Historian Antony Beevor: ‘Violence and fear become a drug in wars’

Antony Beevor has spent too much time mulling over the nature of evil.

His bestselling war histories have led him to trawl through disturbing testimony of atrocities that have made him weep and kept him awake at night.

Yet he sees his task to understand the mentality of the perpetrators and above all remain objective.

“The historian has a duty to objectivity, to understand the past however horrific or evil things might be and not to impose moral judgements.”

Even the most heinous acts; cannibalism, rape, genocide, should be viewed in their historical context. ...