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Arnold J. Toynbee
Arnold Joseph Toynbee CH FBA (/ˈtɔɪnbi/; 14 April 1889 – 22 October 1975) was an English historian, a philosopher of history, an author of numerous books and a research professor of international history at the London School of Economics and King's College London. From 1918 to 1950, Toynbee was considered a leading specialist on international affairs; from 1929 to 1956 he was the Director of Studies at Chatham House, in which position he also produced 34 volumes of the Survey of International Affairs, a "bible" for international specialists in Britain.
He is best known for his 12-volume A Study of History (1934–1961). With his prodigious output of papers, articles, speeches and presentations, and numerous books translated into many languages, Toynbee was widely read and discussed in the 1940s and 1950s.
Toynbee was born on 14 April 1889 in London, England, to Harry Valpy Toynbee (1861–1941), secretary of the Charity Organization Society, and his wife Sarah Edith Marshall (1859–1939). His mother took the equivalent of an undergraduate degree in English history at Cambridge University, when higher education for women was unusual and before women were allowed to graduate from the university, and his sister Jocelyn Toynbee was an archaeologist and art historian. Arnold Toynbee was a grandson of Joseph Toynbee, a nephew of the 19th-century economist Arnold Toynbee (1852–1883), and a descendant of prominent British intellectuals for several generations.
Having won a scholarship, he was educated at Winchester College, an all-boys independent boarding school in Winchester, Hampshire. From 1907 to 1911, having won a scholarship to Oxford University, he read literae humaniores (i.e. classics) at Balliol College, Oxford. Early in Toynbee's degree, his father suffered a nervous collapse and was institutionalised, causing financial difficulties for the family. Regardless, Toynbee achieved first class honours in mods and in greats and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree. From 1911 to 1912, he toured Italy and Greece to study the classical landscape and remains that "he had thitherto known only through books".
In 1912, having returned from his travels, Toynbee was elected a fellow of his alma mater Balliol College, Oxford, and appointed a tutor in ancient history. Unusually for a British classical scholar of that time, his interests crossed Greek and Roman civilisation, and ranged from Bronze Age Greece to the Byzantine Empire. He also combined traditional classical literary scholarship with the emerging discipline of classical archaeology.
At the start of the First World War, Toynbee was found to be unfit for military service because of a bout of dysentery after his return from Greece. In 1915, he began working for the intelligence department of the British Foreign Office. He worked under Viscount Bryce to investigate the Ottoman atrocities against the Armenians and wrote a number of pro-Allied propaganda leaflets.
He served as a delegate to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, where he helped shape the Treaty of Sèvres. He was present at the meeting at the Hotel Majestic when Lionel Curtis proposed the formation of an Institute of International Affairs, resulting in the formation of Chatham House in London and The Council on Foreign Relations in New York.
Following the end of the First World War, he returned to the University of London, specialising in the Byzantine Empire and Modern Greek studies and being appointed to the Koraes Professor of Modern Greek and Byzantine History, Language and Literature at King's College London in 1919. He was forced to resign from the chair in 1924, following his reporting on the Turco-Greek War in Asia Minor for the Manchester Guardian. Having witnessed the atrocities of the War in close proximity, he abandoned his Philhellene political stance. However, the Koraes chair was being funded by the Greek government and Toynbee's chair had been inaugurated with Venizelos in attendance. Toynbee's subsequent political resolution concerning the war in Asia Minor led to his dismissal from the position at King's College. (see subsection on Greece below).
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Arnold J. Toynbee
Arnold Joseph Toynbee CH FBA (/ˈtɔɪnbi/; 14 April 1889 – 22 October 1975) was an English historian, a philosopher of history, an author of numerous books and a research professor of international history at the London School of Economics and King's College London. From 1918 to 1950, Toynbee was considered a leading specialist on international affairs; from 1929 to 1956 he was the Director of Studies at Chatham House, in which position he also produced 34 volumes of the Survey of International Affairs, a "bible" for international specialists in Britain.
He is best known for his 12-volume A Study of History (1934–1961). With his prodigious output of papers, articles, speeches and presentations, and numerous books translated into many languages, Toynbee was widely read and discussed in the 1940s and 1950s.
Toynbee was born on 14 April 1889 in London, England, to Harry Valpy Toynbee (1861–1941), secretary of the Charity Organization Society, and his wife Sarah Edith Marshall (1859–1939). His mother took the equivalent of an undergraduate degree in English history at Cambridge University, when higher education for women was unusual and before women were allowed to graduate from the university, and his sister Jocelyn Toynbee was an archaeologist and art historian. Arnold Toynbee was a grandson of Joseph Toynbee, a nephew of the 19th-century economist Arnold Toynbee (1852–1883), and a descendant of prominent British intellectuals for several generations.
Having won a scholarship, he was educated at Winchester College, an all-boys independent boarding school in Winchester, Hampshire. From 1907 to 1911, having won a scholarship to Oxford University, he read literae humaniores (i.e. classics) at Balliol College, Oxford. Early in Toynbee's degree, his father suffered a nervous collapse and was institutionalised, causing financial difficulties for the family. Regardless, Toynbee achieved first class honours in mods and in greats and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree. From 1911 to 1912, he toured Italy and Greece to study the classical landscape and remains that "he had thitherto known only through books".
In 1912, having returned from his travels, Toynbee was elected a fellow of his alma mater Balliol College, Oxford, and appointed a tutor in ancient history. Unusually for a British classical scholar of that time, his interests crossed Greek and Roman civilisation, and ranged from Bronze Age Greece to the Byzantine Empire. He also combined traditional classical literary scholarship with the emerging discipline of classical archaeology.
At the start of the First World War, Toynbee was found to be unfit for military service because of a bout of dysentery after his return from Greece. In 1915, he began working for the intelligence department of the British Foreign Office. He worked under Viscount Bryce to investigate the Ottoman atrocities against the Armenians and wrote a number of pro-Allied propaganda leaflets.
He served as a delegate to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, where he helped shape the Treaty of Sèvres. He was present at the meeting at the Hotel Majestic when Lionel Curtis proposed the formation of an Institute of International Affairs, resulting in the formation of Chatham House in London and The Council on Foreign Relations in New York.
Following the end of the First World War, he returned to the University of London, specialising in the Byzantine Empire and Modern Greek studies and being appointed to the Koraes Professor of Modern Greek and Byzantine History, Language and Literature at King's College London in 1919. He was forced to resign from the chair in 1924, following his reporting on the Turco-Greek War in Asia Minor for the Manchester Guardian. Having witnessed the atrocities of the War in close proximity, he abandoned his Philhellene political stance. However, the Koraes chair was being funded by the Greek government and Toynbee's chair had been inaugurated with Venizelos in attendance. Toynbee's subsequent political resolution concerning the war in Asia Minor led to his dismissal from the position at King's College. (see subsection on Greece below).
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