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As this introductory study argues, state socialist experts dispatched for Africa during the Cold War were an important current in global transfers of knowledge. The paper introduces the scholarship on socialist experts and their relations to international organizations, modernization theory and the concept of development. Furthermore, it also delves into the personal experience of the experts in the place of their positioning and how they affected and were affected by the environment they were sent to. The paper thus summarizes the state of art and explores the possibilities of where the research might go from here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows and analyses the issue of the relations between Nepal and the Ch'ing Empire from the British point of view during the last months of the Manchu authority in China. Nepal, a buffer state between India and Tibet, represented for the British an important and decisive ally in South Asia. The first part of the work will be dedicated to an analysis of the political and geopolitical status of Nepal compared to Britain and China of the Ch'ing Dynasty. The second part, which further develops the first, enters into the specifics of a tribute that the Himalayan country should have offered the Emperor P'u-i. The Hsin-hai Revolution of 1911 put an end to imperial power in China and would lead to the establishment of the republic and would resolve issues and misunderstandings between the countries. The paper pays particular attention to the correspondence between the then Nepalese Prime Minister, Chandra Shum Shere, and the British Resident in Nepal, John Manners Smith. The research takes as a benchmark the wider scenario of the period immediately following the end of the Great Game and the decline of the Manchu power. The guideline and key to interpretation of the documents reflects the perspective of the geopolitical and strategic interests of the British Empire in Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper describes the modern history of international relations based on the liberalism-constructivism approach. The main goal is to decrease the importance of the state in international relations and to point out the importance of a number of other actors that influence communication in international relations (multinational companies, non-state actors, new social movements, media, etc.). Such expansion is also of importance for the Czechoslovak and West German relations in the 1950s and 1960s. At that time, official diplomatic relations did not exist, therefore the communication transpired via these non-state actors. Scientific workplaces focusing on the area of international relations played a key role in this process, namely the Czechoslovak Ústav pro mezinárodní politiku a ekonomii and the West German Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik. However even these scientific institutions were influenced by the ideological and institutional settings of each respective country. The Ústav pro mezinárodní politiku a ekonomii in many aspects simply repeated propaganda statements of the Communist government towards West Germany. Due to its own activities aimed at the Czechoslovak and West German relations in the 1960s and the effort to gain a more independent position, it was disbanded in early 1970s. A new workplace was created instead, which was once again fully subordinate to the Communist party. On the other hand, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik represents a modern think-tank created in the Anglo-Saxon world. In many propositions, the analysis formed their own, independent stances that often contradicted the official views of the West German government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sons-in-law and their role in Přemyslid Bohemia (A contribution to the foreign policy of Czech monarchs from the end of the 10th to the beginning of the 14th century.) The study shows the importance of marriages of the daughters of Czech rulers of Přemyslide period to the political goals of their fathers. An analysis of the known facts about the marriages of the Přemyslids and their partners shows that the choice of partners of the ruler's descendants was subordinated to their political interests and goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article's goal is to introduce the thesis that not only the constitutional and socio-economic agendas of states but also international affairs strongly influence the formation of various human communities and their political programmes, and that this interaction was often no less important than these other factors in the rise of 19th century nationalism. By combining the history of international politics, international law, social history and ethics the article reveals a completely new story of the Italians' reception of and response to diplomatic affairs in the 1840s. At that time a considerable number of them felt that the heritage of the Congress of Vienna was being eroded and that the world was becoming increasingly insecure. This conviction was primarily caused by the abuse of power by the most powerful states at the expense of weaker ones in Europe as well as the former's imperialist policies in more remote regions. The increasing mistrust in the great powers' policies and in the stability of the whole structure of the post-Napoleonic states system gave rise to a conviction that the security of their own countries in the world where the rule of force dominated was to be best preserved by material strength, which also made the Italians more willing to accept whatsoever kind of political unity based upon the concept of nationality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It was fifty years ago, in 1968 that the "Prague spring", an experiment to create "Socialism with a human face" was born in Czechoslovakia. Through the documents of Hungarian radio broadcasts, this study will trace the most significant events of the reform movement led by Alexander Dubček. The broadcast information, in its various programs, was almost invariably based on the reports of TASS, the Soviet Telegraph Agency and MTI, the Hungarian News Agency. However, the news actually aired was often re-shaped and augmented by the editors. The radio broadcasts were careful in dealing with the role of party leaders, such as of Janos Kadar. The Czechoslovakian situation remained the principle topic of the Hungarian political and public life for several months, especially in connection with the introduction of the "new economic reform" in Hungary. In the radio, the editors kept avoiding any