Beevor, Antony

Sir Antony James Beevor, (born 14 December 1946) is a British military historian. He has published several popular historical works, mainly on the Second World War, the Spanish Civil War, and most recently the Russian Revolution and Civil War.

Educated at Abberley Hall School, Winchester College, and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, Beevor commanded a troop of tanks in the 11th Hussars in Germany before deciding in 1970 to leave the army and become a writer. He was a visiting professor at Birkbeck, University of London, and the University of Kent. His best-selling books, ''Stalingrad'' (1998) and '' Berlin: The Downfall 1945'' (2002), have been acclaimed for their detailed coverage of the battles between the Soviet Union and Germany, and their focus on the experiences of ordinary people. ''Berlin'' proved very controversial in Russia because of the information it contained from former Soviet archives about the mass rapes carried out by the Red Army in 1945.

Beevor's works have been translated into many languages and have sold millions of copies. He has lectured at numerous military headquarters, staff colleges and establishments in Britain, the US, Europe, and Australia. He has also written for many major newspapers.

Early life and education

Antony James Beevor was born in London on 14 December 1946.

He was educated at two independent schools: Abberley Hall School in Worcestershire, and then Winchester College in Hampshire. He then went to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, where he studied under the military historian John Keegan, before receiving a commission in the 11th Hussars on 28 July 1967.

Beevor served in England and Germany and was promoted to lieutenant on 28 January 1969 before resigning his commission on 5 August 1970.

Career

Beevor has been a visiting professor at the School of History, Classics and Archaeology at Birkbeck, University of London, and at the University of Kent. He was the 2002-2003 Lees-Knowles Lecturer at Cambridge University.

His best-known works, the best-selling ''Stalingrad'' (1998) and '' Berlin: The Downfall 1945'' (2002), recount the World War II battles between the Soviet Union and Germany. They have been praised for their vivid, compelling style, their treatment of the ordinary lives of combatants and civilians, and the use of newly disclosed documents from Soviet archives. ''Berlin'' proved hugely controversial in Russia because of the information it contained from former Soviet archives about the mass rapes carried out by the Red Army in 1945. He was crticized for "lies, slander and blasphemy" against the Red Army by the Russian ambassador at the time, Grigory Karasin, and was frequently described as "the chief slanderer of the Red Army" by Kremlin-supporting media. Numerous Russian academic theses and books have been published that dispute his claim as exaggerations, misattributions, or direct citations of propaganda used by Goebbels, including ''The Red Army “Rape of Germany” was Invented by Goebbels'' by the Russian author Anatoly Karlin.

His ''The Spanish Civil War'' (1982) was later re-written as '' The Battle for Spain'' (2006), keeping the structure and some content from the earlier work, but using the updated narrative style of his ''Stalingrad'' book and also adding characters and new archival research from German and Russian sources.

Beevor's book '' The Second World War'' (2012) is notable for its focus on the conditions and grief faced by women and civilians and for its coverage of the war in East Asia, which has been called "masterful". Beevor's expertise has been the subject of some commentary; his publications have been praised as revitalizing interest in World War II topics and have allowed readers to reevaluate events such as from a new perspective. He has also appeared as an expert in television documentaries related to World War II.

, his works had been translated into 35 languages, with more than 8.5 million copies sold.

In August 2015, Russia's Yekaterinburg region considered banning Beevor's books, accusing him of Nazi sympathies, citing his lack of Russian sources when writing about Russia, and claiming he had promoted false stereotypes introduced by Nazi Germany during World War II. Beevor responded by calling the banning "a government trying to impose its own version of history", comparing it to other "attempts to dictate a truth", such as denial of the Holocaust and the Armenian genocide.

In January 2018, Beevor's book about the Battle of Stalingrad was criticised in Ukraine because of a single mistranslation in the Russian edition.

He has also written for ''The Times'', ''The Telegraph'' and '' Guardian'', the ''New York Times'', ''Washington Post'', ''The Atlantic'', ''Foreign Affairs'', ''Le Monde'', ''Libération'', ''Le Figaro'', as well as ''El País'' and '' ABC'' in Spain.

Other activities

Beevor, a former chair and member of the Council of the Society of Authors, resigned with Philip Pullman in 2022 in protest over the actions of the CEO and the leadership of the management committee.

