Overview

Mary S. Barton explores counterterrorism in the years between World War I and World War II, starting with the attempted assassination of French Prime Minister George Clemenceau in 1919, and taking the story up to and beyond the double assassination of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia and French Foreign Minister Jean Louis Barthou in 1934. In telling the story of counterterrorism over this period, Barton gives particular emphasis to Britain's attempts to quell revolutionary nationalist movements in India and throughout its empire, and to the Great Powers' combined efforts to counter the activities of the Communist International. Further to this, Barton discusses the establishment of the tools and infrastructure of modern intelligence, including the cooperation between the United Kingdom and United States which would evolve into the Five Eyes intelligence alliance. She gives weight to forgotten terrorism and arms traffic conventions, and explores the facilitating role which the Paris Peace Conference and the League of Nations played in this context. The stories told in Counterterrorism Between the Wars play out across the world, from the remains of the Austro-Hungarian, German, and Russian empires, to the Northwest Frontier and the Bengal Province of British India. A century after the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, Counterterrorism Between the Wars is the first comprehensive study to fit together the mass production of weapons during the Great War with the diplomacy of the interwar era and the rise of state-sponsored terrorism during the 1920s and 1930s.

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9780198864042

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Reviews

Mary Barton recovers a forgotten side of the interwar period, an explosion of global terrorism sparked by a combustible mix of surplus weapons, nationalist movements, and state-sponsored violence. Her rigorously researched, perceptive analysis of the Great Powers' responses illuminates the origins as well as the limits of international counterterrorism efforts today. * Katherine Unterman, Associate Professor of History, Texas A&M University * This fascinating, exhaustively researched exploration of the complex interaction between terrorist violence, counterterrorism, the international arms race, and state-sponsored terrorism between 1919 and 1937 fills a crucial gap in the historical literature. Moreover, by pointing out parallels between the present-day, seemingly insoluble, dilemmas posed by terrorism and those of the interwar period, the author adds greatly to the significance of this very impressive book. * Richard Bach Jensen, author of The Battle against Anarchist Terrorism: An International History 1878-1934 * A fascinating and insightful analysis of the modern roots of international counter-terrorism operations. This is applied history at its best. Scholars and practitioners alike should give it a close read for its many insights * Michael S. Neiberg, author of The Path to War: How the First World War Created Modern America * Fluidly written, prodigiously researched, and cogently argued, Counterterrorism Between the Wars succinctly tells a story that has long awaited telling. . . . A must-read history of power-held versus power-sought. * Richard Aldrich, Emeritus Marvin Wachman Director, Temple University Center for the Study of Force and Diplomacy * Counterterrorism Between the Wars is a shocking behind-the scenes tale of global assassinations. Drawing back the veil on a secretive world, Mary Barton reveals, for the first time, the international diplomacy triggered by the death and destruction dealt out by the world's first truly international terrorists. * Richard Aldrich, Professor of Politics and International Studies, University of Warwick *

Author Information

Mary S. Barton is a historian and analyst based in Washington, D.C. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Virginia in 2016.

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