DOCSLIB.ORG

F'alsiffabf AID 'EM Eilhai PROSLEH— the VAR YEARS 1939=19^5

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
F'alsiffabf AID 'EM Eilhai PROSLEH— the VAR YEARS 1939=19^5 Lord Vansittart and the German problem-the war years, 1939-1945 Item Type text; Thesis-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Christensen, Donald Robert, 1937- Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 04/10/2021 07:52:58 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/317998 &0B2! f'AlSIffABf AID 'EM eilHAI PROSLEH— THE VAR YEARS 1939=19^5 by Donald Robert Christensen A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the BEBARTM11T OF HISTORX In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS In the Graduate College THE DllfllSlTX OF ABISOIA, 1 9 6 7 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This thesis has been submitted in partial fulfill­ ment of requirements for an advanced degree at The Univer­ sity of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this thesis are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his judgment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author. SIGNED s APPROVAL BY THESIS DIRECTOR This thesis has been approved on the date shown below: Date TABLE ©F GilTEMTS Page 1 .0- ¥AMS1TTART AMI THE AMTZ-GBBlAftf TRABlTIQSo . 1 II. VANSITTART All THE ©0111© ©F THE WAR.o... o 39 III. VAMEITTART All TEE WILL T© VICTORY....... 86 IT. TAMSITTART A1B A LASTING PEACE........... .145 ill ABSTSACT The pmrpose @f this., thesis is t© examine the aetlv- 1ties and attitmdes @f Sir lebert (later Lord) Tansittart between January 1938» whem he ©eased, being Permanent Smderseeretary'©f State at the Fereigm ©fflse, and the end ©f the Seeemd World War* The research has been based primarily ©m M s ©wn e©mteiip©rahe©ms writings and speeches, as. well as these ©f his supporters and opponents = T© assess his part' In,..the mobilization 'an& direction ©f pnblle ©pinion in Britain and Germanyt, extensive use has been made ©f the .Monitoring Heberts of the BoBoGo and the Ministry ©f Imfermatlem^s overseas bulletin. Talking Pointso ■ The first twenty two months -of the war were, partie= ularly frustrating for Vansittarto He contimmed to function .in the anomalous post of ”Chief-Slplomati© Advisor to the Prime-- Minister, “ . but. M s advice was rarely sought or heeded« After becoming Prime Minister, finston Churchill, whose own prescient disclosures about Mazl Germany were greatly assisted by advice and Information seat .him.by Tansittart, made no more use ©f his ©©llaberator than Heville Chamber^ lain had dene» Vanslttart's only solaoe eame in December i - ' ' W « , - when, at the ropiest of the Minister ef Information* he delivered the sharply-worded."Blaek Heoord8 broadcasts iv ©fer the EUBoGo The e@ntr©versies thms set S,m m@tl©B led t©’his retirement from the Givil. Serriee im Jmly 19^1° ‘ ' . .Baring, the next f©mr years, Wamsittart mere than . made mg fer the frastrati@n amd inactivity he had expezd” emeeds As a member ©f the House ©f Lords 9 as a speaker" at mmmerems pmbli© gatherings 1m England, as a prelifi© anther amd as. the president @f two pepmlar mevememts,' he aeMeyed a ;-©ensiderahle fame im. several ©#mmtrle.s amd attraeted themsamds,®f persons* many frem the working ©lasses* t@ his views^ Simmltameemsly he beeame the f©©ms■©f an exeeptien- ally hitter eeatreversy* His ©ppememts* mainly British and ! 1 * ■ « ' Emr©pean leftists amd Lemdem^hased German exiles who disliked M s s trie tares ©n the 8,Seraaa [email protected] @hara©ter*s tried t© dis@redit M s views with personal attaeks* and had seme smeeesso Thns the expressions 88¥amsittart81 amd 6$¥anslttart=- ismH ■ were fretmemtly e%mated with ^reaetiomismg68 tyindletive-, hess* ^raeism* $8i amd siimhalai!,©ew> ■? - s - Pessihly the fairest test ®f this e%matl©m is fmrmished by ¥amsittart 8s pea©® program fer Germany^ The resmlts ©f t M s - stmdy: imdleate that while, the intensity - amd t©me ©f M s ■argimemts sometimes invited hemest ©riflelsm* the extremer ae.emsati©ms against him were mnwarramted© Indeed 9 a eensider-' dhle • portion of the ©rifcieism voioed. daring- the war was gremmded in ideology' amd took little aeooant ©f the moderate, eonstraotive. pease he aetmally adveeatedo. • VANSITTABT AND THE ANTI^GBBMAH TRADITION CHAPTEB I As Permanent Undersecretary of State at the British Foreign Office from 193© to 1938', Sir Robert Vans it tart gave consistent9 vigorously■=worded warnings against both the rising menace of Nazi Germany and the appeasement policy with which Baldwin and Chamberlain ministries sought to meet ito So unwelcome was his