Ernest Satow – författare

Originally published in 1908, this book presents the content of the Rede Lecture for that year, which was delivered by Sir Ernest Satow at Cambridge University. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in European history and diplomacy.

Recruited straight from university, Ernest Satow (1843-1929) became one of the most respected British diplomats, particularly in Japan, where he is still remembered. After a career spent mostly in the rapidly developing Far East, he retired in 1906. Just before the outbreak of war, he was asked to compile a work on international diplomacy, and 'Satow', as it has become known, was first published in 1917, and in updated versions has not been out of print since. Satow's work was pioneering, there being at that time no comprehensive study in English of diplomacy. Volume 1 covers the history of international diplomacy, its practice and legal matters, and is notable for the author's clear language, and the inclusion of often whimsical anecdotes to illustrate a point in discussion. Writing at a time of enormous international upheaval, Satow provides an illuminating insight into diplomacy before the age of instant communications.

Recruited straight from university, Ernest Satow (1843-1929) became one of the most respected British diplomats, particularly in Japan, where he is still remembered. After a career spent mostly in the rapidly developing Far East, he retired in 1906. Just before the outbreak of war, he was asked to compile a work on international diplomacy, and 'Satow', as it has become known, was first published in 1917, and in updated versions has not been out of print since. Satow's work was pioneering, there being at that time no comprehensive study in English of diplomacy. Volume 2 concentrates on international conferences and congresses from 1648. Lasting weeks, and sometimes months, such gatherings were often, until well into the twentieth century, the only occasion when heads of state or government met face to face. We still live today with the consequences of many of these meetings.

A brilliant linguist, Sir Ernest Satow (1843-1929) was recruited into the British consular service as a student interpreter in 1861. The following year he arrived in Japan, where he witnessed the overthrow of the Tokugawa Shogunate and the Meiji restoration of imperial rule. Drafted in the 1880s while he was consul-general in Bangkok, this 1921 account is based on the voluminous diaries Satow kept whilst in Japan between 1862 and 1869. As an interpreter he was present at many of the meetings between the diplomatic and military representatives of the Great Powers and of the Shogunate. Satow gives his opinions of the various officials he met, and describes the rising tensions that led to conflict between the Shogunate and the Emperor, civil war, and the reassertion of the Emperor's power. Satow's classic Guide to Diplomatic Practice (1917) is also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection.