By Ellen R. Welch (NHC Fellow, 2013–14) The seventeenth-century French diplomat François de Callières once wrote that "an ambassador resembles in some way an actor exposed on the stage to the eyes of the public in order to play great roles." The comparison of the diplomat to an actor became commonplace as the practice of … Continued
By Sarah D. Shields (NHC Fellow, 2006–07) Self-determination, imported into the Middle East on the heels of World War I, held out the promise of democratic governance to the former territories of the Ottoman Empire. The new states that European Great Powers carved out of the multilingual, multiethnic, and multireligious empire were expected to adhere … Continued
By Thomas Cogswell (NHC Fellow, 1987–88; 2003–04) This book examines the background to the English military intervention in the Thirty Years War. Blending accounts of diplomacy and factional in-fighting at Court with parliamentary and popular politics, it aims to illuminate the 'revolution' of 1624 when the Palatine crisis forced James I to abandon his long-held … Continued
In his “Marshall Plan Speech” of June 5, 1947, Secretary of State George Marshall sought to describe the plight of post-War Europe, convince Congress and the American people that it was in the nation’s interest to relieve that plight, assure Europeans that America was not trying to dominate them, and calm the fears of the … Continued