advice to the Government he served„ however, that he was forced to spend the last years of peace as a celebrated casualty of the policy he opposed, condemned to watch helplessly while Hitler moved from triumph to triumphe His is a story which merits close attention. His own version, the autobiographical Mist Procession, is incomplete, out short at the year 1936 by his death (1957)® A fuller account, based on his private papers and official memoranda, and covering all his years at the Foreign Office, has recently been published by lah Colvin (Vansittart in Office, London, 1965)® Yet neither of these should exhaust the historian®s interest in a man who continued active after the close of his official career. To contemporaries, indeed, Vansittart was often better known on account of his activ­ ities during World War II than for his incisive, though less publicized, pre-war critiques of Mazi behavior and ambition. 1 This thesis is addressed to that part ©f the story which has not been carefully told, to an examination of Vansittart ©wt of office, t© the record of a knowledgeable and eloquent civil servant.who had, in virtue of the coming of the war, a singular opportunity to explain and expound his own rejected views of the proper.course of British policy in Europe <> ■ - Because this project was undertaken prior to the appearance of Colvin®s book, much of the material, especially the section dealing, with Vansittart8s years as Ghief Diplomatic Advisor, is largely duplicative® This can be justified in two ways.® First, both the sources con­ sulted and the major conclusions differ at some points from those of Mr® Golvim® Second,- the reactions of" pro­ fessional historians and reviewers to his work have been somewhat less than enthusiastics the full story of "Vamsittart in Office*6 still needs to be told® The present study must necessarily traverse some of the areas which Golvin either neglected or failed to investi­ gate comprehensively® Perhaps the most crucial of these con­ cerns Vansittart® s career prior to M s elevation to the post of Permanent Undersecretary.at the Foreign Office, and / specificallyj the development of his famed anti-Germanisms "#iy should Vansittart, who by birth and education belonged very much to the upper echelon of the English society, have been 3 among the first to realise that the threat from Germany was far more dangerous to British security than the challenge from the Soviet Bnlon,?"^ Although already set upon a career in the British Diplomatic Service9 Bobert Vamsittart was possessed of little knowledge, no experience and few pronounced views with respect to foreign affairs when he graduated from Eton in .1900« Wnlike most of his contemporaries, he had never fully accepted the thesis that Prance was Great Britain*s natural enemy0 In fact, a schoolboy6s holiday spent in Paris a few years earlier left him convinced that Prance was to be admired,cautiously enjoyed, even pitied, but=“=and the Pashoda Crisis (1898) seemed to prove rather than challenge this viewpoint=-she was not to be feared0 At the same time, Taasittart appears to have been little affected by the growing rivalry and hostility between England and Germany= Ihus,.shortly after his graduation, he travelled to Germany hoping to develop his language skills to the point where he could meet the Poreign Service entrance requirements0 Unfortunately, he chose for his initial visit a year which was marked by the first signi­ ficant British military victories of the Boer Waro hot surprisingly, he found the Germans "alive with malice 0 * ' - ' ■ ' •^ffhe limes literary Supplement (March 25, 1965), po 228= - ' ' ! p against Britain*" After several unpleasant experiences9 which included his "being shouted after fey the excessively Anglophobic daughter of his landlord and, on another occasion, being challenged to a duel after winning a point in a tennis match with a German captain, an accomplished swordsman, he quickly abandoned Germany for France* There his penchants for literature and the theatre were better received* This was the start of a lifelong affaire de la coeur for Vansittart, and just as his initial anxieties over Germany had turned,him towards i'rance, so his close Galilean ties reinforced and gave sustenance to those anxieties* If there was an ideal place in which to nurture a ■ 4 suspicion of Germany, it was the British Foreign Office of the early 19006 s* Among the younger luminaries when Vansittart joined the diplomatic corps in 1902 was Sir lyre Growe, whom Vansittart later described as "the greatest public servant ever produced by this country,11 ^ and who was ‘j ' ’ ..
