Diplomacy Between the Wars

"Diplomacy Between the Wars" is a detailed inside story of diplomacy seen through the careers of five remarkable career diplomatists. Here is a unique and authentic picture of practical diplomacy and its effect during periods of international crisis which shaped the twentieth century. These were not the statesmen and politicians who dominated the international stage but practical diplomats with long experience, linguistic competence, deep knowledge of the local conditions, history, culture and of the people of the countries where they served. George Liebmann also brings acute political awareness to the subject. The achievements of these diplomats - often unsung during their careers and gleaned largely from history books - were considerable and a monument to practical, professional diplomacy.Lewis Einstein was influential in demonstrating the central role - and its control - of finance and credit in modern wars and urging massive US economic assistance to Europe and after World War II providing the intellectual underpinnings of the Marshall Plan; Sir Horace Rumbold's work was vital in avoiding war between Great Britain and Turkey and in warnings of the dangers of Hitler; Johann von Bernstorff opposed Germany's 'naval militarism', supported a negotiated end to the First World War and peaceful revision of the Treaty of Versailles; Count Carlo Sforza urged restraint on Italy's territorial ambitions and tolerance for former Fascists and Communists; and Ismet Inonu kept Turkey out of war, preserved her national interest at the Treaty of Lausanne and maintained friendship with the great powers. He worked for religious toleration and the limitation of dictatorship in Ataturk's secular Turkish Republic.

George W. Liebmann has been a Lecturer at the University of Maryland Law School, Johns Hopkins University and the University of Salford. He has also been a Visiting Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge and Faculty Associate at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. He is the author of several books on the law and civil society.