Postwar Legacy of Appeasement

R. Gerald Hughes is Reader in the Department of International Politics at Aberystwyth University, UK.

• List of figuresAcknowledgementsForeword by Lord Hennessy of NympsfieldIntroduction: Present histories and past follies: the legacy of appeasement and British foreign policy since 19451. In the footsteps of Cromwell: an empire against two evils, 1941–532. Churchill and Locarno, Eden and Geneva: the limits and possibilities of diplomacy3. ‘I have never thought Nasser a Hitler’: Suez and the shadow of Munich4. ‘I will be no Mr. Chamberlain’: Harold Macmillan and Berlin, 1958–625. Helsinki, 1975: Nuclear age Westphalia, Versailles or Munich?6. ‘We have ceased to be a nation in retreat’: Margaret Thatcher, the Falklands War and the negation of Munich and Suez7. In pursuit of a ‘New World Order’: liberating Kuwait, 1990–18. Appeasement and the politics of obstructionism: Britain and the dissolution of Bosnia9. ‘History will be my judge’: Blair’s wars and the moral case against appeasementConclusion: Appeasement, British foreign policy and history BibliographyIndex

Hughes has made a major contribution to understanding British foreign policy in the post-war era ... [A] highly original work that will reward study by anyone interested in the history of international relations.