In Search of a European Settlement: Chatham House and British-German Relations, 1920—55

Abstract

The Royal Institute of International Affairs, also known as Chatham House, played a significant role in moulding the public perception of the conflict between Germany and the 'West' in the first half of the twentieth century. This article explores the development of Chatham House studies on the German problem, from the early work carried out by its members during the First World War to their views on the so-called war guilt debate, appeasement, the Nuremberg Trials, and West German post-war reconstruction and rearmament. Arnold Toynbee, who was Director of Studies between 1925 and 1955, and many researchers of his generation, developed, affirmed, and changed their outlook on the German problem based on a complex pattern of transatlantic academic exchanges between the English- and German-speaking worlds. These exchanges not only shaped the conflict between Germany and the West, but also helped to strengthen liberal ideas on international law and parliamentary democracy in Germany after the two World Wars.