There is no consensus even today on the merits of Napoleon - and certainly no agreement on the rights and wrongs of the origins of the First World War.

War on Iraq runs the risk of turning the Middle East into an inexhaustible recruiting ground for anti- western terrorism.

It is normal for politicians in all countries to profess themselves the pupils of history, anxious to draw the right lessons from her teaching.

Silence is regarded as a sort of sin now, and it has to be filled with a lot of gossip and soundbites.

There are thus great swathes of the past where understanding is more important and reputable than judgement, because the principal actors performed in line with the ideas and values of that time, not of ours.

A genuinely democratic Iraq might well act as a fresh spur.

But Germany will always suffer, I fear, from the intensely dramatic character of the crimes of the Third Reich.