Especialista

A HISTORY OF

DIPLOMACY

jeremy black

a h i s t o ry of d i p l o m a c y

A History of Diplomacy
Jeremy Black

reaktion books

For Harvey Sicherman

Published by Reaktion Books Ltd 33 Great Sutton Street London ec1v 0dx, uk www.reaktionbooks.co.uk First published 2010 Copyright © Jeremy Black 2010 All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers. Printed and bound in Great Britain by Cromwell Press Group, Trowbridge, Wiltshire British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Black, Jeremy. A history of diplomacy. 1. Diplomacy–History. I. Title 327.2'09-dc22 isbn : 978 1 86189 696 4

Contents

Preface 7 Introduction 11 one 1450–1600 43 two 1600–1690 59 three 1690–1775 85 four 1775–1815 119 five 1815–1900 151 six 1900–1970 180 seven 1970 to the Present 224 Conclusions: The Future 248 Postscript 256
References 265 Selected Further Reading 295 Index 299

Preface

‘So I made up my mind that you should be the next American Ambassador to France. I should like to see Mabel’s face when she reads the announcements in the papers. A nobody, she called you. Well, the Ambassador to France isn’t a nobody.’ J. Wellington Gedge does not subscribe to his wife’s use of him to pursue her rift with her late husband’s sister. Far from seeking honours or wearing ‘uniforms and satin knickerbockers’ and cocked hats, he wishes to spend time in California, but his wife seeks to soothe him: ‘There’s nothing to being an Ambassador . . . It’s just a matter of money. If you have money and there are important people like the Vicomtesse de Blissac and Senator Opal behind you . . .’1 nd so the plot of Hot Water (1932) is set in motion. Being a Wodehouse, it dealt more with the course of true love, as mediated by jewel thieves; and the