A grand strategy of peace is the first detailed account of Britain's role in the creation of the United Nations Organization during the Second World War.
As a work of traditional diplomatic history that brings in elements of intellectual history, the book describes how British officials, diplomats, politicians, and writers previously seen to be secondary actors to the United States in this period thought about, planned for, and helped to establish a future international order. While in the present day, many scholars and analysts have returned to the origins of the post- 1945 international system, this book offers an exhaustive account of how the statesmen and more importantly, the officials working below the statesmen, actually conceived of and worked to establish a post-war world order.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
1 The search for British war aims, September 1939 – December 1940
2 The Foundations of an Anglo-American Order, 1941
3 A Concert of the World, 1942
4 The United Nations Plan, January–July 1943
5 The Balancing Act of a Great Power Peace, August – December 1943
6. Making the Machine: Planning for the Dumbarton Oaks Conference, January – July 1944
7 Delivering on the plans: Dumbarton Oaks, the Veto Question, and a Western Security Group, August 1944 - January 1945
8 The Final Push: Yalta and San Francisco Conferences, February – June 1945
Conclusion
About the Author :
Andrew Ehrhardt is Deputy-Director of the Centre for Grand Strategy and a Research Fellow in the Department of War Studies at King's College London.
Review :
'A fascinating account of how British officials worked during the Second World War on the design of a new world organisation that would somehow preserve British influence, which might otherwise be expected to decline, while promoting collective security.' Sir Lawrence Freedman, Emeritus Professor of War Studies, King's College London
'A grand strategy of peace fills in what has been up to now an underappreciated part of the complex story of how the United Nations came to be. Drawing on extensive research and with a keen eye for both the big picture and the telling detail, Andrew Ehrhardt shows the key role played by British thinking, planning and diplomacy during and just after the Second World War. His book is a major contribution to scholarship as well as a timely reminder of the great issues and challenges which still face the nations of the world today.' Margaret MacMillan, Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Toronto and an Emeritus Professor of International History at Oxford University
