War and Peace vocabulary

The Cliveden Set were a 1930s, upper class group of prominent individuals politically influential in pre-World War II Britain, who were in the circle of Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor. The name comes from Cliveden, the stately home in Buckinghamshire, which was then Astor's country residence.

The "Cliveden Set" tag was coined by Claud Cockburn in his journalism for the Communist newspaper The Week. It has long been widely accepted that this aristocratic Germanophile social network was in favour of friendly relations with Nazi Germany and helped create the policy of appeasement. John L. Spivak, writing in 1939, devotes a chapter to the Set.

This group ostensibly wanted to appease Germany in the leadup to WWII. According to wikipedia this may have been specious propoganda - however after reading Nancy Astor's short bio on wikipedia there is little doubt she shared Hitler's religious intolerance ("She disliked Jews and discouraged the hiring of Jews or Catholics") thus giving some credence to the rumor.