Top Ten Diplomatic Triumphs

A few weeks ago we saw the blunders.  Now the diplomatic wins ranging from ancient Egypt to the Marshall Plan.  

Transcript

Top Ten Diplomatic Triumphs

April 2025

“Diplomacy is the art of telling plain truths without giving offense.”

Winston Churchill

“Diplomacy, of course, is a subtle and nuanced craft, so much so that it’s said that when the wiliest diplomat of the nineteenth century passed away, other diplomats asked, on reports of his death, “What do you suppose the old fox meant by that?”

Ronald Reagan

A few weeks ago, I did a top 10 diplomatic blunders to celebrate a recent mistake. The Oval Office imbroglio centered on Volodymir Zelensky’s argument with JD Vance over whether diplomacy could work with Putin.  Since then, Trump had a phone call with the Russian dictator in which he said no attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure, which he then violated 18 hours later.  This past Palm Sunday, Putin bombed Ukrainian churches, knowing they would be packed—so much diplomizing.  

Before Trump, three presidents thought diplomacy would work with Putin, and all were proven wrong.  But in this game, we will say the presidency has four strikes, not three.  And the fact that Trump already has two strikes, or I should say Putin conducted that many after promising not to, does not look good.  But it is not over; this is not about failures but triumphs! 

When I think of diplomacy, I consider the comment about geology from Andy Dufrane in the movie Shawshank Redemption; it is about pressure and time.  Of the following triumphs, you will not find one settled in a few days or even months.  And in some cases, it was years of painstaking work to hammer out the treaty, pact, or result.  So, diplomacy is as much a mindset as a policy.  

One of the challenges with finding diplomatic successes is finding sources. So much of the focus of this historiography is either around the United States or within the past 300 years. It’s good that those 4700 years of recorded history never happened. So, in addition to the modern period and American geography, I’m attempting to add some other examples and will begin with one on the cusp of civilization itself.  

1.      Narmer unites Egypt 

King Narmer, also known as Menes, is widely credited with uniting Upper and Lower Egypt around 3150 BCE, marking the beginning of a unified Egypt. This event is considered a pivotal moment in ancient Egyptian history, establishing the first unified nation-state in the world. 

Now, a good counter to my inclusion is that Narmer was a conqueror, not a diplomat, which is true. Yet he was so successful in knitting the two halves together that there had to be a piece of diplomacy in there, or a split would have occurred.  

Though a logical dichotomy exists between those in the Nile Delta and those in upper Egypt, this unification would hold for the remainder of Egyptian history until now.  The first capital, Memphis, was at the head of Delta, but the next one, Thebes, was further into upper Egypt.  Then, after Alexander, the capital was on the left side of the Deta, but Egypt still stayed intact.  

And then in one of those life is a circle thing, the capitol established by the Arab Fatimids in 969 is located about 15 miles from Memphis.  

2.      The US-Canadian border

After the unfortunate War of 1812, Anglo-American controversies existed between Canada, then part of the British Empire, and the United States. It was the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842 settled the boundary between northeastern Maine and Canada, the Oregon Treaty of 1846 extended the U.S.-Canadian border to the West coast, and the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty of 1850 provided an understanding of the construction of any future canal across Central America. This also set the tenor for relations up to this day.  Despite the common history and language, we were not originally set up to be natural allies.  

Canada was part of the British Empire for a century and did not officially gain independence until 1982.  There were and still are many instances where one party feels the other is taking advantage. Yet, we have the least patrolled border in history. I get that the relationship is a bit on the ropes today.  But I think that after the Trump imbroglios settle down, we will endeavor to repair our relationship and continue to enjoy each other’s convivial company. 

3.      Lend Lease

This piece comes from the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Library: “By the end of 1940, Great Britain’s war effort against Germany had reached a crisis point. On November 23, Britain’s ambassador to the US, Lord Lothian, arrived at New York’s La Guardia Airport, where he held an impromptu press conference. “Well boys,” he announced to the assembled journalists, “Britain’s broke; it’s your money we want.” The American news media widely reported this remark, and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill questioned its diplomatic tact. Even so, it was no exaggeration.

Through the new Office of Lend-Lease Administration, Roosevelt ordered supplies shipped from US ports to Britain, which received vast quantities of food and war materials by late April. Further, over the succeeding months, Roosevelt exercised his power under the Act to add more countries to the list of aid recipients.

