“The main result could no longer be undone: Russia fell out of Europe and ceased to exist as a great power.” Chapter from the book by British historian Alan Taylor “The Origins of the Second World War”

Peace negotiations in the saloon carriage of Field Marshal Foch in Compiegne, November 1918. On the left are the Germans, on the right are the Allies. The head of the German delegation, Matthias Erzberger, stands with his back to the viewer, and Field Marshal Ferdinand Foch stands opposite him.

Illustration: painting by Maurice Pillard Verneuil (in the press of that time it was passed off as a colored photograph) / Wikimedia Commons

The Alpina Non-Fiction publishing house has published a translation of the classic book by one of the most famous British historians, Alan J. P. Taylor (1906–1990) , The Origins of the Second World War . The book was first published in its original language back in 1961.

From the publisher's blurb: “When The Origins of World War II was published, it created not only a sensation, but also a scandal. Taylor, with diplomatic documents in his hands, disputed the version that was convenient for everyone that the recent pan-European conflict was solely to blame for Hitler, who was carrying out his carefully constructed plan to incite a big war. Instead, Taylor comes to the conclusion that Hitler was primarily an aggressive opportunist with fantasies of greatness, and that a huge number of factors also led to the declaration of war on Germany by Great Britain and France in September 1939 - from the objective balance of the potentials of European states to internal contradictions in Western countries. societies.

Over the past 60-plus years, Taylor's book has undoubtedly become a monument of historical thought - too many facts have been made public, established and clarified during this time - but it continues to be reprinted and influences the debate about these still defining historical events "

We are publishing a fragment of the chapter “The Legacy of the First World War,” in which the author explains why the “enslaving peace” to which the Allies forced Germany actually contributed to the preservation of the country’s unity and the speedy revival of its power, including military power.

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