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International Government: British Documents on Foreign Affairs

British Documents on Foreign Affairs: Reports & Papers from the Foreign Office Confidential Print

"The Confidential Print comprises diplomatic dispatches and other papers...it is important to note that British diplomats used a wide variety of contemporary sources—newspapers, speeches, government documents, political pamphlets and manifestos, economic statistics, census reports, personal interviews, and formal and informal discussions with the leaders of their host countries—as the factual bases for their dispatches and reports. These sources were not only used and quoted but were frequently translated and included as addenda in the Confidential Print."

Other series not available at UCF:

  • Series B: The Near & Middle East
  • Series E: Asia
  • Series F: Europe
  • Series H: The First World War, 1914-1918
  • Series I: The Paris Peace Conference of 1919
  • Series J: The League of Nations, 1918-1941
  • Series K: Economic Affairs, Cultural Propaganda, & the Reform of the Foreign Office, 1910-1939
  • Series L: World War II & General
  • Series M: International Organizations, Commonwealth Affairs & General

Series A: Russia, Soviet Union & Finland

"Part I examines the internal conditions and international policies of the Russian empire, focusing especially on domestic affairs. Over 500 documents alone discuss the Revolution of 1905, with considerable attention paid to the deeper social forces motivating the revolutionary movements. Other topics covered extensively include the Balkan crisis, the pogroms of the 1880s, and military and foreign affairs - especially Russia's role in the European rivalries that culminated in the the First World War."

Part II -- "This part comprises three five-volume subseries. The first covers the critical period of 1917-1921 - the years that witnessed two revolutions, Allied intervention, and the civil war. The second subseries examines 1921-1931, with special emphasis on the struggle to succeed Lenin, Stalin's rise to power, and the first Five-Year Plan. and the collectivization of agriculture. The final subseries chronicles the period 1932-1939, including the mergence of Stalinist centralized autocracy and the passage of the 1936 constitution. It also offers considerable material on the Soviet financial system, foreign trade, the development of Soviet industry, the Great Purges, and the direction of Soviet military and foreign affairs."

"The documents in Part III cover political, economic, and military affairs; present historical surveys; and record information on heads of missions and other key personalities."

Part IV -- "During this period, the Soviet Union received greater attention from the Foreign Office than any other nation. This concentration is relfected in the volume of print dealing with its affairs, including official statements of Soviet foreign policy."

Series C: North America

Part I: 1837–1914 -- "records an era of territorial ambition and international disputes, of bloody and protracted civil war, and of reconstruction and rapid modernization. These years witnessed America’s rise as a world power, giving Great Britain good reasons to watch her former colony closely. Britain’s territorial claims in North America, her political and economic interests in the future of a divided republic, the need for allies as she braced for world war, and other concerns ensured careful and thorough reporting by the British of events on the North American continent."

Part II: 1919–1939 -- "Volumes 1-15 shed light on virtually every aspect of the postwar and New Deal eras: party politics, social reform movements, the growth of organized labor, prohibition, changes in agriculture, and the government’s new role in a broad range of socioeconomic programs. The documents also thoroughly cover foreign affairs during this era, including U.S. involvement in Central America and the Caribbean, U.S. policy toward the Soviet Union, the increasingly strained relations with Japan, and U.S. responses to the deteriorating political situation in Europe. The final 10 volumes (16–25) of Part II continue the broadly topical arrangement of selections established earlier. Volume 16 traces developments in shipping, trade, and tariff policies between 1926 and 1939. It covers the vast changes between the increasingly high-tariff and nationalistic years of the first decade to the reciprocal trade agreements and Good Neighbor Policy of the second."

Part III: 1940-1945

Part IV: 1946–1950

Series D: Latin America

"Latin America, 1845-1914 illuminates the internal and international affairs of Latin American countries from the mid-19th century to the onset of the First World War. Topics covered include the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty; the treatment of British subjects in Argentina; the Mosquito claims (Nicaragua); the Spanish-Peruvian War; the Peru-Chile "War of the Pacific"; U.S. designs on the Bay of Samana; the neutralization of the Straits of Magellan; attempted revolution in Haiti; railway concessions in Brazil; revolution in Colombia; Honduran external debt; revolution in Chile; claims arising from the Venezuelan revolution; the Panama Canal question; the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty; British arbitration in the Brazil-Bolivia-Paraguay boundary dispute; revolution in Panama; the Mexican agrarian situation; Anglo-Cuban commercial treaty; military report on Cuba; annual reports on the affairs of the Latin American republics; and the Platt Amendment."

"Latin America, 1914-1939 covers domestic and foreign affairs in Mexico, Central America, and Latin America for the years between the First and Second World Wars. Subjects include Latin America and World War I; Pan-American Conferences; Argentina and the Falkland Islands; U.S. relations with Latin American republics; crisis in church-state relations in Mexico; the Chaco War; the League of Nations and Latin American disputes; constitutional crisis in Cuba; the Montevideo Conference; the growth of the Brazilian Communist movement and attempted revolution in Brazil; quarterly reports on the economies of the Latin American republics; growth of German influence in Latin America; the Mexican political crisis; the rise of Anastasio Somoza; U.S.-Panamanian Canal Treaty; Nicaraguan-Honduran boundary dispute; Mexican oil concessions; and reports on leading Latin American personalities."

"The documents in Part III cover political, economic, and military affairs; present historical surveys; and record information on heads of missions and other key personalities in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, El Salvador, Uruguay, and Venezuela."

"Information from South America focuses on Argentina, Brazil, and Peru, although all South and Central American countries are covered. Revolutions and social policies and situations are monitored in detail. Government budgets or budget proposals are reported on for Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, and other countries. Researchers will be interested in observations on Britain's two noteworthy trouble spots in Latin America-the Falkland Islands question and its effect on Anglo- Argentinian relations, and the Hunduras question and its effect on Anglo-Guatemalan relations."

Series G: Africa

"Part I is distinctive in limiting its coverage to sub-Saharan regions and in drawing heavily on sources in the Colonial Office Confidential Print. Foreign Office documents in this area are often too narrowly limited to diplomatic exchanges among European powers to throw much light on events and issues within Africa itself. Combining the two Confidential Prints has given the editors an abundance of material for selection."

Part II covers from the First to the Second World War.

"The documents in Part III cover political, economic, and military affairs; present historical surveys; and record information on heads of missions and other key personalities. The countries and regions encompassed in Part III include Egypt, Sudan, Abyssinia, Liberia, Morocco, Tangier, French North and West Africa, the Belgian Congo, Madagascar, and Mozambique."

"For this period, the Prints concentrate on Egypt, particularly the negotiations on the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of Alliance. There is also coverage of the Sudan, the Suez Canal, Ethiopia, Morocco, Liberia, and issues such as Egyptian-Sudanese relations. Most of the African colonies of European powers receive only brief mention."