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.

We should be wary of politicians who profess to follow history while only noticing those signposts of history that point in the direction which they themselves already favour.

The tragedy of 9/11 galvanised the American superpower into action, leaving us in Europe divided in its wake.

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

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

Diplomacy is unfashionable in the world of knee-jerk reaction and the dogmatic sound bite on television.

Margaret Thatcher was fearful of German unification because she believed that this would bring an immediate and formidable increase of economic strength to a Germany which was already the strongest economic partner in Europe.