A. J. P. Taylor

**Alan John Percivale Taylor** <small>FBA</small> (25 March 1906 – 7 September 1990) was a British historian who specialised in 19th- and 20th-century European diplomacy. He was a journalist and a broadcaster. His television lectures made him famous. He was called "the Macaulay of our age".

He was born in Southport. His parents were pacifists. He was sent to Bootham School in York, a Quaker school. Then he went to Oriel College, Oxford. He and his parents were in the Communist Party in the 1920's. He left it because of the 1926 General Strike. He  graduated from Oxford in 1927 with first-class honours.

His  first book, _The Italian Problem in European Diplomacy, 1847–49_ was published in 1934. He was a lecturer in history in the University of Manchester from 1930 to 1938. From 1938 to 1976 he was  a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, and a lecturer at the University of Oxford until 1964. He was stopped from lecturing because  of the controversy around his book _The Origins of the Second World War_. He said  the outbreak of war in 1939 was an unfortunate accident caused by mistakes on everyone's part and was not a part of Hitler's plan.

On 17 March 1942 Taylor made the first of seven appearances on _The World at War – Your Questions Answered_ broadcast by BBC Forces' Radio. After the war Taylor became one of the first television historians. He had public arguments with  the historian Hugh Trevor-Roper and with Malcolm Muggeridge.  He  was mentioned in an episode of _Monty Python's Flying Circus._

_The Course of German History_ (1945) was a best-seller in both the United Kingdom and the United States. He said Nazi racial imperialism was the same as policies pursued by every German ruler.

His 1965 book _English History 1914–1945_  was very popular. He liked to make his books funny.

## Works

- _The Italian Problem in European Diplomacy, 1847–1849_, 1934.
- (editor) _The Struggle for Supremacy in Germany, 1859–1866_ by Heinrich Friedjung, 1935.
- _Germany's First Bid for Colonies 1884–1885: a Move in Bismarck's European Policy_, 1938.
- _The Habsburg Monarchy 1809–1918_, 1941, revised edition 1948, reissued in 1966 .
- _The Course of German history: a Survey of the Development of Germany since 1815_, 1945. Reissued in 1962.
- _Trieste_, (London: Yugoslav Information Office, 1945). 32 pages.
- Co-edited with R. Reynolds _British Pamphleteers_, 1948.
- Co-edited with Alan Bullock _A Select List of Books on European History_, 1949.
- _From Napoleon to Stalin_, 1950.
- _Rumours of Wars_, 1952.
- _The Struggle for Mastery in Europe 1848–1918_ (_Oxford History of Modern Europe_), 1954.
- _Bismarck: the Man and Statesman_, 1955. Reissued by Vintage Books in 1967 .
- _Englishmen and Others_, 1956.
- co-edited with Sir Richard Pares _Essays Presented to Sir Lewis Namier_, 1956.
- _The Trouble Makers: Dissent over Foreign Policy, 1792–1939_, 1957.
- _Lloyd George_, 1961.
- _The Origins of the Second World War_, 1961. Reissued by Fawcett Books in 1969 .
- _The First World War: an Illustrated History_, 1963.  American edition has the title: _Illustrated history of the First World War_.
- _Politics in Wartime_, 1964.
- _English History 1914–1945_ (Volume XV of the _Oxford History of England_), 1965.
- _From Sarajevo to Potsdam_, 1966. 1st American edition, 1967.
- _From Napoleon to Lenin_, 1966.
- _The Abdication of King Edward VIII_ by Lord Beaverbrook, (editor) 1966.
- _Europe: Grandeur and Decline_, 1967.
- Introduction to _1848: The Opening of an Era_ by F. Fejto, 1967.
- _War by Timetable_, 1969.
- _Churchill Revised: A Critical Assessment_, 1969.
- (editor) _Lloyd George: Twelve Essays_, 1971.
- (editor) _Lloyd George: A Diary_ by Frances Stevenson, 1971.
- _Beaverbrook_, 1972.
- (editor) _Off the Record: Political Interviews, 1933–43_ by W. P. Corzier, 1973.
- _A History of World War Two_: 1974.
- "Fritz Fischer and His School," _The Journal of Modern History_ Vol. 47, No. 1, March 1975
- _The Second World War: an Illustrated History_, 1975.
- (editor) _My Darling Pussy: The Letters of Lloyd George and Frances Stevenson_, 1975.
- _The Last of Old Europe: a Grand Tour_, 1976. Reissued in 1984.
- _Essays in English History_, 1976.
- "Accident Prone, or What Happened Next," _The Journal of Modern History_ Vol. 49, No. 1, March 1977
- _The War Lords_, 1977.
- _The Russian War_, 1978.
- _How Wars Begin_, 1979.
- _Politicians, Socialism, and Historians_, 1980.
- _Revolutions and Revolutionaries_, 1980.
- _A Personal History_, 1983.
- _An Old Man's Diary_, 1984.
- _How Wars End_, 1985.
- _Letters to Eva: 1969–1983_, edited by Eva Haraszti Taylor, 1991.
- _From Napoleon to the Second International: Essays on Nineteenth-century Europe_. Ed. 1993.
- _From the Boer War to the Cold War: Essays on Twentieth-century Europe_. Ed. 1995.
- _Struggles for Supremacy: Diplomatic Essays by A.J.P. Taylor_. Edited by Chris Wigley. Ashgate, 2000.