In Their Own Words

Diplomacy Between the Wars is a detailed inside story of diplomacy seen through the careers of five remarkable career diplomats. It is a unique and authentic picture of practical diplomacy and its effect during periods of international crisis that shaped the 20th century. These were not the statesmen and politicians who dominated the international stage but practical diplomats with long experience, linguistic competence, and deep knowledge of the local conditions, history, culture, and the people of the countries where they served. Author George Liebmann 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 U.S. economic assistance to Europe and after World War II, which provided 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" and 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. 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.