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. Diplomatie history, though only a part, is a necessary part of the history of international relations. Within a more or less c10sely circumscribed range of possibilities, men in power choose between alternative policies, with results they may or may not have...