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Lenin was the first to discover that capitalism 'inevitably' caused war and he discovered this only when the First World War was already being fought. Of course he was right. Since every great state was capitalist in 1914.

A. J. P. Taylor

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A. J. P. Taylor
Age: 84 †
Born: 1906
Born: March 25
Died: 1990
Died: September 7
Historian
Historian Of The Modern Age
Journalist
University Teacher
Alan John Percivale Taylor
First
Already
Lenin
Right
Courses
Inevitably
Great
Course
Caused
Every
Since
Capitalist
World
State
Fought
War
Discovered
States
Discover
Firsts
Capitalism

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Human blunders usually do more to shape history than human wickedness.
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In 1917 European history, in the old sense, came to an end. World history began. It was the year of Lenin and Woodrow Wilson, both of whom repudiated the traditional standards of political behaviour. Both preached Utopia, Heaven on Earth. It was the moment of birth for our contemporary world.
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History gets thicker as it approaches recent times: more people, more events, and more books written about them. More evidence is preserved, often, one is tempted to say, too much. Decay and destruction have hardly begun their beneficent work.
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If there had been a strong democratic sentiment in Germany, Hitler would never have come to power . [Germans] deserved what they got when they went round crying for a hero.
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The greatest problem about old age is the fear that it may go on too long.
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There is nothing nicer than nodding off while reading. Going fast asleep and then being woken by the crash of the book on the floor, then saying to yourself, well it doesn't matter much. An admirable feeling.
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The crusade against Communism was even more imaginary than the specter of Communism.
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If there had been no troublemakers, no Dissenters, we should still be living in caves.
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History is not a catalogue but...a convincing version of events.
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The God of Battles will throw the dice that decide.
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There is nothing more agreeable in life than to make peace with the establishment and nothing more corrupting.
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George VI in the conventional parlance was a Good King who sacrificed his life to his sense of duty. If we are to have monarchs it would be hard to find a better one.
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Conformity may give you a quiet life it may even bring you to a University Chair. But all change in history, all advance, comes from the nonconformists. If there had been no trouble-makers, no Dissenters, we should still be living in caves.
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Freedom does not always win. This is one of the bitterest lessons of history.
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In my opinion we learn nothing from history except the infinite variety of men's behaviour. We study it, as we listen to music or read poetry, for pleasure, not for instruction.
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No war is inevitable until it breaks out.
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No matter what political reasons are given for war, the underlying reason is always economic.
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The male clerk with his quill pen and copper-plate handwriting had gone for good. The female short-hand typist took his place. It was a decisive moment in women's emancipation.
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Knowledge breeds doubt, not certainty, And the more we know the more uncertain we become.
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I was a narrative historian, believing more and more as I matured that the first function of the historian was to answer the child's question, What happened next?
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