If the combination of superb political skills and a powerful intelligence were enough to make a 'philosopher-king' such as Plato dreamed of, the Dutch 'Grand Pensionary' John de Witt (1625-72) would fit the prescription as well as any statesman in history. Manoeuvring among the powers of Europe in the period of France's growing ascendancy, and facing the bitter commercial and political rivalry of the English, he managed to preserve the eminent position the United Provinces had reached when Spain recognized their independence at Munster in 1648. Not until the kings of France and England combined against the Republic in 1672 did De Witt's political system, called the 'True Freedom' and consisting of the maximum autonomy of the provinces and the exclusion of Prince William III of Orange from high office, collapse during the French invasion, an event accompanied by the horrific assassination of De Witt and his brother Cornelius. (view table of contents)

Examines the belief that all history is a succession of civilizations developing from the East to the West, and how this heliotropic myth is altered by contemporary conditions

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A portrait of the twenty-eighth president reveals how his unyielding idealism clashed with the reality of international politics

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Product Description: The scope of this study is narrow-the activities of a single ambas­ sador for little more than two years. The problem it treats is wide and universal-the origins of a great war. There can be no adequate history of the relations between states whieh does not take into account the knowledge, judgment and deci­ sions of individual statesmen...read more