World Order: Reflections on the Character of Nations and the Course of History

A balance of power is a type of international relations in which no one single state dominates other states or meddles in their domestic politics.

The Balfour Declaration (1917) was a statement issued by Britain that supported Zionism, that is, establishing a state for the Jewish people in historic Palestine.

The Congress of Vienna took place from 1814 to 1815. It was an international conference designed to settle the international relations in Europe after the Napoleonic wars.

Détente is a period of improved relations between states. One of the most famous examples of détente took place during the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union in the early 1970s.

Geopolitics is the relationship between geography and politics within the framework of international relations.

The Russian, Prussian, and Austrian monarchies formed the Holy Alliance in 1815 as a stronghold against revolution in the wake of the Napoleonic wars.

The Khomeini Revolution, or the Iranian Revolution, occurred in 1979. Prior to this event, Iran was led by the Shah and was a somewhat Western-facing, secular country. After the revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini became the Supreme Leader, and Iran became the Islamic Republic.

Manifest Destiny was a term coined in the 1840s in reference to the American expansion westward across the continent. This expansion was believed to be divinely sanctioned.

Guerilla militants who fought against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan and were aided by the US. These fighters later produced a number of extremist, terrorist organizations.

The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), signed in 1968, was one of the key agreements meant to curb the proliferation of nuclear weapons around the world.

The Peace of Westphalia was a settlement, signed at Osnabrück and Münster, that concluded the devastating Thirty Years' War in 1648. The most important aspect of this settlement was the idea of the coexistence of independent, sovereign states through the balance of power. To Kissinger, this notion has been the source of global order up until very recently. He examines its benefits and drawbacks throughout this book.

The monarchies of Great Britain, Russia, Austria, and Prussia formed the Quadruple Alliance (1815) in the wake of the Napoleonic wars.

Realpolitik is an accepted German term that refers to conducting politics based on rational, pragmatic interests rather than ideology or morality.

The Revolutions of 1848 were the widespread unrest throughout Europe in that year, including Italy, Austria, Germany, France, and Sicily against their respective monarchies. The revolutions were unsuccessful, and a reactionary period followed causing disillusionment among the protesters.

Strategic Arms Limitation Talks took place in the 1970s between the United States and the Soviet Union discussing the limitations on producing strategic missiles that could carry nuclear weapons.

The Treaty of Portsmouth (1905) was an agreement to formally end the Russo-Japanese (1904-1905) war, which Russia lost to Japan. President Theodore Roosevelt acted as one of the brokers of this treaty. He received the Nobel Peace Prize for his input in the negotiations.

The Treaty of Sèvres was signed by several European powers and the former Ottoman Empire. This treaty effectively established the borders in the Middle East.