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Diplomatic Dictionary
    DIPLOMATIC DICTIONARY A | B | C | D | E | F | I | M | N | P | R | S | T | V A ACCESSION The procedure by which a nation becomes a party to an agreement already in force between other nations. ACCORDS International agreements originally thought to be for lesser subjects than those covered by treaties, but now really treaties by a different name. AMBASSADOR The chief of a diplomatic mission; the ranking official diplomatic representative of a country to the country to which s/he is appointed, and the personal representative of his/her own head of state to the head of state of the host country. Ambassador is capitalized when referring to a specific person (i.e., Ambassador Smith) AMERICAN PRESENCE POSTS (APP) A special purpose overseas post with limited staffing and responsibilities, established as a consulate under the Vienna Convention. APPs are located cities outside the capital that are important but do not host a U.S. consulate. Typically these posts do not have any consular services on site, so the APP’s activities are limited or narrowly focused on priorities such as public outreach, business facilitation, and issue advocacy. Examples of American Presence Posts include: Bordeaux, France; Winnipeg, Canada; Medan, Indonesia and Busan, Korea. ARMS CONTROL Arms Control refers to controlling the amount or nature of weapons-such as the number of nuclear weapons or the nature of their delivery vehicles -- a specific nation is allowed to have at a specific time. ATTACHÉ An official assigned to a diplomatic mission or embassy. Usually, this person has advanced expertise in a specific field, such as agriculture, commerce, or the military.
    [Show full text]
  • Claud Cockburn's the Week and the Anti-Nazi Intrigue That Produced
    55 Fighting Fire with Propaganda: Claud Cockburn’s The Week and the Anti-Nazi Intrigue that Produced the ‘Cliveden Set,’ 1932-1939 by An Cushner “The public nervous system may be soothed by false explanations. But unless people are encouraged to look rather more coolly and deeply into these same phenomena of espionage and terrorism, they will make no progress towards any genuine self-defense against either.” --Claud Cockburn1 “Neville Chamberlain is lunching with me on Thursday, and I hope Edward Halifax.. .Apparently the Communist rag has been full of the Halifax-Lothian-Astor plot at Cliveden. people really seem to believe it.” --Nancy Astor to Lord Lothian2 In 1932, London Times editor Geoffrey Dawson sat at the desk of his former New York and Berlin correspondent, Claud Cockbum. A grandson of Scottish Lord Heniy Cockbum, the twenty-eight year old journalist had been born in China while his father was a diplomat with the British Legation during the Boxer Rebellion. Dawson attempted to dissuade Cockbum from quitting the Times, and he was sorry to see such a promising young newsman shun his aristocratic roots in order to join with the intellectual Left. After repeatedly trying to convince his fellow Oxford alumnus to reconsider his decision to resign, Dawson finally admitted defeat and sarcastically remarked to Cockbum that “[i]t does seem rather bad luck that you of all people should go Red on us.”3 Dawson had no way of knowing how hauntingly prophetic those words would prove to be. five years later, the strongly anti-communist newspaper editor’s words would come back to haunt him with a vengeance that neither man could have likely predicted.
