Imperial glory or appeasement? The Cliveden Set's influence on British foreign policy during the inter-war period

The Cliveden Set was a 1930s right-wing, upper class group of prominent individuals who were politically influential in Britain during the interwar period. The group's members included notable politicians, journalist, and aristocrats such as Nancy Astor, Geoffrey Dawson, Philip Kerr, Edward Wood, and Robert Brand. The term 'Cliveden Set,' meant as a pejorative term, was coined by journalist Claud Cockburn who wrote for the newspaper The Week. Though initially considered to be a scapegoat for pre-World War two anxieties, the Cliveden Set surreptitiously formulated and enforced a British foreign policy that supported Hitler's rearmament and the annexation of Austria and Czechoslovakia. Their goal in doing so was to preserve British Imperial rule and unification of their dominions. By applying the formula of imperial unification that was demonstrated by Alfred Milner during South African reconstruction, and by adopting the template of imperial preservation exercised by Milner's Kindergarten, The Cliveden Set's role in the developments that led to World War II proves substantial.