reference to any similarity between the "Prague Spring" and the new Hungarian economic reform. The goal of the silence was to protect the Hungarian reform from interference from Moscow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Italian aggression against Abyssinia (Ethiopia) in 1935 placed Czechoslovak diplomacy in a predicament. On the one hand, as a member state of the League of Nations, the First Czechoslovak Republic was obliged to preserve the integrity and independence of other League members, including Abyssinia, and to apply at least economic sanctions against any aggressor. On the other hand, as a product of the First World War, Czechoslovakia was highly interested in maintaining the post-war order in Central Europe against growing German revisionism. Here, apart from France and Great Britain, Czechoslovak diplomats put their hopes in Italy as well and were particularly anxious to gain Mussolini for the defence of Austria. In light of this dilemma, the article examines the attitude and behaviour of foreign minister Edvard Beneš, who was not only Czechoslovakia's leading diplomat but also the country's principal actor in the League of Nations, where the Abyssinian crisis had been on the agenda since the beginning of 1935. As far as Beneš' role in the League is concerned, the study focuses on the sixteenth Assembly in autumn 1935, of which Beneš was elected president. While previous works on Czechoslovakia's Abyssinian policy are mainly based on documents from the Archives of the Czechoslovak Foreign Ministry, this article also uses sources from the League of Nations Archives in Geneva and the Archives of the Masaryk-Institute in Prague. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on analysing the positions of Great Britain and selected Dominions (Canada, Australia and New Zealand) towards Japan in the 1920s and early 1930s. It particularly focuses on the circumstances of the establishment of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance and the questions raised in relation to British attempts at extending the alliance in 1921. In the end, international circumstances and the treaties signed at the Washington Conference led to the end of the alliance. The Far Eastern Crisis of 1931-1932 repeatedly forced British and Dominion, especially Australian, representatives to take a position on Japanese foreign policy and Tokyo's aspirations. When the endeavour to deal with the disputes at the League of Nations failed, Australia decided to send a special mission led by Sir John Greig Latham to the Far East and the Pacific in order to consolidate friendly relations with neighbouring countries and attempt to solve mutual problems and conflicts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study uses unpublished sources from the National Archives in London and scientific literature to analyse the British Legation in Prague's perception of Czech-German relations in Czechoslovakia up to 1933. After some initial fumbling caused by a lack of knowledge of the Central European region following the collapse of Austria-Hungary, responsible officials in London decided to wait for the outcome of the peace conference in Paris. At the same time, British diplomats acknowledged that they would have to rely on co-operation with France in the region, and as a result indirectly supported French claims and demands; once the peace conference had ended, however, Great Britain focused on its own issues and the affairs of its empire. At the start of the 1920s, the British diplomatic mission in Prague also settled in its position and the first Minister, George Clerk, provided unbiased information on Czech-German coexistence within Czechoslovakia, and partially acknowledged that both sides were right (he understood some of the Germans' objections), but on the other hand he clearly recognised the new state and perceived its minorities policy as very accommodating, and respecting international obligations. Following the calm period of the 1920s when even the British Legation in Prague remarked on the qualitative shift in relations between both ethnicities, the beginning of the 1930s arrived alongside the economic crisis, which transformed the domestic political situation within the First Czechoslovak Republic. According to British Minister, Joseph Addison, the position of the largest minority in the country had deteriorated, something he thought was due to the fact that Czechoslovak officials were breaching the Minority Treaty and were not doing enough for the wellbeing of its German population, and that this did not bode well for the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After Japan was forced to open its ports to the western powers, by the threat of western navies, it was further compelled to sign unequal treaties with the Great Powers. This triggered a sonnō jōi movement led by young samurai, who criticized the ruling Tokugawa regime for its concessions to the foreigners. They therefore sought to expel the Westerners and close the country to their trade. Their second task was to bring the downfall of the shogunate and the restoration of the Imperial rule. In order to achieve this, many radical samurai mounted murderous attacks against the foreigners. One of the most serious of these incidents occurred in September 1862, when British merchant Charles Lennox Richardson was murdered by samurai from the Satsuma domain. Apart from the previous attacks this time the culprits could be identified. British minister to Japan Colonel Neale therefore demanded the punishment of the assailants and an indemnity from the bakufu for its inability to secure lives and safety of British nationals. The Tokugawa government tried to resist and resorted to delaying tactics because of its fear of internal impact, if it yielded. It was only after the British representatives demonstrated, that they are willing to use the naval forces at their disposal, that bakufu submitted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Pan-Garman League was established as a pressure group of German nationalists and "defenders of national interests" in the consequence of the release of the Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty in 1890. Its founder and an important member was Alfred Hugenberg, who managed to gain support and cooperation of existing nationalist and colonial societies in Germany. The Pan-German League (Alldeutscher Verband) was established owing to the Hugenberg's activity in 1891. Although, the colonial policy of Germany was its first primary issue, its interest gradually started to shift towards the Central Europe. The membership of the League was comprised