A. J. P. Taylor
A. J. P. Taylor
Alan John Percivale Taylor FBAwas an English historian who specialised in 19th- and 20th-century European diplomacy. Both a journalist and a broadcaster, he became well known to millions through his television lectures. His combination of academic rigour and popular appeal led the historian Richard Overy to describe him as "the Macaulay of our age"...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionHistorian
Date of Birth25 March 1906
beer past men
In my opinion, most of the great men of the past were only there for the beer - the wealth, prestige and grandeur that went with the power.
winning history lessons
Freedom does not always win. This is one of the bitterest lessons of history.
history doubt
History is the great propagator of doubt.
country african-tribes groups
American statesmen might like some Europeans more than others and even detect quaint resemblances to their own outlook; but they no more committed themselves to a particular group or country than a nineteenth-century missionary committed himself to the African tribe in which he happened to find himself.
war break-out inevitable
No war is inevitable until it breaks out.
littles rage terrorist
Fascism was little more than terrorist rule by corrupt gangsters. Mussolini was not corrupt himself but he did nothing except to rage impotently.
war fighting bismarck
Bismarck fought 'necessary' wars and killed thousands, the idealists of the twentieth century fight 'just' wars and kill millions.
wickedness shapes blunders
Human blunders usually do more to shape history than human wickedness.
history psychological sociology
All other forms of history - economic history, social history, psychological history, above all sociology - seem to me history with the history left out.
long age goes-on
The greatest problem about old age is the fear that it may go on too long.
loyalty mistake writing
When I write I have no loyalty except to historical truth as I see it and care no more about British achievements and mistakes than any other.
war world firsts
Lenin was the first to discover that capitalism 'inevitably' caused war; and he discovered this only when the First World War was already being fought. Of course he was right. Since every great state was capitalist in 1914.
communism crusades imaginary
The crusade against Communism was even more imaginary than the specter of Communism.
judging speech masters
A master of improvised speech and improvised policies.