Diplomacy | Henry Kissinger

Diplomacy by Henry Kissinger

Diplomacy is a 1994 book written by former National Security Advisor and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. It is a sweep of the history of international relations and the art of diplomacy, largely concentrating on the 20th century and the Western World. Kissinger, as a great believer in the realist school of international relations, focuses strongly upon the concepts of the balance of power in Europe prior to World War I, raison d'État, and Realpolitik throughout the ages of diplomatic relations. Kissinger also provides insightful critiques of the counter realist diplomatic tactics of collective security, developed in the Charter of the League of Nations, and self-determination, also a principal of the League. Kissinger also examines the use of the sphere of influence arguments put forth by the Soviet Union in Eastern and Southern Europe after World War II; an argument that has been maintained by contemporary Russian foreign relations with regard to Ukraine, Georgia, and other former Soviet satellites in Central Asia.

The history begins in Europe in the 17th century but quickly advances up to the World Wars and then the Cold War. Kissinger refers to himself numerous times in the book, especially when recounting the Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford presidencies.

Kissinger dedicated the book to the men and women of the United States Foreign Service.

Chapters

The New World Order

The Hinge: Theodore Roosevelt or Woodrow Wilson

From Universality to Equilibrium: Richelieu, William of Orange, and Pitt

The Concert of Europe: Great Britain, Austria, and Russia

Two Revolutionaries: Napoleon III and Bismarck

Realpolitik Turns on Itself

A Political Doomsday Machine: European Diplomacy Before the First World War

Into the Vortex: The Military Doomsday Machine

The New Face of Diplomacy: Wilson and the Treaty of Versailles

The Dilemmas of the Victors

Stresemann and the Re-emergence of the Vanquished

The End of Illusion: Hitler and the Destruction of Versailles

Stalin's Bazaar

The Nazi-Soviet Pact

America Re-enters the Arena: Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Three Approaches to Peace: Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill in World War II

The Beginning of the Cold War

The Success and the Pain of Containment

The Dilemma of Containment: The Korean War

Negotiating with the Communists: Adenauer, Churchill, and Eisenhower

Leapfrogging Containment: The Suez Crisis

Hungary: Upheaval in the Empire

Khrushchev's Ultimatum: The Berlin Crisis 1958-63

Concepts of Western Unity: Macmillan, de Gaulle, Eisenhower, and Kennedy

Vietnam: Entry into the Morass; Truman and Eisenhower

Vietnam: On the Road to Despair; Kennedy, and Johnson

Vietnam: The Extrication; Nixon

Foreign Policy as Geopolitics: Nixon's Triangular Diplomacy

Détente and Its Discontents

The End of the Cold War: Reagan and Gorbachev

The New World Order Reconsidered