If we look now to undoubtedly the most controversial and provocative books to be written by Taylor, was the infamous Origins of the Second World War. According to Taylor in his autobiography, he had not intended to be at all controversial. Taylor claims that there were vested interests in the traditional version of events leading up to the Second World War. Many accused Taylor of vindicating
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Hitler. The book is reported to have a received a strong neo Nazi following when published in Germany. However the book overall does not really focus in that much on the role of Hitler. However the views that he does put forward surrounding Hitler are fairly irrelevant to the origins of the Second World War. He is highly selective with the evidence used, which is not uncharacteristic of Taylor, this reflects his narrative style of writing.
The book received an enormous amount of scrutiny. The book was described as perverse, perilous, and intellectually unpardonable. Taylor's renowned arch enemy Hugh Trevor-Roper suggested that Taylor concealed, selected and rearranged certain pieces of evidence to support his radical interpretations. Trevor-Roper claimed that the book, ‘will do harm, perhaps serious harm, to Mr Taylor's reputation as a serious historian.’6 The quote was indeed rather true, in the world of academia the book caused enormous furore and did to some extent damage Taylor’s reputation. The majority of criticism focused on peoples views that Taylor somehow excused Hitler's crimes. This was largely one of the reasons why it was so well received amongst Neo Nazi’s and former members of the Nazi party. Taylor largely denied he had intended people to read his interpretation that way. He claimed many critics and ordinary people misunderstood to book to a large extent, “My book can be read in two ways”7
In the 1963 edition of the book Taylor introduced the chapter, ‘Second Thoughts.’ Here, to some extent he rebutted some of the criticism he received using new information and evidence. In the 1964, American edition of the book, Taylor included a preface which annoyed and angered many American readers, who still
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clung to the traditionalist view of the origins of the Second World War. The book again not surprisingly received hostile and abusive reviews.
The motives that Taylor had for writing this book are rather important in establishing whether or not he intended to be so overwhelmingly sensational or whether in fact he was ‘showing off’. One motive that can be noted as to why Taylor decided to write a book of such a nature was that it had never been done before. His motives could arguably be described as being scholarly. He read fifteen volumes of British Diplomatic Documents, eight German Diplomatic Documents and one Italian Diplomatic Document, all covering the 1930’s.8 No one previously had written an analysis based on this evidence, this could be possibly seen as an example of Taylor's desire for innovation rather than a desire to ‘show off.’
Another area that one could consider when establishing Taylor's motives for writing such a controversial work are those of the political kind. Taylor was famous for his support of the ‘Campaign For Nuclear Disarmament’ or the ‘CND’ as they were more commonly known. At the time Taylor wrote The Origins of the Second World War the West was at the peak of its conflict with the East. It could be argued that Taylor hoped that by showing that the Second World War was caused by a series of accidents and mistakes he could help warn people about the dangers of letting this happen with Russia He wanted to show that The west needed to stand up to the East unlike in the Second World War were the Allies failed to stand up to dictators. Both sides had weapons capable of annihilating the world, Taylor could possibly seen to be warning people of the dangers about another ‘accidental war’ occurring.
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The Origins of the Second World War, is the book that arguably supports the claim made at the beginning. Taylor claims that he did not intend to be at all controversial. However due to the totally radical upheaval of the established causes of the Second World War, it is very hard indeed to believe this. Taylor's narrative style is overwhelmingly apparent within the book. The book contains many ‘last minute’ incidents that always seem to prevent a major turning point. This adds to the drama and everything seems so much more sensational.
Leading on from this, it is important to look into Taylor's use of narrative in his books. One could argue, using the Origins of the Second World War, as an example that Taylor uses narrative to possibly create mischief. Though the use narrative Taylor puts forward extremely dangerous and subversive views, arguably to sensationalise an event. At times he tends to contradict himself, his own thoughts and views are not consistent in many of his books. This was one of the man problems with Taylor’s narrative style. His works can often be found to be inconsistent. On one hand, it could be argued that History is a literary form and the use one narrative within the subject is not necessarily a bad thing. How ever on the other hand, a perhaps overuse of narrative could lead to bad History being written. Which many have argued, was the case with Taylor's books, The Origins of the Second World War.
