Making of Modern Britain World Role after 1945

The Special Relationship between the UK and the USA

Britain as a major power after 1945: the changing international contextN C Gardner MA PGCE21/01/2016Britain and the world1

21/01/2016Britain and the world2

Changing world position of UKIn 1945 Winston Churchill characterised Britains interests as involving three overlapping circles the British Empire, Europe, and the special relationship with the United States.

It was the Prime Ministers duty to maintain harmony between the three circles. This view of Britains global co-ordinating position was shared by Clement Attlee who considered himself very happy and fortunate in having lived so long in the greatest country in the world. 21/01/2016Britain and the world3

Post-war attitudes of prime ministers to Britains statusAt each step of the process of adjusting the balance between Britains three circles of involvement, old-school prime ministers preferred to walk backwards, seeking to maintain past British commitments and maintain an independent British nuclear bomb.21/01/2016Britain and the world4


Suez Crisis, 1956The Suez War of 1956 was an extreme and unsuccessful example of this outlook. Those who questioned whether Britain could remain a Great Power were lonely voices.

In Downing Street, Harold Macmillan was exceptional in recognizing that post-war international developments involved irreversible structural changes to which Britain had to adapt.21/01/2016Britain and the world6

Sir Anthony Eden (1897 1977). Prime Minister 1955 to 1957. Foreign Secretary 1935 38. In 1938 he resigned in protest at Chamberlains policy of appeasement of Hitler. Foreign Secretary 1940 45 in Churchills wartime coalition. Foreign Secretary 1951 55 in Churchills peacetime Conservative government. Although Eden was a very experienced diplomat, he miscalculated when authorising the ill-fated invasion of Suez in 1956.


Retreat from global commitmentsSuccessive prime ministers have retreated from global commitments.

Domestic pressures to do so came from the limited economic resources of post-war Britain.

The rise of superpowers such as the United States and the Soviet Union reduced Britain to a middle-rank military power.21/01/2016Britain and the world8


Britain had not yet found a roleThe growth of national independence movements on many continents led to the end of Empire.

In December 1962 Dean Acheson, a former American Secretary of State, gave a speech entitled Our Atlantic Alliance.

Acheson said Great Britain has lost an empire and has not yet found a role. The attempt to play a separate power role that is a role apart from Europe, a role based on a special relationship with the United States,


Dean Achesons speech, December 1962a role based on being the head of a Commonwealth which has no political structure, or unity, or strength, and enjoys a fragile and precarious economic relationship by means of the sterling area and preferences in the British market this role is about to be played out.

Reaction in Britain was swift and angry. Acheson was accused of stabbing Americas closest ally in the back.21/01/2016Britain and the world11

Macmillans reactionPrime Minister Harold Macmillan (P.M. 1957 1963) responded in a public letter, saying that Acheson had committed an error which has been made by quite a lot of people in the course of the last four hundred years, including Philip of Spain, Louis XIV, Napoleon, the Kaiser and Hitler.

The disproportionate outcry in London showed that Acheson had touched a nerve. He also lodged a sentence irrevocably in the phrasebook of British foreign policy: Great Britain has lost an empire and has not yet found a role.21/01/2016Britain and the world12

British policy-makers responses to decline as a world powerInstead of realistically appraising what was practicable with limited resources, Downing Street continued to adapt on an ad hoc basis. William Armstrong, a senior Whitehall civil servant saw the adaptation to Britains new role as a middle-ranking power as the orderly management of decline.

However, when Armstrong used this phrase in a conversation with politically oriented Downing Street staff in 1973, they were appalled by the suggestion that the Prime Ministers influence was declining in the world beyond Dover.21/01/2016Britain and the world13

New-style prime ministersThe new-style prime ministers, Thatcher and Blair, continued to define their role in global terms. New-style prime ministers are expected to take a much more active role in government than Churchill or Attlee did.

Thatcher felt more at home in Washington than anywhere in Europe, and when Whitehall officials look for ideas about public policy they are more likely to turn to the United States.21/01/2016Britain and the world14

Tony Blair echoed ChurchillTony Blair echoed Churchills three circles doctrine, claiming We are uniquely placed, with strong partnerships with the EU, the US and in Asia, to create a distinctive global role.

Blair, like Prince Charles or Thatcher, felt closer to Australia than to the German-speaking lands of Mitteleuropa.21/01/2016Britain and the world15

Managing declineThe claim is advanced that the Prime Ministers dealings with foreign leaders enhances his or her power, because Downing Street is less restrained by Cabinet or by Parliament when representing the country as a whole.