By the end of 1942, the list included the Soviet Union, China, Australia, New Zealand, and the governments-in-exile of Poland, the Netherlands, and Norway. Later, the Free French movement under Charles de Gaulle received supplies, as did a host of new Latin American allies, including Paraguay, Brazil, and Peru.

By the end of January 1945, the US had spent $36,555,000,000, or about 15% of its total war budget. Those numbers would continue to rise through the war’s final months as militaries and civilian populations worldwide received what they needed when and where they needed it. With excellent organizational skills, the Lend-Lease program succeeded in realizing Franklin Roosevelt’s vision of making the United States the arsenal of the Allied war effort.       

4.      The hegemony of the Catholic Church in Europe

In a synod in 1027, the Catholic Church called for a Truce of God, a measure by the medieval Roman Catholic Church to suspend warfare during certain days of the week and during the period of certain church festivals and Lent.  It had success in limiting the internecine warfare that had engulfed Europe since the collapse of the Frankish Holy Roman Empire in the late 900s.  

The Truce of God was most powerful in the 12th century, but with the 13th, its influence waned as the kings gradually gained control over the nobles and substituted the king’s peace for that of the Church.  The Catholic Church significantly influenced medieval European governance through its spiritual authority, wealth, and political power.

In the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church was a dominant force in Europe, wielding considerable influence over the governance of medieval societies. The Church’s spiritual authority was paramount, as it was seen as the intermediary between God and humanity. This gave the Church the power to excommunicate rulers, effectively removing their divine right to rule, which was a powerful tool in controlling monarchs and maintaining political order. The Church also had the power to canonize saints, which could be used to legitimize or delegitimize rulers and their actions.

Instead of power being solely in the hands of rulers, with their personal wants and desires, such power was curbed by the Catholic Church.   Nor did Europe see the religious or nationalistic bloodshed that occurred after the Reformation, particularly in the horrific 30-year war that saw the deaths of nearly 1/3 of Germany or 8 million people.  Despite the Inquisition or calls for Crusade, nothing of murder on this scale had been seen during the 600-1500 period when the Catholic Church held sway.    

Because of the rise of secularism in the 1700s and Protestant historians, the Catholic Church often gets a bad rap.  For example, the Inquisition.  Some historians estimate that between 3,000 and 5,000 people were executed by the Inquisition during its three-century duration. There are too many to be certain of, which is why the US has freedom.  But consider that not in three centuries, but in three years, the French Jacobins killed 10 TIMES that many.  For millions, the Catholic hegemony was a good thing.  

5.      Camp David Accords 

The Camp David Accords were a series of agreements signed by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin following nearly two weeks of secret negotiations at Camp David, the historic country retreat of the United States president. President Jimmy Carter brought the two sides together, and the accords were signed on September 17, 1978. 

The landmark agreement stabilized the fractious relations between Israel and Egypt, though the Camp David Accords’ long-term impact remains debatable. Yet, since then, Israel and Egypt, having gone to war four times from 1948 to 1973, have not been in direct conflict in the intervening 47 years.  

6.      Sparta and Persian Alliance 

After decades of conflicts, including a massive loss for Athens in Sicily, the Peloponnesian War was a stalemate. The Spartans were invincible on land, and the Athenians had rebuilt a powerful navy.  Into this stasis moved the most powerful state in the world at that time, the Persian Empire.  

The influence of Persian support was massive. No Greek city-state could easily bear the financial burden of building and maintaining a large fleet; the sheer cost of naval war meant that the Spartans had the Athenians against the ropes by 413 BC. However, superior naval tactics and generalship allowed the Athenians to wipe out the Spartan fleet three times from 410 to 406, and the pendulum was swinging back towards Athens. 

However, thanks to Persian funding, the Spartans were able to rebuild their fleet each time. When they finally managed to destroy the Athenian fleet in 405 BC, the Athenians had no money left to rebuild it, and their fate was sealed.  

After a brutal 30-year war that would have more than likely ended in a stalemate or a pyrrhic Athenian victory, the Persians tipped the balance. Athens, the leading city-state in Greece for 90 years, never regained its first place in Greece until the end of the Ottomans two millennia later.  

