How Wars End

by A.J.P. Taylor

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 Times

A.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.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Military Fiction

192 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 25, 2014

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

[midsizedchillybin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty boring retelling of post-war settlements. Best bit was when he actually had the guts to say why the US dropped the bombs on Japan - it was to justify the spending on the whole project. Absolutely nothing to do with preventing a land invasion, which was a total myth concocted AFTER the war was well and truly over.

[Tara Brabazon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid short book that probes - as the title suggests - how wars end. What is significant in Taylor's analysis is the messiness of these endings. It spans from Napoleon's 'retreat' from Russia, through to Wilson's League of Nations initiative, and the terrifying deployment of atomic weaponry to 'end' one element of the Second World War.

It is a descriptive and analytical book, based on Taylor's televisual programming. Recommended for its clarity and provocations.

[Alan Carlson · Rating 3 out of 5]

How major European wars, from 1800 to 1945, end.
Napoleonic wars: French marshals revolt (1814).
World War I: French act unilaterally and vindictively.
World War II: In a mess and standoff, per Taylor. ((I would argue that it ended in stability, largely beacuse of Ike and to a lesser dgeree, Truman.)

[Barbara Moss · Rating 3 out of 5]

More limited in scope than the title suggests, this study is based on the Napoleonic wars and two World Wars. The reader comes to realising the fragility of alliances where different interests are involved. This short book (118 pp) ends with the disquieting consolation "However, do not worry. The Third World War will be the last."

[Chris Little · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though it may sound like this book will theorise about the ending of wars, it's more of a quick run through the ending of a few large-scale conflicts - Napoleonic, and the two World Wars. It's not turned into theory, though some common threads are noted.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Same issues as his previous book (see my summary of How Wars Begin).

[JerryDeanHalleck · Rating 2 out of 5]

Slim book by AJP Taylor. Well-written but nothing new. Only good for those who know little of 19th and 20th century history.

[Anil Swarup · Rating 3 out of 5]

More about wars from Taylor. On this occasion it is about how the wars ended in the 19th and the 20th century. There are indeed some startling revelations.. Despite being a Brit himself, he does not spare his country "The British, in particular, held the view that they should get German colonies on a very simple principle :when Britain gores to war, she alwys gets some colonies". However, what is really astonishing is his statement about the American compulsion to drop nuclear bombs in Japan. The atom bomb "was dropped as a demonstration to the American Congress......in order to justify to Congress all the money that had been spent." Difficult to imagine that it could be as bizarre a reason as that.

[Vikas Datta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Appears to be more of transcripts of a talk than a scholarly work but even then is an incisive account of how some big conflicts have ended and the problems they left in their wake. Slightly dated but still brilliant