The Origins of Detente: The Genoa Conference and Soviet-Western Relations, 1921–1922 (Cambridge Russian, Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies, Series Number 50)

The Genoa Conference of April-May 1922 saw the first serious and sustained attempt to negotiate a modus vivendi between the newly established Soviet government in Moscow and the western capitalist countries that surrounded it. Drawing upon a wide range of archival and other sources, many of them unfamiliar or previously unexplored for this purpose, this study traces the evolution of Soviet-Western relations from the Revolution up to the autumn of 1921, when the proposal for a conference first began to emerge, and then considers in more detail the course of preconference diplomacy and the proceedings of the conference itself, up to the early summer of 1922. In his final chapter Dr White argues that the failure to resolve East-West differences at Genoa was attributable to a variety of circumstances, but above all to a failure of political will. Contents......Page 6 Preface......Page 8 Abbreviations......Page 14 Technical note......Page 16 1 Europe and Russia after the war......Page 18 2 Approaching the Russian problem......Page 46 3 From Cannes to Boulogne......Page 69 4 Diplomatic preliminaries......Page 90 5 Soviet Russia and Genoa......Page 114 6 The conference opens......Page 138 7 Rapallo......Page 164 8 Closing stages......Page 186 9 Genoa and after......Page 209 Notes......Page 229 Select bibliography......Page 255 Index......Page 266 Cambridge University Pre Contents 6 Preface 8 Abbreviations 14 Technical note 16 1 Europe and Russia after the war 18 2 Approaching the Russian problem 46 3 From Cannes to Boulogne 69 4 Diplomatic preliminaries 90 5 Soviet Russia and Genoa 114 6 The conference opens 138 7 Rapallo 164 8 Closing stages 186 9 Genoa and after 209 Notes 229 Select bibliography 255 Index 266 9780521526173,9780521308762 This study traces the evolution of Soviet-Western relations from the Revolution up to the autumn of 1921, when the proposal for a conference first began to emerge, and then discusses the course of preconference diplomacy and the proceedings of the conference itself, up to the early summer of 1922. The Genoa Conference of April-May 1922 was the twentieth in a series of inter-Allied gatherings which took place after the end of the First World War and which has subsequently become known to historians as the period of 'conference diplomacy'. An account of the failure of the 1922 Genoa Conference to resolve East-West differences Stephen White. Includes Index. Bibliography: P. 238-248.