Diplomacy originated in the system of conducting relations between the states of classical Greece. It revived in medieval Europe and grew in importance in the relations between the city states of Renaissance Italy and the emerging states of post-Reformation Europe.

The Congress of Vienna, 1815, regularized a system of permanent diplomacy between states. The great powers exchanged embassies and ambassadors, while relations involving smaller powers were conducted through legations and ministers. A recognized diplomatic profession developed, characterized by the aristocracy of its members and the secrecy of its methods. After the First World War more open or democratic diplomacy flourished for a short while. At the end of the Second World War the distinction between embassies and legations was abandoned, and ambassadors proliferated, especially when new states were formed from the European colonies.

Some writers have identified distinct styles of diplomacythe European style with its ...more