But when dealing with foreign governments the Prime Minister is much more constrained by what happens in the world beyond Dover.21/01/2016Britain and the world16

Managing declineWhile a British Prime Minister may appear important in a gathering of small Commonwealth countries, in the White House a Prime Minister is only one among many other prime ministers.21/01/2016Britain and the world17


Britain and the European CommunityBritish rates of economic growth in the 1950s were very high by historical standards, but other European states were performing better.

Balance of payments crises became a recurrent problem in post-war Britain.

Imports expanded more rapidly than exports, and inflation was greater in Britain than in the economies of her competitors.21/01/2016Britain and the world19

The European Question: a central feature in the making of modern BritainBritains relations with the European Union/Community have played a very central part in the making of modern Britain.

The European Question has played a very important role in British politics since the 1960s, similar to the German Question of 1890 to 1945.

It has split the Conservative Party and contributed to the downfall of Margaret Thatcher and John Major. It has also divided the Labour Party. Therefore the significance of the European Question should never be under-estimated.21/01/2016Britain and the world20

John Major, Prime Minister 1990 to 1997. The European Question split the Conservative government of Majors premiership and the European Exchange Rate (ERM) Crisis of September 1992 sealed his fate: defeat at the 1997 General Election.


The European QuestionGeography and history separate Britain from mainland Europe. Britain gained an empire and therefore her outlook was global, rather than continental.

Britains navy guaranteed her national security against invasion attempts from Philip IIs Spain, France, and Hitlers Germany.

Britain up to her first application for EEC membership in 1961 was not predominantly involved in continental affairs, but instead was much more involved in the affairs of the Commonwealth and financial investments and trade around the globe.21/01/2016Britain and the world22

British attitudes towards EuropeAfter 1945 and indeed up to the present day, Britain retained her sense of mission in international affairs, with the political flair of a vastly experienced, victorious major power and former imperial Titan.

But Britains lack of modernization in industry and manufacturing, her balance of payments deficits, and her lower economic growth rates compared to the other major capitalist economies, led the political and business decision-makers to seek EEC membership in the 1960s and 1970s.21/01/2016Britain and the world23

The Hero of Great Britain, Admiral Lord Nelson. His victory at Trafalgar in 1805 secured British national independence and dominance of the seas for a century. For a century after Nelsons great victory, Britain was the strongest naval power, the worlds leading industrial nation, and the foremost imperial power the Superpower of the Nineteenth Century.


The reality of Britains position in the international system after 1945British politicians and civil servants from 1945 underwent a process of gradually understanding the realities of Britains decline from a Great Power, the Superpower of the Nineteenth Century, to a medium-sized power of the second rank.

Even with applications for EEC membership under Macmillan in 1963 and under Wilson in 1967, both prime ministers remained committed to the special relationship with the United States, to American leadership of European security, and to multilateral free trade.21/01/2016Britain and the world25

Edward Heath, Prime Minister 1970 74. He made history by taking Britain into the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1973. Heath is the only British Prime Minister to date to have been fully committed to the idea of the EEC/European Union.


Did Britain remain a major world power after 1945?In 1945 Britain still had an empire, though India was granted independence in 1947 and the rest of the colonies also went independent in the 1950s and 1960s.

In the 1950s the British Empire evolved into a Commonwealth with the Queen as the head of the Commonwealth.

Britain was a permanent member of the UN Security Council from the very beginning of the UN in 1945 and of NATO from its start in 1949.21/01/2016Britain and the world27

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, head of the Commonwealth


Britain and the Cold War 1946 to 1989Britain remained a significant power throughout the Cold War period from 1946 to 1989. However, clearly the superpower and leader of the capitalist democracies was the United States.

America was the only non-Communist power who could take on the Communist superpower, the Soviet Union. Britain could not have defeated the Soviet Union on her own.21/01/2016Britain and the world29

President John F Kennedy and the First Lady Jackie Kennedy. The President of the United States was the leader of the capitalist democracies after 1945.21/01/2016Britain and the world30

Did Britain remain a world power after 1945?Britain remained one of the worlds largest economies after 1945, with overseas investments and global interests.

However, Britain fell behind her main international competitors, particularly the United States, Japan, West Germany, and France.

