From Sarajevo to Potsdam

by A.J.P. Taylor

in8. broché.

Genres: History, European History, Nonfiction

Hardcover

First published October 31, 1966

About the author

Alan John Percivale Taylor was an English historian of the 20th century and renowned academic who became well known to millions through his popular television lectures.

Reviews

[John Gilbert · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was just reminded of this amazing author this weekend as he was mentioned in a novel I was reading. As I was a history major in Uni back in the early 70s and focussed on European history and the causes of the two world wars, he was the main man I continually went to. It's been 50 years now, but I still remember his insightful books on the time.

[John E · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the way Taylor took history in giant strides with astonishing assertions and conclusions. Here Roosevelt wanted to rule the world and Hitler was the culmination of European Civilization! Underneath the bluster is good, solid history and a masterful sweep of the most destructive twenty years of European History. Please note that this is not an introduction to the period, but a study of the period.

[Rob M · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really enjoyable political history of Europe in the era of World War. This book is essentially commentary-come-reflection on European civilisation itself, but avoids straying into polemic. It has a lovely social-democratic intellectualism about it, once so common in British public life and now all but lost. The tone of the text is somewhere between Eric Hobsbawm and Kenneth Clark and carries the reader along gently but firmly.

This is not for someone looking for a comprehensive history of the period, as it takes the form of commentary/summary of events that the reader is assumed to be broadly familiar with. The real value is in its narrative structure, comments and conclusions, turning history from just a jumble of facts into a comprehensible whole.

[Trevor Seigler · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a perfectly fine, if not especially engrossing, survey of the thirty years between the outbreak of war in 1914 and the end of another war in 1945, seen primarily through a European lens. The First and Second World Wars occurred in an era where Europe still considered itself the pre-eminent continent in the world, and the events that took place during each conflict (and during the twenty years between each conflict) were framed through a Eurocentric lens by many. A.J.P. Taylor has a lot of ground to cover between the firing of Princip's gun in Sarajevo and the meeting of the victorious Allies in Potsdam, and this means that he might sometimes skim over topics too quickly. But this is part of a series that looked at the history of European civilization, and so it's not going to be in-depth. I much preferred his short history of the First World War, which I just completed, because while it's also the soul of brevity in overall content, he had a smaller window of time to work with and more room to stretch out the narrative. There are some good insights into the interwar period in terms of culture, but overall this isn't a book that will reveal anything that a well-informed history buff of the period doesn't already know. I will say that Taylor's razor-sharp wit shines through often, and he's less enamored of the notion that European "civilization" was a good thing than you might expect from a European historian. But this isn't an essential book by any means. Decent, informative, but nothing that you can't find in other books.

[Derek Bridge · Rating 3 out of 5]

A breezy 200-page treatment of the period from the start of the First World War to the end of the Second. Taylor writes so well. But, perhaps inevitably for such a short treatment, this comes across as much an opinion piece as a work of history: epithets abound, not all of them forgivable.

[Vaiva Sapetkaitė · Rating 5 out of 5]

Puiki knyga,viršijusi turėtus lūkesčius.Aišku,gerai sudėti akcentai,o svarbiausia patrauklus rašymo stilius.Ieškosiu daugiau Taylor darbų,jis to vertas :)

[Imp · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cursory overview of the period of European history from before WWI to the end of WWII.
It certainly has a narrative and is clearly the author's own view, although it never pretends to be otherwise. Like other reviewers had said, it's best read when one already has a familiarity with the time period, as this is really just a narrative written on top.

Books referencing this one already highlighted the most useful information for me, such as the fact that before WWI free travel had been a thing.

Additional useful information was how new art caused a lot of rioting.
The biggest takeaway was how popular both these wars were, how popular Hitler's dictatorship was and how little resistance there was to it internally (and even those mainly concerned that Hitler might lose), and consequently how these wars were fought for mastery and total victory, with men gleefully throwing themselves into the grinder, a far cry from the wars of old fought by volunteer professionals for specific material goals.
Democratic thinking led to wars not being merely the private affairs of rulers, like Taylor says it made people full members of a community at war. This led to wonderful things like the British campaign of indiscriminate bombing of civilian houses, it being declared that free enterprise during wartime "doesn't work" which led to central planning of economies. This is of course in addition to the German atrocities.
The intellectual class were much more enamored with Communism than the workers, whose strikes and general resistance (as well as that of the army) was over bad pay, bad conditions, or in case of army mutinies, bad leadership.

