| Abstract: | This article examines the charge that, especially during the period when Sir Robert Vansittart was Permanent Under-Secretary, the Foreign Office was anti-German in its orientation. It also analyzes the role played by three successive ambassadors, Sir Horace Rumbold, Sir Eric Phipps and Sir Nevile Henderson in influencing the Foreign Office perception of Germany, and examines the Foreign Office's attitude to the anti-Nazi Germany opposition. Finally, the article looks at the evidence for continuity between the Vansittart period, and that which followed under Sir Alexander Cadogan, before concluding that the latter was more inclined to accept the appeasement of Germany. |
