There are genus one curves of every index over every number field

We show that there exist genus one curves of every index over the rational numbers, answering affirmatively a question of Lang and Tate. The proof is "elementary" in the sense that it does not assume the finiteness of any Shafarevich-Tate group. On the other hand, using Kolyvagin's construction of a rational elliptic curve whose Mordell-Weil and Shafarevich-Tate groups are both trivial, we show that there are infinitely many genus one curves of every index over every number field.