Section Four-International Relations

Question 1

How did the international scene change following WW2

and what were the USA prepared to do to help Britain?

Answer 1

• USA and USSR had emerged from WW2 as ‘superpowers’
• It suited USA to now have a strong Britain despite their anti-Imperialist attitudes as a position to resist communist advances in all quarters of the globe
• Give low-interest loans to Britain; particularly where this involved driving out communist insurgents

Question 2

What did USA do as a fear of Communism?

Answer 2

Fearful of communist expansion in areas such as Middle East and Africa believed the best way of preventing communism becoming an attractive option to nationalist movements was to build up these countries as stable and economically prosperous dependent on American ideals and not Britain

Question 3

How did Britain rely on USA during post-war years?

Answer 3

• US Marshall Plan of 1948-52 gave $3.3billion to Britain
• USA economic pressure forced Britain and France to end invasion of Egypt in 1956
• Relied on NATO of 1949 and America nuclear capacity for defence

Question 4

How did Britain’s relations with its old ‘White’ Dominions get affected?

Answer 4

• They increasingly turned to the USA
• e.g. The formation of the South East Asia Treaty Organisation (SEATO) in 1954, was an acknowledgement of the need for an American-led protective alliance

Question 5

What community showed Britain knew it was time to focus on Europe rather than the Empire?

Answer 5

• Britain kept apart from the EEC (European Economic Community) which brought together European countries into an American Union however, realised it was time to join during the 1960s
• They were vetoed twice in 1963 and 1967 and Britain only joined in 1973

Question 6

When did Britain knew the empire’s time was over?

Answer 6

In January 1968 where Labour PM Harold Wilson announced troops would be withdrawn from major military bases in SEA, Persian Gulf and Maldives