Arnold Joseph Toynbee (1889-1975) was an English historian and philosopher of history best known for his monumental twelve-volume work A Study of History (1934-1961). Born in London, Toynbee was the nephew of the nineteenth-century economic historian of the same name, with whom he is sometimes confused. He was educated at Winchester College and Balliol College, Oxford, where he read classics and graduated in 1911. After a period of study at the British Archaeological School in Athens, he became a fellow and tutor in ancient history at Balliol College in 1912.
During World War I, Toynbee worked for the intelligence department of the British Foreign Office, and in 1919 he served as a delegate to the Paris Peace Conference. Following the war, he was appointed professor of Byzantine and modern Greek studies at King’s College London. From 1925, he held the position of research professor of international history at the London School of Economics, and from 1929 to 1955 he served as Director of Studies at the Royal Institute of International Affairs at Chatham House, where he oversaw the production of thirty-four volumes of the Survey of International Affairs—a work regarded as essential reading for international specialists of the era.
Toynbee’s magnum opus, A Study of History, explored the rise and fall of civilisations through a comparative approach, arguing that they develop through a process of challenge and response. He emphasised the role of creative individuals, cultural forces, and spiritual elements in the growth and decline of societies. The work brought Toynbee extraordinary public recognition during the 1940s and 1950s, shaping discussions on historiography and the philosophy of history, and even earning him the cover of Time magazine in 1947.
Toynbee was, however, subject to significant criticism from fellow historians. Critics pointed to his reliance on myths, allegories, and metaphor over factual data, and many argued that his conclusions were more those of a Christian moralist than of a rigorous historian. After 1960, his influence faded considerably in academic circles, though his ideas continued to attract a wide popular readership. Despite these criticisms, Toynbee’s legacy endures as a thinker who dared to propose a total view of the past at a time of increasing scholarly specialisation, and who sought to understand the large-scale patterns and meaning of human history.
“Technology is, of course, only a long Greek name for a bag of tools; and we have to ask ourselves: What are the tools that count in this competition in the use of tools as means to power?”
— Arnold J. Toynbee Primary source“Civilization, as we know it, is a movement and not a condition, a voyage and not a harbour.”
— Arnold J. Toynbee Primary source“The most obvious way of reconciling oneself to death is to make sure of enjoying life before death snatches it from us.”
— Arnold J. Toynbee Primary source“Man cannot live by technology alone.”
— Arnold J. Toynbee Primary source“Now civilizations, I believe, come to birth and proceed to grow by successfully responding to successive challenges. They break down and go to pieces if and when a challenge confronts them which they fail to meet.”
— Arnold J. Toynbee Primary source“They rushed into it with their eyes open because they could not resist the bait.”
— Arnold J. Toynbee Primary source“Failure cuts deepter memories than success.”
— Arnold J. Toynbee Primary source“There is no such thing as gratitude in international politics.”
— Arnold J. Toynbee Primary source“We have invented machines to work for us, but have less spare labor than ever before for human service.”
— Arnold J. Toynbee Primary sourceMore quotes by Arnold J. Toynbee →
⭐️ The Western Question in Greece and Turkey (1922)
The Western Question in Greece and Turkey: A Study in the Contact of Civilisations is a detailed, largely firsthand account of the Greco-Turkish War of 1919-1922 and its wider political context.
⭐️ A Study of History (1934-1961)
A Study of History is a monumental multi-volume inquiry into the origins, development, and disintegration of civilizations across the span of human history. Conceived as a comparative study on an exceptionally broad scale, the work examines a wide range of civilizations—including Western, Islamic, Hindu, and East Asian societies—in an effort to discern recurrent patterns in their historical development.
Civilization on Trial (1948)
Civilization on Trial is a collection of thirteen essays, written over roughly two decades, that Toynbee binds together with a common outlook on the meaning of history. Though several pieces predate it, the book is preoccupied with the post-war moment, examining the moral and spiritual challenges facing humanity and arguing that Western civilization stands at a critical juncture.
⭐️ The World and the West (1953)
Arnold Toynbee’s The World and the West, based on his 1952 BBC Reith Lectures, reverses the usual story of Western expansion by asking how non-Western societies experienced and responded to Western intrusion.
⭐️ Change and Habit (1966)
Change and Habit: The Challenge of Our Time examines what Toynbee saw as the defining political and social crisis of the modern era: the dangerous mismatch between the accelerating pace of historical change and humanity’s deep-seated habits, particularly the habit of organizing into rival sovereign states.
Man’s Concern with Death (1968)
Man’s Concern with Death is a collaborative volume in which Toynbee and several fellow contributors examine death from a range of disciplinary perspectives. The book brings together religious, philosophical, psychological, medical, and forensic viewpoints, making it a distinctively interdisciplinary work.
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