Castlereagh and the Holy Alliance

[摘要] The modern ideal in international politics is the League of Nations. The idea of alliances, not of monarchs or of diplomats but of free nations, has its origins much further back than the recent war. It has shown itself in several previous attempts to realise a state of existence in which national conflict has given way to co-operation, and in which the world's energies have been devoted to universal progress. It is only by a careful research into these earlier flights of idealism that we are able to understand the weakness and the strength, the hopes and fears, embodied in the present League. Without a realisation of the periodical outcropping of this spirit, despair or cynicism might easily take the place of the optimism of the years immediately following the peace of 1919. Delays or half-hearted intervention in international question, the defection of some nations and the secret diplomacy of others, aggravated by general mistrust and wide-spread poverty, are hardly effective guarantees of a successful future. The Balance of Power theory is now partially discredited owing to its frequent opposition to the national spirit, while this latter often degenerates into mere desire for self-aggrandisement and aggressive selfishness. The chaos following on the excesses of nationalism resulted in the formation of the League of Nations.

[发布机构] University:University of Birmingham;Department:Department of History

[关键词] D History General and Old World;D History (General)