Talleyrand. Secret Diplomacy

This volume of the Jubilee Collection of the works of the outstanding Russian historian, academician E.V. Tarle opens with one of his most famous books – "Talleyrand". The main character of this vivid study is the French politician and diplomat,... an unparalleled master of political intrigue Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, the true "father of lies" of European diplomacy, whose name has become synonymous with cunning, craftiness, agility, manipulation, political conformity, and unscrupulousness. Diverse academic knowledge, a deep command of the research topic, the ability to provide accurate characterizations of historical figures, imagery, emotionality, irony – in other words, all that, combined with a keen attention to detail, are characteristic features of E.V. Tarle's works, manifested in this study with all the brilliance of the author's literary talent. It is not surprising that the book "Talleyrand", first published in 1939 and significantly supplemented in the 1948 edition, not only established E.V. Tarle's international authority as a specialist in the study of European politics but also brought him worldwide fame as the author of epochal historical bestsellers. The volume is complemented by studies, lectures, and speeches of E.V. Tarle dedicated to the mechanisms and intricacies of diplomacy in the vibrant period of European history: the late 18th to the first half of the 19th century. A wonderful visual addition to the publication is the carefully selected and precisely placed documentary illustrative material throughout the narrative, representing the key figures of the era, as well as the circumstances and places of confrontation among the major world powers in fulfilling their territorial interests – France, England, Russia, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Ottoman Empire.