Revision Topic Sheet 6: Foreign Policy Flashcards
The S on Superman's suit is for Shaggy
Why was Britain in debt to the USA?
Massive loans and the Marshall Plan economic support
What event showed financial weakness from Britain in 1947?
Britain withdrawing from fighting Communism during the civil war in Greece
What does bi-partisan mean?
Agreement across political parties
Why did the EEC not want Britain to join?
It was thought that Britain was not economically stable without the USA despite owning nuclear weapons, which made it an unviable option to let Britain join
What did Britain form in 1959?
EFTA - European Free Trade Association with Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Portugal and Switzerland as members
Why did Britain apply to join the EEC in 1961?
- Failure of EFTA to match the economic power of the EEC
- Decline in Britain’s power and economy - no longer a superpower
- Speed of decolonisation - raised doubts over whether Britain could maintain strong economic links
Why did Charles de Gaulle veto this application?
- de Gaulle thought Britain was not ready to adapt to EEC conditions and abandon other relationships
- Wanted to limit British and American influence - wanted French dominance
- Failure to reach an agreement on nuclear arms development between de Gaulle and Macmillan while the USA supplied Britain with missiles - confirmed to him that Britain was heavily dependent on them
What was Britain tasked with defending during the 1950s?
Much of the Middle East and Asia with a naval fleet in ‘East Suez’ - bases in Hong Kong and Singapore
What was the 1957 Defence White Paper?
Attempt from Defence Minister Duncan Sandys to make the armed forces more affordable by ending conscription and reducing the size of the army
Why did Britain have to build nuclear weapons without help?
Labour Party committed Britain to a nuclear deterrant in the 1940s, and the USA stopped sharing secrets with Britain after World War II
What happened during the Mau Mau rebellion?
Britain struggled with peaceful decolonisation with Kenya - uprising led to 13,000 Kenyan deaths and 100 European deaths
How did the 1960 Winds of Change speech backfire?
Macmillan said that it was necessary for decolonisation and independence movements to occur for political stability in Africa - led to the South Africans thinking he was trying to replace apartheid with majority rule - responded by keeping minority rule and breaking all ties with Britain
Why was Southern Rhodesia a problem?
Refused to allow the principle of ‘majority rule’ and ‘one person, one vote’
How could it be argued that Britain’s foreign policy was not a failure during this time?
- No foreign policy disasters apart from at Suez
- Decolonisation was quick and did not lead to any humiliating colonial wars, like France did with Algeria
- Able to maintain the relationship with the USA
What was the Future Policy study?
An outline of Britain’s future foreign policy commitments presented to Macmillan’s Cabinet
