First World War
During the First World War his language skills led to his employment as an Intelligence Officer in the Balkans. Later, as an under-secretary in Lloyd George's national government, he helped draft the Balfour Declaration (1917). He also encouraged Ze'ev Jabotinsky in the formation of the Jewish Legion for the British Army in Palestine.
Amery was an opponent of the idea of a League of Nations that was canvassed during the war as he believed that the world was not equal and therefore a League of Nations that treated all states as equals with equal voting rights was absurd. Amery instead believed that the world was tending to larger and larger states, with the outcome resulting in a balanced world of inherently stable units. He contrasted this idea favourably to President Woodrow Wilson's "facile slogan of self-determination".
Read more about this topic: Leo Amery
Famous quotes containing the words world war, world and/or war:
“Surely there is not a capitalist or well-informed person in this world today who believes that [World War I] is being fought to make the world safe for democracy. It is being fought to make the world safe for capital.”
—Rose Porter Stokes (1879–1933)
“Thou all sweetness dost enclose
Like a little world of bliss.
Beauty guards thy looks: the rose
In them pure and eternal is.”
—Thomas Campion (1567–1620)
“A sergeant of the lawe, war and wys,
That often hadde been at the Parvys,
Ther was also, ful riche of excellence.”
—Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?–1400)