AJP Taylor - How Wars Begin

[Terry Duncan]

I found this talk from AJP Taylor giving his thoughts on how WWI came about - the 'Railway Timetable' theory - which is worth listening to. It is slightly dated now (1991) but still worth listening to, and an interesting delivery as it is all from memory.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&featu ... SISjdVwmaI

[Attrition]

I bet his shade is still chortling at Trevor-Roper's discomfiture over the Hitler Diaries debacle. ;O)

Taylor did a lot to cheer me up in the dark days of the 1970s but I don't find his views on the Great War as impressive as I did then.

[Prit]

Taylor was a strong supporter of nuclear disarmament. He formulated his views about 'war by timetable' at the height of the Cold War, and the railway timetable theory needs to be viewed in the context of this. He saw the outbreak of the Great War, driven by inflexible hard-wired 'military reflexes', as a moral tale for his generation.

Nevertheless, interesting theory.

Prit