Resistance to war was the business of a minority of (mostly Leftist) intellectuals, whose secret meetings were regularly broken up by the police. The wars generally received overwhelming enthusiasm.
Nationalism also recoiled on the Germans, against whom forced resettlement and other atrocities were committed as well, which Taylor says is Nationalism carried to its logical conclusion.

Another interesting detail is the "Weight of Metal" way that WWI was conducted: Generals were experienced in efficiently planning railway timetables and transporting men and weapons to the front lines. The doctrine of the day was to fling as many of them at the enemy as possible, and when that didn't work, throw even more men at it. It speaks to the inhumanity of the era, and while this was improved on on the Western Front, the Eastern front in WWII was fought in a similar manner.

Another interesting bit is both wars were extended and possibly made worse by US interference. While Allied leaders during WWI were reluctantly considering peace, this was thrown in the garbage when the US promised support and involvement, and this encouraged Allied powers to behave recklessly. In WWII they similarly relied on US support when it was promised and this changed their behavior significantly.

The way Woodrow Wilson dragged his "reasonable and peaceful" supporters into total war in Europe just as his aspirations to mediation might have borne fruit was also an interesting thing that I was glad was expanded on.

Soviet History - most interesting to me was how when Stalin decided on his "communism in one nation" idea, the international went from trying to spark revolutions to preventing them, until Stalin ordered its dissolution in 1943.

There are probably many more interesting pieces of information here, and very information dense as evidenced by the density of my notes, which is impressive for such a short book. Definitely an efficient read.

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

British historian A. J. P. Taylor is known for academic rigor as well as at times going against what is the consensus. At 199 pages and covering the four decades from the start of the First World War to the end of the Second World War, this book is naturally shallow. Yet, there is a thoroughness that few can match when writing overviews.
He sets the stage for his explanations of the First World War by pointing out that shortly before it happened, the consensus was that a general European war was very unlikely. While there would no doubt be fringe wars elsewhere and occasional minor clashes in Europe, there was too much civilization for it to be threatened. Taylor also points out how popular the war was among the masses once it began, a fact that made it very difficult to end.
In contrast, in the runup to the Second World War, there was no mass support for another war, yet all countries were preparing for it. There was the hope that the development of armaments would deter the other side from starting a conflict.
Some of Taylor’s comments go against what is commonly held. He states that the man executed for the Reichstag fire, a man named Marinus van der Lubbe likely did in fact do it. Taylor also states that Hitler didn’t really have a master plan for his conquests in Europe, he made it up as the opportunities presented themselves. While Britain and France made a lot of bellicose noise, there was no stomach for a devastating war. It was only when their hand was forced by Polish resistance to German demands that they declared war. Even then, it was very half-hearted.
This book can be considered as a work of popular history was well as one that can be used in advanced courses of European history. Taylor is one of the best at describing and explaining events that are known, but not understood.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great photos and color art accompanies this 1966 printing. As a small paperback printed in the UK, it reads as a classic textbook peppered with actual insight from the learned author. I especially liked the interwar section on Germany and Taylor's rendition of the contradictions that led the principals into a second, larger conflict. These descriptions of Taylor go at the reasons for things in multiple ways whose effect is a read like a lazy-lop-sided circle. A nice little book.

[Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting book...It is a hard book to get through unless you have a true passion for history and can follow what he is saying. The book involves some interesting comments from A.J.P Taylor and shows just how controversial he was in his time.

[Paul Holloway]

From Sarajevo to Potsdam by A. J. P. Taylor (1967)

[Gerry O'Meara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb broad bush historical account of European civilization for a significant period of the twentieth century. Written in an elegant stylish prose that doesn't fail to entertain.