A great many people helped in the writing of this book and I cannot thank them all. I would, however, like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to Doohwan Ahn, Ilya Berkovich, Tim Blanning, Arndt Brendecke, Aileen and Richard Bunyan, Christopher Clark, David Cooper, Nicola Craig, Geoffrey Dumbreck, Hazel Dunn, Liam Fitzgerald, Nick Guyatt, Bill Hamilton, Jonathan Haslam, Lara Heimert, Christopher Hill, Rachel Hoffman, Charlie Laderman, the late Miranda Long, Roger Lovatt, Scott Mandelbrote, Heinrich Meier, Patrick Milton, William Mulligan, James Carleton Paget, Mateja Peter, Andrew Preston, Daniel Robinson, James Rogers, Christopher Ross, Magnus Ryan, Liza Soutchek, Jan Vermeiren, Bob Wilkinson, Joachim Whaley, Simon Winder. To this list must be added the staff and students of the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge, the Master of Peterhouse, Adrian Dixon, and all the Fellows of that College not already individually mentioned. I am also deeply indebted to my family, especially my wife, Anita Bunyan, and my parents, David and Anngret Simms. Finally, I thank my children, Hugh, Katherine and Constance, the eldest, to whom this book is dedicated.