Tuffnell, Kevin Douglas; (2022) 'A safe and honourable peace': British political discourse, politics and policy formation in the making of the Treaty of Utrecht, 1708 to 1713. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

By 1708, Britain and her Allies – principally the States-General and the Holy Roman Emperor - had been fighting the War of the Spanish Succession for six years, and Britain had been at war for sixteen years of the previous twenty-one. War weariness was widespread, and the focus of British politics turned increasingly to securing peace, an objective attained with the conclusion of the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. This dissertation presents a holistic analysis of British domestic politics, foreign policy-making and diplomacy surrounding the peace negotiations, and is positioned at the intersection of three principal historiographical strands: those concerning discourse and the public sphere, British politics in the age of Queen Anne, and the formation and implementation of foreign policy. The analysis is undertaken primarily through the prism of contemporary discourse across a broad range of categories, ranging from the official statements of governments, through wider foreign policy debate involving the opposition and the media, to cultural representations, demonstrations and public celebrations. Establishing the central role of political discourse in both the shaping and validation of British foreign policy in the making of the peace, this dissertation provides significant insights in three principal areas. First, it demonstrates the complexity and inter-relation of the narratives deployed in the contention over the peace. Secondly, it identifies the protagonists, both domestic and foreign, engaged in the propagation, suppression and rebuttal of those narratives, and the means which they employed. Thirdly, it describes the outcomes which those actors sought and achieved: attempting to influence ministers, Parliament, Allies and a politically engaged public with a close interest in foreign affairs. It also sheds light on other issues raised by the historiography: the tension between realist and ideological objectives in foreign policy; the interplay between domestic and foreign policy; and the role of Parliament.

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