Britain's relationships with US and Russia - key events Flashcards
what did Churchill call Britain’s relationship with america?
‘special relationship’
what made Britain and US good allies?
-links dating back to WW2
-NATO reinforced it
-strong ties of language, culture, trade and history
what factors limited the alliance?
-the decline in GB’s economic power meant it could only provide military support to the US
-USA had security concerns in areas that britain couldn’t help with, such as in latin america, which made it question how useful britain was to them
-after WW2 there is a conflict of interest between imperialist conservative influence in britain and america who were against empire
-spy scandals weakened america’s trust in britain
what was Britain’s relationship with russia like during the early years of the cold war?
-britain were fearful that the USSR wanted to invade/destabilise western europe
-they feared that a third world war was imminent
-churchill was very wary of stalin
what event occurred in march 1953 that raised hopes that relations with the USSR might improve?
stalin died
who became Russia’s new leader and what was his policy?
-nikita khrushchev
-policy of ‘peaceful coexistence’ - avoid war
examples of ‘peaceful coexistence’: (russia and GB)
-october 1955 = Gb and russian navies exchanged goodwill visits
-khrushchev visited britain in april 1956 - first time a russian premier had done this
-macmillan went to moscow early 1959 - reciprocating relationship
-1963 = macmillan very involved in the nuclear test ban treaty, which was the first important treaty signed by GB US and russia since end of war
however… examples of continued hostility (GB + russia):
-spy scandals strained the relationship
-both the USSR and britain accused each other of being imperialist
-from mid 1950s, Khrushchev starts bidding for support of many african and asian nations by offering to develop countries if they converted to communism
-the west regarded the communist state of eastern europe as part of the soviet empire - referred to as the esstern block (countries that were supposedly independent but where controlled by Russia’s sphere of influence
examples of cooperation/support between Britain and America:
-during the korean war GB supported US and churchill strengthened his relationship with trueman
-during cuban missile crisis, GB were bystanders by kennedy kept macmillan updated
-GB consulted during berlin crisis
-1958 = USA agrees to share nuclear
technology with GB under the mutual defence agreement
-after suez crisis macmillan rebuilds relationship with US
examples of tension/disagreement between Britain and America:
-burgess and maclean affair (2 british officers defected to USSR) meant america were less keen to share intelligence
-GB had very limited military capability in Korean war
-suez crisis (see other deck for more)
-Gb didn’t play active role in berlin crisis
-GB had to develop an independent nuclear deterrent by itself as US had stopped sharing nuclear secrets
-Gb had to abandon its own rocket system in 1960 - GB not an independent nuclear power anymore
