J.P.Taylor broke new ground in this study, first published in 1955, of one of the most influential figures in Germany's history. Treating Bismarck as a man of his times, he surveys his political policy and actions, as well as investigating the psychology of a man whose life and achievements continue to be a subject of controversy.
The controversial historian offers a candid account of his education, conversion to socialism, personal life, career as historian, and friendships with such personalities as Rebecca West, Lord Beaverbrook, and Lewis Namier
Violent political upheavals have occurred as long as there have been political communities. But, in Europe, only since the French revolution have they sought not merely to change the rulers but to transform the entire social and political system. One of A.J.P. Taylor's themes in this generously illustrated book, based on his 1978 television lectures, is that revolutions and revolutionaries do not always coincide: those who start them often do so unintentionally, while revolutionaries tend to be most active in periods of counter-revolution. In his lively and combative style the author traces the line of development of the revolutionary tradition from 1789 through Chartism, the social and national upheavals of 1848, the 'revolutionaries without a revolution' of the following sixty years - Marx, Engels, Bakunin, and others - to the Bolshevik seizure of power in 1917.
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