British Diplomacy at the 1922 Conference in Genoa

Abstract

The paper highlights the diplomatic struggle between British and Soviet delegations at the international economic conference in Genoa which was held in the period from 10 April to 19 May 1922. As the author demonstrates, the participants of the prime post-war forum focused on the settlement of the so called “Russian question” relating to Soviet Russia’s acknowledgment of foreign debts in return to Moscow’s commitment to repay them, including pre-war financial obligations and loans made by the tsarist and Provisional governments throughout the global armed conflict. The study entirely reveals the inability to score a compromise on virtually all the problems, both political and economic that were raised by British diplomacy on the eve and during the Genoa conference.