    [Show full text]
  • The Search for a Negotiated Settlement of the Vietnam War
    INDOCHINA RESEARCH MONOGRAPH Ji/t INSTITUTE OF EAST ASIAN STUDIES UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA • BERKELEY The Search for a Negotiated Settlement of the Vietnam War ALLAN E. GOODMAN INSTITUTE OF EAST ASIAN STUDIES UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY The Institute of East Asian Studies was established at the University of Califor nia, Berkeley, in the fall of 1978 to promote research and teaching on the cultures and societies of China, Japan, and Korea. It amalgamates the following research and instructional centers and programs: Center for Chinese Studies, Center for Japanese Studies, Center for Korean Studies, Group in Asian Studies, East Asia National Resource Center, and Indochina Studies Project. INSTITUTE OF EAST ASIAN STUDIES Director: Robert A. Scalapino Associate Director: John C. Jamieson Assistant Director: Ernest J. Notar Executive Committee: Joyce K. Kallgren Herbert P. Phillips John C. Jamieson Irwin Scheiner Michael C. Rogers Chalmers Johnson Robert Bellah Frederic Wakeman, Jr. CENTER FOR CHINESE STUDIES Chair: Joyce K. Kallgren CENTER FOR JAPANESE STUDIES Chair: Irwin Scheiner CENTER FOR KOREAN STUDIES Chair: Michael C. Rogers GROUP IN ASIAN STUDIES Chair: Lowell Dittmer EAST ASIA NATIONAL RESOURCE CENTER Director: John C. Jamieson INDOCHINA STUDIES PROJECT Director: Douglas Pike The Search for a Negotiated Settlement of the Vietnam War A publication of the Institute of East Asian Studies University of California Berkeley, California 94720 The Indochina Monograph series is the newest of the several publications series sponsored by the Institute of East Asian Studies in conjunction with its constituent units. The others include the China Research Monograph series, whose first title appeared in 1967, the Korea Research Monograph series, the Japan Research Monograph series, and the Research Papers and Policy Studies series.
    [Show full text]
  • Irresponsible Scienctists and Prohibiting Human Reproductive Cloning Before the First Clone Is Born
    93 irresponsible scienctists and prohibiting human reproductive cloning before the first clone is born. Limiting the scope of a future UN Convention to a prohibition of reproductive cloning even seems promising taking into account those countries whose final goal is to reach a UN Convention on a complete ban of cloning.432 For it is notable that some of these countries signed the Council of Europe’s Protocol and thus agreed to a partial ban on reproductive cloning, namely Spain, Italy, and Portugal. Likewise, these same countries have, as UNESCO member states, agreed to the UNESCO Declaration which also just spells out a partial ban. Given the overall experience the international community has made with the two documents of UNESCO and of the Council of Europe, prohibiting reproductive cloning only at this point in time in a UN Convention seems preferable and more promising than to negotiate a comprehensive prohibition or regulation of human cloning. C. The history and the achievements of the UN negotiations aiming at a Convention against human reproductive cloning Over a period of almost three years, from February 2002 until November 2004, the member states of the United Nations were negotiating on a possible prohibition of human reproductive cloning through a UN Convention. The subject of biomedicine is new to international law and human cloning is even newer. The debates on a prohibition in the forum of the UN General Assembly, the Sixth Committee and special Sub- Committees have insofar broached questions, highlighted affinities 432 For a list of such countries, see the list of co-sponsors of a draft Convention against “human cloning” L.2.
