Antony Beevor
Antony Beevor
Antony James Beevor, FRSLis an English military historian. He has published several popular histories on the Second World War and the 20th century in general...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionHistorian
Date of Birth14 December 1946
historical industry needs remain truth
Historical truth and the marketing needs of the movie and television industry remain fundamentally incompatible.
denied history novelists people voice
Some novelists want to give people in history a voice because they have been denied it in the past.
easily history though
Of course history is easily manipulated - though that makes it even more important for us to know what actually happened.
army bored camp ended life planning posted stay training wales wrote
I was planning to stay in the Army all my life, but I ended up being posted to a training camp in Wales and was so bored there, I wrote a novel.
both expect proved reviewers worst
I expect the worst both from reviewers and sales and then, with any luck, I may be proved wrong.
country perspective surprising war
Every country has its own perspective on the Second World War. This is not surprising when experiences and memories are so different.
perhaps perverse
I'm often reassured in a bizarre - perhaps perverse - way when I find in the archive stuff that contradicts what my assumptions have been. That's interesting and exciting.
civil collapse empires extended four front numerous simply war western
School-leavers unfortunately will come away thinking the First World War consisted simply of 'going over the top' on the Western Front to slaughter in no-man's-land, when the conflict extended so much further, to the collapse of four empires and numerous civil wars.
checking room trout valley whether
I used to write in a room overlooking the valley from where I could see too much, whether checking the sheep and alpacas or seeing the trout rise on the lake.
obsessive slightly until
I get slightly obsessive about working in archives because you don't know what you're going to find. In fact, you don't know what you're looking for until you find it.
change contain human mass normal terrifying
What is terrifying is the ability, through mass brainwashing or propaganda, to change normal human instinct, which does not necessarily contain very much hatred.
accurate easily hard information opportunity war wiped
In the Iraq war, for instance, so much of the information is digitized and can easily be wiped out. That will make it very hard to write accurate histories. Also, there's a much greater opportunity for suppression of information before it can even be archived.
clue lies nation pattern pedestal people searching sort sound supporters temptation themselves
The temptation in any approaching crisis or conflict is, because people haven't got a clue what lies ahead, they're always searching into the past for some sort of pattern ... to galvanise the nation or their supporters and put themselves on a pedestal to sound Churchillian or Rooseveltian.
almost basic careers civil discipline further history ideal needed politics practical private provides purely relations skills students
At a purely practical level, history is important because it provides the basic skills needed for students to go further in sociology, politics, international relations and economics. History is also an ideal discipline for almost all careers in the law, the civil service and the private sector.