When we dwell on the enormity of the Second World War and its victims, we try to absorb all those statistics of national and ethnic tragedy. But, as a result, there is a tendency to overlook the way the war changed even the survivors' lives in ways impossible to predict. Antony Beevor absorbchangedwell share on social
I read round the subject, I make a skeleton outline, and then I start work in the relevant archives. During the marshaling of the material, I copy the material from each archive file across to the relevant chapter in the skeleton outline. Antony Beevor archivechaptercopy share on social
When I started to write, I realised that you need a bit of both: the overall context as well as the individual's experience. Antony Beevor bitecontextexperience Change image and share on social
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. Antony Beevor archiveassumptionbizarre Change image and share on social
One has this image of the Soviet state and the Red Army as being extremely disciplined but in the first four months of 1945 their soldiers were completely out of control. Antony Beevor armycompletelycontrol Change image and share on social
The greatest heroes of the Normandy battlefield were the unarmed medics, whom snipers often shot at despite their Red Cross armbands. Antony Beevor armbandbattlefieldcross Change image and share on social
The blurring of fact and fiction has great commercial potential, which is bound to be corrupting in historical terms. Antony Beevor bindblurcommercial Change image and share on social
It is important to understand the continuing, confused fascination with the Second World War. For most of us, the great unspoken question is how would we have behaved in the face of danger and when forced to make major moral choices. Antony Beevor behavechoiceconfuse share on social
The great help of being in the Army is to understand why are the armies clever in what they describe as emotional intelligence, making soldiers come to terms with the death of comrades by certain rituals. Antony Beevor armyclevercomrade share on social
I love 'Blackadder,' but history it certainly ain't. Antony Beevor blackadderhistorylove Change image and share on social