    [Show full text]
  • SLOVENSKI DIPLOMATSKI POJMOVNIK Več Strokovnih in Leposlovnih Del
    0.3 1.5 1.6 1.8 (0.8 všteto) 2.3 1.8(0.8 všteto) 1.6 1.5 0.3 0.3 1.5 1.3 Dr. Božo Cerar je diplomat, pravnik in publicist. Kot slovenski veleposlanik je služboval v Kanadi, na Poljskem, pri zvezi NATO, v Mehiki in v ZDA. Napisal je Božo Cerar SLOVENSKI DIPLOMATSKI POJMOVNIK Božo Cerar SLOVENSKI DIPLOMATSKI več strokovnih in leposlovnih del. V knjigi »Slovenski diplomatski pojmovnik« pojasnjuje posamezne pojme, ki so se v zadnjih sto letih uveljavili v mednarodni diplomaciji. Ker na enem mestu zbere vse temeljne diplomatske pojme, je ta knjiga izjemnega pomena za slovensko diplomacijo in mednarodnopravno stroko. Njihovo poznavanje je nujno za dobro opravljanje diplomatskega poklica. Za slovenskega diplomata je knjiga nepogrešljiva tudi zato, ker razlaga pojme, iz katerih izhaja slovenska diplomacija. S tega vidika ne gre le za slovenski prispevek v kanon diplomatskih pojmovnikov, temveč za izvirno avtorsko delo. Božo Cerar “Še posebna dodana vrednost h kakovosti njegovega diplomatskega pojmovnika je, da se Cerar ne ustavi na ravni že omenjenih podobnih klasičnih del. V besedilo vključi tudi izraze, dogajanja in osebnosti iz slovenske diplomatske zgodovine. Prav to pa je posebnost tega pojmovnika. V njem je najti na kratko opredeljene vse pomembnejše dogodke in dokumente iz naše diplomatske zgodovine, zlasti po letu 1991, pa tudi pred tem. … [M]enim, da je prav »Slovenski diplomatski pojmovnik« tisto njegovo delo, ki bo med temelji slovenskega diplomatskega razmisleka indelovanja še dolgo ostalo živo.” (Iz predgovora prof. dr. Ernesta Petriča) SLOVENSKI DIPLOMATSKI POJMOVNIK Zbirka Mednarodno pravo 1.2 1.5 0.3 Božo Cerar SLOVENSKI DIPLOMATSKI POJMOVNIK Zbirka Mednarodno pravo Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • Imperial Glory Or Appeasement? the Cliveden Setâ•Žs Influence On
    Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2014 Imperial Glory or Appeasement?: The Cliveden Set's Influence on British Foreign Policy during the Inter-War Period David M. Valladares Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES IMPERIAL GLORY OR APPEASEMENT? THE CLIVEDEN SET’S INFLUENCE ON BRITISH FOREIGN POLICY DURING THE INTER-WAR PERIOD By DAVID M. VALLADARES A Thesis submitted to the Department of History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2014 David M. Valladares defended this thesis on March 25, 2014. The members of the supervisory committee were: Michael Creswell Professor Directing Thesis Jonathan Grant Committee Member James P. Jones Committee Member The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members, and certifies that the thesis has been approved in accordance with university requirements ii To my wife Letty-Ann and our four wonderful children iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Dr. Jim Jones for instigating this research, Dr. Jonathan Grant for supporting me throughout its development, and Dr. Michael Creswell for his hard work in helping me refine my prose. I would also like to thank my parents for their encouragement, my wife for her love, and my children for their joy. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... vi 1. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................1 2. ALFRED MILNER AND HIS KINDERGARTEN ..............................................................16 3. THE KINDERGARTEN, THE SELBORNE MEMORANDUM, SOUTH AFRICAN UNIFICATION AND THE ROUNDTABLE MOVEMENT .......................................................34 4.
    [Show full text]
  • The Mitford Sisters, Public Scandal, and Aristocratic Female Politics
    “Peer’s Daughters”: The Mitford Sisters, Public Scandal, and Aristocratic Female Politics The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Laase, Emily. 2020. “Peer’s Daughters”: The Mitford Sisters, Public Scandal, and Aristocratic Female Politics. Master's thesis, Harvard Extension School. Citable link https://nrs.harvard.edu/URN-3:HUL.INSTREPOS:37365017 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA “Peer’s Daughters”: The Mitford Sisters and Aristocratic Female Politics Emily Laase A Thesis in the Field of History for the Degree of Master of Liberal Arts in Extension Studies Harvard University May 2020 Copyright 2020 Emily Laase Abstract Following the First World War, Britain experienced drastic social and political change. In a period of upheaval, aristocratic women strove to balance social and political changes with centuries of aristocratic tradition. The Mitford sisters provide a unique cross section of female aristocratic life during this changing time and illustrate a variety of female reactions to this balancing act through their varied political views, as well as the role personal relationships played in shaping political beliefs. Table of Contents I. Introduction……………………………………….…………………………… 1 II. No Middle Course: Fascism…………………………….……..……………...10 III. No Middle Course: Communism………………………………………...…..44 IV. Moderate and Misidentified Politics……………….…………...……………72 V. Conclusion and Issues for Further Research………………..…..……..…….102 VI. Bibliography…………………………………………………..………..…..105 I. Introduction If one were to imagine an eccentric aristocratic British family of the 1920s and 1930s, the fictional creation would likely not be far from the reality of the Mitfords.
