Foreign Affairs

Question 1

When was the British application into the EEC approved?

Answer 1

1973

Question 2

Which political leader got Britain into the EEC?

Answer 2

Conservative leader : Heath

Question 3

What change played a huge role in British acceptance into the EEC?

Answer 3

change in French representative from Charles De Gaulle to Georges Pompidou

Question 4

Why did Pompidou accept British application to the EEC?

Answer 4

he felt that Europe needed Britain as much as Britain needed the EEC

Question 5

How did joining the EEC spark political debate?

Answer 5

many of the conservatives did not believe entry to the EEC was a good idea - as they believed Britain would be surrendering sovereignty

Question 6

Who was one of the largest anti-EEC critics?

Answer 6

Enoch Powell

Question 7

How did Labour feel in regards to entry into the EEC?

Answer 7

even more split than conservative - lead to a national referendum

Question 8

Why were people so concerned about Britain’s EEC entry?

Answer 8

felt it was 16 years too late and they missed out on all of the formative years and they would suffer greatly for it

Question 9

What was Wilson’s main aim when labour came back to power in 1974?

Answer 9

party unity

Question 10

When was the EEC referendum?

Answer 10

1975

Question 11

What did those who were in favour of joining the EEC argue?

Answer 11

the economic situation in Britain needed the EEC for survival

Question 12

What did those who were not in favour of joining the EEC argue?

Answer 12

that Britain would lose its independence and it would have a negative effect on workers

Question 13

How could holding a referendum appear negative?

Answer 13

it shows lack of commitment

Question 14

How did conservative focus on Europe and joining the EEC have negative consequence for Britain & USA’s special relationship?

Answer 14

as Heath focused on Europe he neglected the special relationship - this caused some issues as he was less inclined to strengthen the Atlantic Alliance

Question 15

How did Heath damage the special relationship between Britain and the USA?

Answer 15

he rejected US attempts to use Britain as a link between the US and Europe

Question 16

What factor in 1973 worsened the special relationship?

Answer 16

The Yom Kippur War

Question 17

How did labour deal with the special relationship differently to the conservatives?

Answer 17

Wilson and Callaghan both still valued the Atlantic Alliance

Question 18

What is one of the reasons that despite tensions that Britain and the USA continued to work together in the 1970s?

Answer 18

their shared foreign policy objective of holding back communism

Question 19

What are two communist countries that caused problems with Britain?

Answer 19

USSR & China

Question 20

What was British and the USSR relationship like after the Cuban Missile Crisis?

Answer 20

during the 1970s there was a dente

Question 21

What is a dente?

Answer 21

the easing of hostility between nations

Question 22

Why were there still tensions between USSR and Britain?

Answer 22

• fears of underlaying influence in Eastern Europe
• Markov affair

Question 23

What is the Markov affair?

Answer 23

• Georgi Markov (Bulgarian) who defected to the west in 1969
• very outspoken in his criticism towards the Bulgarian communist regime
• he was assassinated in London in 1978 & the Russian secret service suspected to be the cause

Question 24

How was the relationship between Britain and China before the 1970s?

Answer 24

strained

Question 25

What caused the British to want to mend their relationship with China?

Answer 25

US began to thaw relations and visited China

Question 26

What were China and Britain’s relationship like by the end of the 70s?

Answer 26

improved + there was the first visit to Britain from China since the communist revolution