ABSTRACT
Diplomats became scapegoats during the First World War in order to protect the rest of the state machineries from being questioned by the war-fatigued Europeans. The 'old diplomats' became associated with balance-of-power politics, secret treaties and the willingness to pursue a hard line, including armed force, as a requisite of effective diplomacy. Yet, like spa cures, old diplomacy worked well for the society that produced it. Its personal, urbane, cosmopolitan style suited the largely royal and aristocratic political order. Contacts at spas were a customary form of informal diplomacy, serving various needs, from defusing crises to sounding the other party out prior to official meetings within an agreeable and helpful setting. The 'open' diplomacy championed by a new political order after 1919 meant the self-determination of nations, popular control of foreign policy and the rational settlement of disputes by arbitration and through a supranational organization. Social origins and the manners of diplomats have changed, but not the content of politics.
