"Lucidly organized and crisply written, it demonstrates a mastery of the multiple, complex problems confronting European statesmen in the immediate post-1918 period. It is an exemplary illustration of the manner in which a circumscribed and ostensibly transitory event may, when examined in all its ramifications , clarify the broader period in which it is set. It is a compelling account of an important international initiative and of its failure, neither claiming too much for the former, nor exaggerating the baleful consequences of the latter. For its achievement in conception, execution, and literary grace, Carole Fink's work is a worthy winner of the prize."—from the AHA Book Awards' Committee citation
"At last we have a scholarly study of the Genoa Conference and a very good one it is . . . Will surely become the standard work on the subject."—International History Review
"A thoughtful, well-written, and carefully researched book."—English Historical Review
Description
The Genoa Conference was one of the key events of European diplomacy between the two world wars . In 1922, thirty-four nations met for six weeks to restore peace between victors and vanquished, reestablish ties between Soviet Russia and the West, and promote the economic reconstruction of Europe. This is a scholarly study of the largest, most ambitious, and controversial of the many interwar conferences.
Table of Contents
1. The Origins of the Genoa Conference
The Soviet Note of 28 October 1921
Gennany: From Wiesbaden to London
The Washington Conference and Europe
Mesentente Cordiale: The London Talks of December 1921
2. Genoa Convoked
Cannes
Aftermath—Paris / London / Washington / Berlin / Moscow / Rome / Brussels / Geneva / Excursus: The Near East
3. Genoa Delayed
Whither the Anglo-French Pact?
The Politics of Postponement
Boulogne
In the Wake of Boulogne—Rome / Berlin / Moscow / Washington
Old Business: The International Corporation
4. Final Preparations
Preconference Meetings—An Eastern Bloc? / A Neutrals’ Bloc? / Genoa or Geneva? / Near East Cease-Fire?
The London Report
Prelude to Rapallo: The Russo-German Meetings in Berlin
On the Eve: The Entente
5. The First Week
Genoa: The Setting
The Inviting Powers
Plenary No. I: Palazzo San Giorgio
The Political Commission
Vi Ila d’ Albertis
Resumption of the Russo-German Talks
Holy Saturday
Finale
6. Genoa Continues
Germany Chastised
Resumption of Talks with the Russians
Nonaggression Pact
Intermezzo
Genoa and the Home Front
7. Peace with Russia?
The 2 May Memorandum
Preamble: What the Allies Offered to Russia
Russia’s Obligations: Debts and Private Property
First Fruits
8. The Restoration of Europe
The Financial Commission
The Transport Commission
The Economic Commission
Geneva and Genoa
9. The End of the Genoa Conference
Anglo-French Contretemps
The Russian Reply
On to The Hague
Finis Genua
10. The Aftermath
Separate Arrangements with Moscow?
Again Reparations
The Entente and the Opening of the Hague Conference
Non-Russians Meet the Russians
Epilogue
Conclusion: The Genoa Conference in Retrospect
Bibliography
Index
About the Author
Carole Fink is the author of Marc Bloch: A Life in History and translator and editor of Memoirs of War, 1914-15 by Marc Bloch.
Series: Syracuse Studies on Peace and Conflict Resolution
6 x 9, 396 pages, 9 black and white illustrations, 1 maps
January 1994