How Wars End
About this book
What, besides martial glory and the loss of countless lives, brings a war to an end?When can a war legitimately be said to be over?And can such things as the wholesale redrawing of frontiers ever create a lasting peace?Napoleon was defeated because his marshals were keener on their country estates than on fighting. World War I dragged on so long because neither side had stated what it was fighting for. And World War II, which started to finish in 1940, might arguably been over until 1958, when peace with Germany was finally declared.In this brilliant polemical essay, the historian AJP Taylor argues that the end of wars can be just as complex as their origins - and just as important for historians to understand.He shows how accidents, freak judgments, personal ambitions and, in Europe, the consistent problem of Poland, can prepare the ground for future conflict even as they provide a return to normality and peace.‘How Wars End’ provides a fascinating over-view of the resolution of the great conflicts of the past. It is required reading for any one interested in war, military studies or diplomacy.Praise for AJP `The most readable, sceptical and original of modern historians' — Michael Foot'Anything Mr Taylor writes is worth reading ... he is our greatest popular historian since Macaulay' - The Spectator'His informal, pithy style makes the book compelling - even exciting - reading' The Irish TimesA.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. Taylor was significant both for the controversy his work on Germany and the Second World War engendered and for his role in the development of history on television. His books include 'War By Timetable', ‘How Wars Begin’ and ‘The War Lords’.Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent publisher of digital books.