Arnold J. Toynbee

Lore & Background

Toynbee was born in London to Harry Valpy Toynbee and Sarah Edith Marshall. His mother studied English history at Cambridge when higher education for women was unusual, and his sister Jocelyn Toynbee was an archaeologist and art historian. He was a grandson of Joseph Toynbee and a nephew of economist Arnold Toynbee. Educated at Winchester College and Balliol College, Oxford, he read literae humaniores and achieved first class honours. After touring Italy and Greece, he became a fellow and tutor in ancient history at Balliol in 1912.

Toynbee served as a delegate to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, helping shape the Treaty of Sèvres, and was present when Lionel Curtis proposed forming an institute that led to Chatham House. He became Research Professor of International History at the London School of Economics in 1925 and Director of Studies at Chatham House in 1929, a post he held until 1956. He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1937, an International Member of the American Philosophical Society in 1941, and an International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1949.

Toynbee married Rosalind Murray in 1913; they had three sons, including Philip Toynbee. They divorced in 1946, and he married his research assistant Veronica M. Boulter that same year. He died on 22 October 1975.

Reader's Guide

Toynbee's significance lies in his ambitious comparative study of civilizations, which made him one of the most widely read and discussed scholars of the mid-20th century. His A Study of History proposed that civilizations rise by successfully responding to challenges under creative elites, a theory that rejected Oswald Spengler's deterministic cycles. The work was both a commercial and academic success: a one-volume abridgement sold over 300,000 copies in the US, and Toynbee appeared on the cover of Time magazine in 1947. He also influenced foreign policy through his earlier writings on nationality and plebiscites, and his 34-volume Survey of International Affairs became a standard reference for British international specialists. However, after 1960 his ideas faded in academia and popular culture; historians criticized his reliance on myths and religion over factual data, and his work is seldom cited today. Some classical historians still reference his work because of his grounding in classical antiquity, and his approach is compared to that of Herodotus and Thucydides. Toynbee's legacy remains as a figure who shaped mid-century historical thought but whose theories later fell out of favor.

Did You Know?

• Toynbee produced 34 volumes of the Survey of International Affairs, considered a 'bible' for international specialists in Britain.
• He appeared on the cover of Time magazine in 1947, with an article describing his work as 'the most provocative work of historical theory written in England since Karl Marx's Capital'.
• His first wife, Rosalind Murray, was the daughter of Gilbert Murray; they divorced in 1946, and he married his research assistant the same year.
• Toynbee endorsed the Citizens Committee of Inquiry, an organization critiquing the official explanation of the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

Notable Quotes (Wikiquote)

"Arnold Joseph Toynbee (14 April 1889 – 22 October 1975) was a British historian and the nephew of Arnold Toynbee." — Arnold J. Toynbee "When God made Baluchistan, he laughed." — Arnold J. Toynbee "I don’t believe a committee can write a book. ... It can, oh, govern a country, perhaps. But I don’t believe it can write a book." — Arnold J. Toynbee "[T]he equation of religion with belief is rather recent." — Arnold J. Toynbee