not only of university professors, teachers, clergymen, doctors of medicine, office workers or army officers, but also of important politicians or industrialists. The activity of the League was concentrated primarily on the strengthening of German nationalist ideas in the internal politics of German Empire and the support of the spreading of German cultural influence abroad. The league's core ideology was a conviction of the German nation's exclusive mission, right and duty to build a strong Central European and colonial power. To this end, it pursued an aggressive and confident expansionist policy, demanded the broadening of its colonial domination in the world, and promoted the building of a strong navy and other measures which were meant to secure the German Empire a place amongst the great powers of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based upon the thorough research of primary archival as well as published sources and scholar literature, the article deals with the rumour of Metternich's alleged project for an Italian league in 1833, revealing the falsity of this imputation and proving that even if such a project actually existed at that time, not the Austrian chancellor but the king of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, Ferdinand II, was its author. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The events of the Slovak-Hungarian "Little War" are closely connected to the circumstances of Hungary's re-annexation of Sub-Carpathia in March 1939, which took place under the motto of re-establishing a common Hungarian-Polish border. Corps belonging to the Carpathian section of the Hungarian army advanced into Sub-Carpathia and then proceeded to attack Slovak territories. Hungary's official explanation for its occupation of Sub-Carpathia ran as follows: since Slovakia has become an independent state and thus Czechoslovakia no longer exists as a state, the Viennese arbitration is no longer valid. Hungary has won the right to exercise its claim to Sub-Carpathia. The military conflict between Slovakia and Hungary came to an end when Germany intervened and ordered the two parties to conduct bilateral negotiations with a view to reaching an agreement. At the negotiations on March 28, 1939, the parties agreed to end hostilities and to establish a neutral zone between the two armies. They also agreed that Hungarian troops might remain at their occupied positions. On March 28 the Slovak delegation announced claims on Hungarian territory by way of compensation, but the Hungarian government rejected these claims. Germany offered no support to the Slovaks on the border issue; indeed, on April 7 Slovak troops were even required to withdraw from various settlements on the Slovak side of the demarcation line. On April 3, 1939, the German Ambassador to Budapest, Otto von Erdmannsdorff, paid a visit to the Hungarian foreign minister, István Csáky; in the course of their discussions, the two men touched upon the issue of the border established with Slovakia. The Ambassador informed Csáky that the Slovak government had turned to Germany for support, but that it had been told that under the circumstances any attempt at the full restoration of the old border, which was Slovakia's wish, would be futile. The German Ambassador then asked Csáky whether the Hungarian government would be willing to make certain territorial concessions. Csáky responded that this would be inconceivable — "where Hungarian soldiers have trodden, they will stay". Hungary could keep the 60-kilometre long and 20-kilometre wide strip of land that it had taken from Slovakia. The Hungarian authorities attached the area of land Sub-Carpathia, of which it remained a part until 1944. In 1945 the newly re-established Czechoslovakia was obliged to surrender the railway line between Csap and Ungvár as well as the Ung line: the Czechoslovak-Soviet border — today's frontier between Slovakia and Ukraine — was drawn ten to fifteen kilometres further west. During its engagements with the Slovak armed forces from March 23-28, 1939, the Hungarian army suffered 25 fatal and 56 non-fatal casualties; it captured 360 Slovak and 211 Czech/Moravian soldiers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This contribution is focused on the analysis of the establishment of the Committee of Imperial Defence and the British-Dominion relations from 1904 to 1911. The formation of the first dominions by linking the until-then Self-governing Colonies together raised the question of what the position of the new Dominions to their mother country and the other parts of the Empire was. Before the outbreak of the First World War, matters related to the Dominion status were discussed at several Colonial, from 1907 Imperial Conferences; however, neither British nor Dominion politicians managed to reach an agreement or a complex solution. In fact, only partial solutions were adopted. At the turn of the 19th and 20th century, the British Government began to pursue defence matters intensively. A lot of foreign-policy issues, and in particular fear of German naval armaments, had a profound influence on the debate; indeed, this was the case to the extent that the significance of the second influential imperial institution, i.e. the Imperial Defence Committee, rose. Even though the system of imperial conferences, that served as a forum where crucial questions dealing with imperial, foreign, defence and economic policies were decided, was institutionalised and firmly "anchored" in the imperial structure, it had to compete with the powerful Imperial Defence Committee. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the years 1965–1968 Nicolae Ceaușescu came to the partial liberalization of the communist regime in Romania, in order to find a clear position both in domestic and in foreign policy. This fact regarded also the minority policy, which had never been very tolerant since the very beginning of the communist rule. But at least partial steps were undertaken by the RCP leadership in order to win the support of the Hungarian population in Transylvania. The administrative reform in 1968 brought the creation of two new counties with the majority Hungarian population. The meeting of the Romanian leadership with the Hungarian elites, as well as the more frequent visits of Ceaușescu and other party representatives in Transylvania foreshadowed his increasing interest in dealing more intensively with the minority issue. The establishment of the Councils of Workers of Hungarian nationality brought the discussion at least temporary onto the top level of the RCP hierarchy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]