The term ‘Internationalism’ (internationalisme; Internationalismus) was coined in the mid-nineteenth century to denote those movements that called for involvement in events beyond national and imperial borders, for negotiated solutions to geopolitical problems, and for the prevention of international disputes. The term also referred to the unprecedented social, economic and technological transformations that had gradually begun shrinking the globe by the late nineteenth century. Simultaneously descriptive and aspirational, ‘Internationalism’ suggested an existing state of affairs while also recommending a process that would bring about a more modern (and, it was presumed, superior) sociopolitical order.