    [Show full text]
  • A Dictionary of Diplomacy, Second Edition
    A Dictionary of Diplomacy Second Edition G. R. Berridge and Alan James A Dictionary of Diplomacy Second edition Also by G. R. Berridge *DIPLOMACY AT THE UN (co-editor with A. Jennings) *DIPLOMACY: Theory and Practice (second edition) *DIPLOMATIC THEORY FROM MACHIAVELLI TO KISSINGER (with Maurice Keens- Soper and T. G. Otte) *ECONOMIC POWER IN ANGLO-SOUTH AFRICAN DIPLOMACY: Simonstown, Sharpeville and After INTERNATIONAL POLITICS: States, Power and Conflict since 1945 (third edition) THE POLITICS OF THE SOUTH AFRICA RUN: European Shipping and Pretoria *RETURN TO THE UN: United Nations Diplomacy in Regional Conflicts *SOUTH AFRICA, THE COLONIAL POWERS AND ‘AFRICAN DEFENCE’: The Rise and Fall of the White Entente, 1948–60 *TALKING TO THE ENEMY: How States without ‘Diplomatic Relations’ Communicate Also by Alan James THE BASES OF INTERNATIONAL ORDER (editor) *BRITAIN AND THE CONGO CRISIS, 1960–63 *KEEPING THE PEACE IN THE CYPRUS CRISIS OF 1963–64 *PEACEKEEPING IN INTERNATIONAL POLITICS THE POLITICS OF PEACEKEEPING SOVEREIGN STATEHOOD: The Basis of International Society STATES IN A CHANGING WORLD (co-editor with Robert H. Jackson) *from the same publishers A Dictionary of Diplomacy Second Edition G. R. Berridge Emeritus Professor of International Politics University of Leicester Alan James Emeritus Professor of International Relations Keele University Editorial consultant Sir Brian Barder Formerly British High Commissioner in Australia and Nigeria and British Ambassador to Bénin, Poland and Ethiopia © G. R. Berridge and Alan James 2003 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP.
    [Show full text]
  • Anna M. Cienciala. April 2011. Prefatory Note to Poland and the Western Powers 1938- 1939. the Book – Printed in England
    Anna M. Cienciala. April 2011. Prefatory Note to Poland and the Western Powers 1938‐ 1939. The book – printed in England and Canada, so with English spelling ‐‐ is a revised version of my Ph.D. dissertation based on Polish archival, diplomatic documents, also on archival and published western diplomatic documents available at the time. After March 1939 (British guarantee of Polish independence), the Epilogue carries the story up to the German and Soviet attacks on Poland in September 1939. A more detailed account, based on archival and published sources available since 1968, is given in the article “Poland in British and French Policy in 1939: determination to fight – or avoid war?” (The Polish Review, vol. XXXIV, 1989, no.3; reprinted with minor abbreviations in Patrick Finney, ed., The Origins of the Second World War, London, New York, Sidney, Auckland, 1997, pp. 413‐432). There are some errors in the book, written without the benefit of Google and online sources, unavailable at the time. On page 1, note 1, instead of the text, lines 7‐8 on Roman Dmowski: “he spent the last years of his life in exile, returning to die in Poland,” should read: He spent the last two years of his life on his sickbed, dying on January 2, 1939. 1 On page 119, par. 1, line 9 from bottom, (Hitler suggesting Poland agree to ceding Germany a strip of land through the Polish Corridor for the German Autobahn [Highway] and railway line to East Prussia). I misread the letter m in the document; instead of: thirty miles wide, the text should read: thirty meters wide.