7.      The Marshall Plan 

The Marshall Plan, also known as the European Recovery Program, was a US initiative providing aid to Western Europe following the devastation of World War II. It was enacted in 1948 and provided more than $15 billion to help finance rebuilding efforts on the continent. The brainchild of US Secretary of State George C. Marshall, for whom it was named, it was crafted as a four-year plan to reconstruct cities, industries, and infrastructure heavily damaged during the war and to remove trade barriers between European neighbors—as well as foster commerce between those countries and the United States.

Whereas the punitive Versailles treaty that ended World War I gave rise to German animosities, leveraged by the Nazis, the Marshall Plan not only allowed West Germany to rebuild but to tolerate the presence of US troops, which was a bulwark against Stalinist, Communist intrusions.  

8.      The Peace of Vienna

Randall Lesaffer, writing for Oxford Public International Law, states, “The Congress of Vienna marked the establishment of a new political and legal order for Europe after more than two decades of turmoil and war following the French Revolution. The defeat of Napoleon in 1813–1814 by a massive coalition of powers under the leadership of Britain, Russia, Austria, and Prussia allowed the victorious powers to stabilize Europe. They intended to do this by containing France’s power and recreating the balance between the great powers.

The basic features of the reorganization of Europe from Vienna would survive for more than 5 decades until the German unification. Whereas numerous armed conflicts and wars plagued Europe, the Vienna Order proved at the same time sufficiently grounded and flexible to allow the great powers the leeway necessary to prevent these wars from escalating into a new general war.  It preserved a continental peace (not a regional one) for 100 years.  Given the bellicosity of European powers and the previous centuries of history, this was a landmark, though some of the credit needed to go to Great Britain and the Pax Brittanica. 

9.      Monroe Doctrine 

The Monroe Doctrine, proclaimed in 1823, was a key component of American foreign policy. It stated that the Western Hemisphere was no longer open to European colonization and that the US would not interfere in European affairs, and vice versa. It essentially established separate spheres of influence for the Americas and Europe. 

In an era of American hegemony and the rejection of imperial systems, it is hard to understand how important this was in the early 19th century.  Back then, every European power was anxious to expand its imperial possessions.  Towards the end of that era, Africa was carved up like a Christmas goose.  Though there was no direct impact in terms of China, European powers dictated their trade, naval, and diplomatic practices to the Qing Empire.  The Ottomans held sway over possessions in the Middle East.  

But none of that was to come to the Americas. Around this time, the Spanish Empire collapsed, and Monroe and his Secretary of State, John Quincy Adams, were concerned that other European powers might take advantage of the situation.  

10.  The Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of 1373

The Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of 1373, signed on June 16, 1373, established a treaty of “perpetual friendships, unions [and] alliances” between King Edward III of England and King Ferdinand I and Queen Leonor of Portugal. It remains the oldest treaty still in force today. The treaty included provisions for mutual security and strengthening commercial ties, with subjects of each country granted the right to trade and dwell in the other’s domains. 

When England began its near century-long animosities in Spain from the mid-1500s to mid-1600s, this treaty became important, even when the Habsburgs managed to combine the thrones of Spain and Portugal. From 1580 to 1640, during the Iberian Union, the Anglo-Portuguese Partnership was annulled because of a dynastic union between the monarchs of Spain and Portugal. However, with the restoration of Portugal’s independence, the alliance reemerged, and it rose to new heights during the Napoleonic Wars when the British deployed their best general, the Duke of Wellington. In the Peninsular War, Wellington aimed to weaken Napoleon’s army. 

The oldest treaty in the world was again revived during World War II. The British wanted to avoid taking the conflict to the Iberian Peninsula; thus, the Portuguese remained neutral. In 1943, Winston Churchill’s National Government and Portugal revived the entire system following three months of discussions. An airfield and nautical facilities were supplied to Britain in the Azores to aid in the war against U-boats. 

Portugal’s support came to England (now the United Kingdom) when it needed it most, and vice versa. The Anglo-Portuguese Alliance has grown into a broad intergovernmental military alliance called NATO, which includes North American and European countries spending more than $1 billion annually on military investment. It is the world’s oldest and most active military collaboration. 

Agree with picks. Let me know in the comments section of my substack page.