EN
The article looks at the now already legendary work by the prominent British historian A. J. P. Taylor The Origins ofthe Second World War. At the time ofits publication (1961) the book challenged the conventional academic view ofHitler that saw him simply as an embodiment ofevil, responsible for the Second World War. By contrast Taylor presented Hitler as an opportunist who exploited disputes between the great European powers and strove for dominance in Europe but did not wish to unleash a world war, instead hoping just to provoke a series of short localised conflicts to achieve his objectives. The second part ofthe article is devoted to the extensive discussion that followed the publication ofTaylor’s controversial book.