Origins of the Second World War
- Essay -
The Origins of the Second World War
Text 6
by A.J.P. Taylor
Professor: Luciano Amaral Assistant: Duncan Simpson
Francisca Ennes 11731 Mariana Ascenso 11677
Alan John Percivable Taylor was born in March 1906 in Birkdale, England. His parents held left-wing views, which he inherited; and were pacifists, which made them send his son to Quaker schools, as a way of protesting against the First World War. Taylor was described as being an “arresting, stimulating, vital personality, violently anti-bourgeois and anti-Christian” person. He attended Oxford University and made a post-graduation in history in Vienna. After that, he became a political and diplomatic historian. In 1961 he published his most controversial book, The Origins of the Second World War, where he proposed a new and uncomfortable picture of Hitler – the Chancellor and Head of State of Germany between 1933 and 1945. Likewise, Origins seems to evidence numerous inconsistencies and contradictions in his own theories. In this essay, based on “Hitler’s Foreign Policy” chapter from the previously mentioned book, we will discuss the author’s opinion on the main character, regarding historical facts. Adolf Hitler was born in 1889 in Austria. When younger he was already considered as being a resentful, discontented and of unstable temperament child. He was deeply hostile towards his authoritarian father, and strongly attached to his mother. Later on, he went to Vienna where he acquired his first education in politics and that was when his brutal, violent side and his concerns with the ‘purity of blood’ started to arise. In 1919, Hitler joined a political party created and developed during the post-World War I era – the Nazi party. It was anti-Marxist and was opposed to the democratic post-war government (Weimar Republic) and the Treaty of Versailles; and it promoted extreme Nationalism as well as Pan-Germanism and anti-Semitism. In 1923, Hitler and General Ludendorff attempted a coup
The Origins of the Second World War
Text 6
by A.J.P. Taylor
Professor: Luciano Amaral Assistant: Duncan Simpson
Francisca Ennes 11731 Mariana Ascenso 11677
Alan John Percivable Taylor was born in March 1906 in Birkdale, England. His parents held left-wing views, which he inherited; and were pacifists, which made them send his son to Quaker schools, as a way of protesting against the First World War. Taylor was described as being an “arresting, stimulating, vital personality, violently anti-bourgeois and anti-Christian” person. He attended Oxford University and made a post-graduation in history in Vienna. After that, he became a political and diplomatic historian. In 1961 he published his most controversial book, The Origins of the Second World War, where he proposed a new and uncomfortable picture of Hitler – the Chancellor and Head of State of Germany between 1933 and 1945. Likewise, Origins seems to evidence numerous inconsistencies and contradictions in his own theories. In this essay, based on “Hitler’s Foreign Policy” chapter from the previously mentioned book, we will discuss the author’s opinion on the main character, regarding historical facts. Adolf Hitler was born in 1889 in Austria. When younger he was already considered as being a resentful, discontented and of unstable temperament child. He was deeply hostile towards his authoritarian father, and strongly attached to his mother. Later on, he went to Vienna where he acquired his first education in politics and that was when his brutal, violent side and his concerns with the ‘purity of blood’ started to arise. In 1919, Hitler joined a political party created and developed during the post-World War I era – the Nazi party. It was anti-Marxist and was opposed to the democratic post-war government (Weimar Republic) and the Treaty of Versailles; and it promoted extreme Nationalism as well as Pan-Germanism and anti-Semitism. In 1923, Hitler and General Ludendorff attempted a coup