classic piece of scholarly research.'Taylor's most perfect work of art, a miracle of proportion, language and insight'Robert Skidelsky'A dazzling exercise in revisionism which summed up Taylor's paradoxical, provocative and inventive approach to history'The Times'Taylor was a lifelong dissenter ... at his best - as in The Origins of the Second World War ... he shifted the ground of major debates'Ben Pimlott, Financial Times'No historian of the past century has been more accessible'Niall Ferguson, Sunday Telegraph'An almost faultless masterpiece'Observer'Highly original and penetrating ... No one who has digested this enthralling work will ever be able to look at the period again in quite the same way'Sunday TelegraphA.J.P. Taylor (1906-90) was one of the most controversial historians of the twentieth century. He served as a lecturer at the Universities of Manchester, Oxford, and London.

During ten of the 31 years between 1914 and 1945 the English people were involved in world wars; for 19 of the years they lived in the shadow of mass unemployment. These themes and the politics which sprang from them shape the narrative of this book.

In the years between 1881 and 1912, the European powers extended their influence and empires over Africa and large parts of Asia. In 1884, there was suddenly added to the old colonial rivals, France and England, a power which had hitherto confined itself strictly to the European continent: Germany. The German colonial empire was virtually the work of a single year. The Cameroons were established in July 1884, German South-West Africa in August, New Guinea in December 1884, and German East Africa was begun in May 1885. In this book, the noted English historian A. J. P. Taylor examines the reasons for Germany’s sudden entrance into the scramble for colonies.