Personal life

Beevor is descended from a long line of writers, starting with the legal philosopher John Austin and his wife Sarah, their daughter Lucie, Lady Duff-Gordon (''Letters from Egypt''), his grandmother Lina Waterfield, (Observer correspondent and ''Castle in Italy''), and his mother Kinta Beevor (''A Tuscan Childhood'').

he is married to biographer Artemis Cooper; they have two children.

Honours and awards

Beevor was recognised with the 2014 Pritzker Military Museum & Library's Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing. Tim O'Brien, the 2013 recipient, made the announcement on behalf of the selection committee. The award carried a purse of US$100,000.

Beevor was awarded an Honorary D.Litt. from the University of Kent in 2004, from the University of Bath in 2010, the University of East Anglia in 2014, and the University of York in 2015.

He was elected an honorary Fellow of King's College London in July 2016. Also in July 2016, Beevor was awarded the Medlicott Medal for services to history by the UK-based Historical Association.

Beevor was appointed a Knight Bachelor in the 2017 New Year Honours for "services in support of Armed Forces Professional Development".

He is also a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres,Honorary Graduates
. ''University of Bath'', 2012. Retrieved 24 January 2012. a member of Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana and a commander of the Belgian Order of the Crown.

Awards for his works include:
*''Crete: The Battle and the Resistance''
** Runciman Prize, administered by the Anglo-Hellenic League for stimulating interest in Greek history and culture
*''Stalingrad''
**The first Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction
** Wolfson History Prize
**Hawthornden Prize for Literatur e
*''Berlin: The Downfall 1945''
**Longman-History Today Trustees' Award
*'' The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936–1939'' (Spanish Edition)
**''La Vanguardia'' Prize for Non-Fiction

Published works

Fiction

* ''Violent Brink''. London: John Murray, 1975.
* ''For Reasons of State''. London: Jonathan Cape, 1980.
* ''The Faustian Pact''. London: Jonathan Cape, 1983.
* ''The Enchantment of Christina von Retzen''. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1989.

Nonfiction

* ''The Spanish Civil War''. London: Orbis, 1982.
* ''Inside the British Army''. London: Chatto and Windus, 1990.
* ''Crete 1941: The Battle and the Resistance''. London: John Murray, 1991.
* with Artemis Cooper. ''Paris After the Liberation, 1944–1949''. London: Penguin, 1994.
* ''Stalingrad''. London: Viking Press, 1998.
* '' Berlin: The Downfall 1945''. London: Penguin, 2002. (Published as ''The Fall of Berlin 1945'' in the U.S.)
* ''The Mystery of Olga Chekhova''. London: Penguin, 2004.
* '' The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936–1939''. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2006.
* ''D-Day: The Battle for Normandy''. London: Penguin, 2009.
* '' The Second World War''. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2012.
* ''Ardennes 1944: Hitler's Last Gamble''. Viking, 2015.
* ''Arnhem: The Battle for the Bridges, 1944''. Viking, 2018.
* '' Russia: Revolution and Civil War, 1917—1921''. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2022.

Edited volumes

* ''A Writer at War: Vasily Grossman with the Red Army 1941–1945'' by Vasily Grossman.

Book contributions

* ''The British Army, Manpower and Society into the Twenty-First Century'', ed by Hew Strachan
* '' What Ifs? of American History: Eminent Historians Imagine What Might Have Been'', by Robert Cowley (Editor), Antony Beevor and Caleb Carr. (2003)

References

External links

*
Antony Beevor Stalingrad Berlin - The Downfall 1945Antony Beevor discusses his book on the Spanish Civil War
*
*
Interview
on ''The Second World War'' at the Pritzker Military Museum & Library on 21 June 2012
Sir Antony Beevor
on ''Desert Island Discs'', BBC Radio 4, 19 February 2017

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beevor, Antony
1946 births
People from Kensington
Military personnel from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
20th-century British Army personnel
11th Hussars officers
20th-century English novelists
21st-century English writers
20th-century English historians
21st-century English historians
Academics of Birkbeck, University of London
English military historians
English military writers
Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature
British historians of World War II
Knights Bachelor
Living people
People educated at Winchester College
Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, 3rd Class
Historians of the Spanish Civil War
Fellows of King's College London
Runciman Award winners
Wolfson History Prize winners