Westphalia and the rise of modern diplomacy -- Force, order, and diplomacy in the age of Louis XIV -- The heyday of the balance of power: Frederick the Great and the decline of the old regime -- The French Revolution: "a virus of a new and unknown kind" -- War and order: the "juggernaut of war" meets a "legitimate" peace -- On appeasement and parvenus: managing the challenge of new power -- On coercive diplomacy and the American foreign affairs experience.