However, if one considers, Taylor’s most critically acclaimed books, English History 1914 – 1945, it can be seen that Taylor was very capable of writing good History. The book received a tremendously favourable response. Taylor stated, “I have produced so much in recent years that I now need to restore my intellectual
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capital.”9 One could say that Taylor was quite aware that his reputation was being damaged by putting across such sensational viewpoints. However it has been mentioned earlier that arguably Taylor quite enjoyed making mischief and causing a stir. In this particular book the Taylor to some extent silenced his critics. Noel Annan, a famous critic following the publication of The Origins of the Second World War, said of the book, “an astonishing Tour de Force.”10 He was able to explore the lives of ordinary people rather than focusing entirely on politics. This allowed him to utilize his use of narrative to a great level. The book was over all very ‘well rounded’. It has been put forward that Taylor was in fact writing about his own individual history. It could also be seen to be a tribute to the people of England. Critics of Taylor's argue that the book highlights Taylor's role as a popularist historian. The book sold 54,484 in the United Kingdom in its first ten years of publication,11 which underlines this point.
I was mentioned earlier, that Taylor aimed to answer the child’s question, ‘what happened next?’. His narrative approach to writing History certainly allows him to achieve this. Taylor was an enormously popular historian, if not the most popular historian of the twentieth century. He claimed he wrote History because it helped him to clear his mind and to discover why and how things happened. Due to Taylor's extremely extrovert personality, he did have a tend to possess an impulse to show off. This ‘show off’ streak, is more evident in certain works than it is in others, namely, The Origins of the Second World War. Here, one can see that he did possibly trivialise his subjects by his affinity to show off. People were more interested in his views of Hitler, whom he claimed had very little to do with the Origins of the Second
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World War. In the world of academia, it was though that Taylor was let down by his impulse to show off. This could be viewed as one of the major reasons why he failed to gain the forth Regius Professorship chair in the 1950’s. His merits as a historian were often doubted due to his impulse for showing off.
Nonetheless, Taylor sold an enormous number of books. He was in many peoples eyes, an historian of the people. He did sensationalise, however this made people outside the academic world, take more interest in the subject. He was able to reach out to a greater audience because of the sensationalist way in which he wrote. Taylor did demonstrate that he could write History very well, this is clearly evident in works like, English History 1914 – 1945.
In conclusion, one could say, Taylor was at times let down by his impulse to show off and cause a stir. However, in spite of this he produced some tremendous Historical works. His narrative style, allows for the sensational but also for the factual. In the Origins of the Second World War we can see that he did let himself down in order to tell a good story. Though one could argue, that he made people question their established views and beliefs, which is what History is all about. He was able to engage peoples interests in a subject which other Historians sometimes fail to do. Taylor wrote English History 1914 – 1945 with the intention of rebuilding his somewhat tarnished reputation. In this book didn’t ‘show off’ quite as much, but sensationalist elements are still present, though he still managed to retain this style without trivialising his subjects. Taylor did let himself down by showing off, however
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he could still manage to create the sensational without trying to cause a stir, and without loosing his credentials as being a great historian.
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REFERENCES
1 Kathleen Burke, ‘Troublemaker. The Life and History of A.J.P Taylor’ (Yale 2000), p.302.
2 Kathleen Burke, ‘Troublemaker. The Life and History of A.J.P Taylor’ (Yale 2000), p.411
3 Kathleen Burke, ‘Troublemaker. The Life and History of A.J.P Taylor’ (Yale 2000), p263
4 Kathleen Burke, ‘Troublemaker. The Life and History of A.J.P Taylor’ (Yale 2000), p.276
5 Kathleen Burke, ‘Troublemaker. The Life and History of A.J.P Taylor’ (Yale 2000), p.277
6 Adam Sisman, ‘A.J.P Taylor, a Biography.’ (London 1994) p.294
7 Adam Sisman, ‘A.J.P Taylor, a Biography.’ (London 1994) p.296
8 Kathleen Burke, ‘Troublemaker. The Life and History of A.J.P Taylor’ (Yale 2000), p.281
9 Kathleen Burke, ‘Troublemaker. The Life and History of A.J.P Taylor’ (Yale 2000), p.299
10 Kathleen Burke, ‘Troublemaker. The Life and History of A.J.P Taylor’ (Yale 2000), p.308
11 Kathleen Burke, ‘Troublemaker. The Life and History of A.J.P Taylor’ (Yale 2000), p.308
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
A.J.P Taylor, A Personal History (London 1983)
Adam Sisman, A.J.P Taylor, a Biography (London 1994)
Kathleen Burke, Troublemaker. The Life and History of A.J.P Taylor (Yale 2000)
A.J.P Taylor, The Origins of the Second World War, (London 1961)