    [Show full text]
  • From the Belly of the Beast: the Week, 1933-1946
    This is a background article accompanying Brill’s online primary source collection: The Week, 1933-1946, A leftist newsletter in times of appeasement and war. For the online collection, see www.brill.com/week ISSN: 2667-3061 From the belly of the beast: The Week, 1933-1946 Peter O’Connor In a 1968 review of The Years of The Week, Patricia Cockburn’s memoir of her husband Claud Cockburn’s (1904-1981) greatest achievement, the newsletter published here, Cockburn’s old friend and fellow adventurer Graham Greene wrote, “…perhaps the only complaint I have against The Week is that it was never prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act”.1 This is droll and casual but it is also telling, for Greene and Cockburn had known each other since their schooldays at Berkhamsted, and both Cockburn’s sources and the circles who opposed them, including those protecting Britain and the empire’s official secrets, were peopled by an elite that he was born into. As The Week expanded its range and became the world’s most fearless and best-informed local newspaper, so its sources dialled in from other elites in Europe, in East Asia, and most controversially in the Soviet Union. The Week itself said of The Times editor, Geoffrey Dawson, that “…he is the unfortunate victim of a form of society … which impresses deeply upon the consciousness and subconsciousness of its youthful authors a feeling amounting almost to awe in the presence of inherited wealth, inherited security”, but The Week and its editor belonged to that world and benefited from information to which only that world was privy.2 Cockburn’s aperçu on Dawson helps to explain why The Week was not only allowed to publish semi- official secrets but how it had access to such secrets.
    [Show full text]
  • Information Gathering for Diplomatic Reporting And
    Training Program for Section Officers at the Staff College Topic: Correspondence in English .Theoretical understanding and . Practice of writing • Personal & Official Business Correspondence -Ram Babu Dhakal Fmr. Under-Secretary, MoFA January 25, 2018 Definition • Correspondence: communication by letters • International correspondence in English language • Diplomatic correspondence: Communication through diplomatic channels, in other words, diplomatic documents as well. • If long-term intentions are not communicated clearly to both friends and adversaries the consequences can be disastrous." (Harold Nicolson) Purposes • Communication to the counterpart (person or agency): letter/note verbale • Communication to public (ordinary) and media (news persons/ agencies) through oral statement (interview) or printed/electronic version: press release/press note/communiqué. • Message for souvenir/book/publication • Invitation for an official meeting • Taking notes on meeting. • First person correspondence • Third person correspondence Types of letters in General • Personal (family, friends, children, introduction, love letters) • Social (greetings, condolences, congratulations) • Matrimonial (marriage, after marriage, divorce) • Employment ( notices, replies, appointment) • Commercial (business queries, circulars) • Public (letter to the editor, leaders, club) • Legal (receipt, telegram, Affidavit, lawyers) • Official (complaints, enquiries, notice, diplomatic) • Others (literary, publishers, article) Types of Official Correspondence • Types of Diplomatic
    [Show full text]
  • The New Pacific Review
    THE NEW PACIFIC REVIEW LA NOUVELLE REVUE DU PACIFIQUE THE NEW PACIFIC REVIEW LA NOUVELLE REVUE DU PACIFIQUE NEW CALEDONIA AND MELANESIAN UNITY Proceedings of the international symposium on the occasion of the inauguration of the House of Melanesia Noumea, 4-5 September 2008 Actes du colloque international a I' occasion de l'inauguration de la Maison de la Melanesie Noumea, 4-5 septembre 2008 The PacificCentre ANU College of Asia and the Pacific The Australian National University Volume 4, No. 2 Canberra-N oumea 2009 Editorial Board Jean-Yves Faberon, University ofNew Caledonia, Noumea Stewart Firth, RSPAS, Australian National University, Canberra Armand Hage, University of New Caledonia, Noumea Louise Peltzer, University of French Polynesia, Papeete Serge Tcherkezoff, EHESS and CREDO, Marseille Darrell Tryon, RSPAS, Australian National University, Canberra Volume Editors Jean-Yves Faberon, Noumea Armand Hage, Noumea Darrell Tryon, Canberra Translations: Armand Hage Copy-editing: Ewan Johnston Production: The Pacific Centre College of Asia and the Pacific The Australian National University [email protected] Printer: University Printing Service, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia Cover: Julie Manley ISSN: 1445-4947 In memory of Paul De Deckker ( 1950-2009) Anthropologist and Historian President of the University of New Caledonia (2000-2005) Founder of the House of Melanesia/Maison de la Melanesie and Gregory Lawrence Urwin (1946-2008) Australian diplomat Pacific Forum Secretary General (2004-2008) Acknowledgements
    [Show full text]