Britain suffered from balance of trade deficits; and then, in the 1970s, from high inflation and rising unemployment.21/01/2016Britain and the world31

London is the worlds leading financial centre with the best business environment and best human capital on the planet.21/01/2016Britain and the world32

Did Britain remain a world power after 1945?Britains decision to seek membership of the EEC in the 1960s, first under Macmillan in 1961 63 and then under Wilson in 1966 67, was a tacit acceptance of the new realities.

The EEC led by France and West Germany became the leading political power within Europe and also the leading trading bloc of the Continent. Therefore Britain sought entry to the European Economic Community.21/01/2016Britain and the world33

German ladies. Germany is the economic powerhouse of Europe and is also a very welcoming holiday destination as you can see.21/01/2016Britain and the world34

Did Britain remain a world power after 1945?Britain played only a secondary role in East/West dtente in the late 1960s and 1970s.

During the 1980s, the Cold War was ended mainly by Mikhail Gorbachev, leader of the Soviet Union, and Britain played a minor role in this process.21/01/2016Britain and the world35

Mikhail Gorbachev, leader of the Soviet Union 1985 91, the statesman who ended the Cold War.21/01/2016Britain and the world36

De-colonisation after 1945The empires of the European colonial powers, such as those of Britain, France, and Portugal, were dismantled after the Second World War.

The vast European empires in Asia and Africa were de-colonised and the peoples of these continents gained independence from their former European masters. This was a major shift in world politics and history.21/01/2016Britain and the world37

The French conquest of Algeria.21/01/2016Britain and the world38

Suez and the FalklandsThe Suez Canal Crisis of 1956 proved that Britain was no longer an independent world power.

However, the Falklands War victory in 1982 restored British honour and prestige in the world.

Tony Blair (Prime Minister 1997 2007) was confident enough to commit British forces in Iraq and Afghanistan alongside the American-led coalition.21/01/2016Britain and the world39

British armed forces in Iraq 2003 following Blairs decision to join American forces in the invasion.21/01/2016Britain and the world40

Decline and fall of the British EmpireWhile Britain has declined in power and international status, Britons have seen a rise in income and material comforts.

To make decline the motif of post-war British history is too simplistic.

Did Britain lose an empire and not find a role, as Dean Acheson suggested in 1962?21/01/2016Britain and the world41

The shopping culture in action (literally), Oxford Street, London.21/01/2016Britain and the world42

Britain was not a LuxembourgUnder Tony Blairs government as in 1950 Bevins words still rang true Britain was not a Luxembourg.

However, Britain remained an awkward partner in the European Community since joining the EEC in 1973. The rules and aims of the Community embodied the interests and aspirations of the original Six.21/01/2016Britain and the world43

The original Six member states of the EEC (Common Market)21/01/2016Britain and the world44

Britain out of step with the CommunityThe Community Budget and the Common Agricultural Policy were obvious examples of Britain being out of step with the rest of the Community.

Britain during the premiership of John Major was also wrong-footed by the Maastricht project for monetary union and exit from the ERM destroyed Majors government and kept the Conservatives in the political wilderness until 2010.21/01/2016Britain and the world45

The usual British subtlety of mind and sophiscation is addressed to the President of the European Commission, Jacques Delors, by Britains biggest-selling newspaper.21/01/2016Britain and the world46

Comparative perspectiveGermans have long struggled with the idea that their lapse into militarism and racism under Hitler reflected the countrys special road to modernity because Germany lacked the liberal, democratic values and institutions evident in the rest of Europe.

However, each European country followed a distinctive route into the modern age.

In addition most continental governments used European institutions for their own national ends.21/01/2016Britain and the world47

The making of modern Germany included Hitlers dictatorship.21/01/2016Britain and the world48

Britain made too much noise about EuropeOther European countries were usually more discreet than Britain when objecting to the federalism of the European Commission and project.

The nationalist tub-thumbing for domestic political gain of Labour in the 1970s or the Tories in the 1990s was often counter-productive in Brussels compared with the quieter efforts by continental states to get their own way by constructing transnational coalitions.21/01/2016Britain and the world49

Margaret Thatcher was popular at European Community summits and always welcomed for her teamwork skills.21/01/2016Britain and the world50

Britain is not uniqueBritain is not a solitary post-imperialist power. France, Spain and Portugal have also had to adapt to the post-1945 world.

France has maintained substantial overseas commitments, especially in Africa, and immigration has brought the empire home with a vengeance to many Frenchmen.21/01/2016Britain and the world51

Immigrants from the former French Empire now living in modern France.21/01/2016Britain and the world52

Devolution is a Europe-wide political issueDevolution is a Europe-wide political issue, not just limited to Britain.

Such states as Spain have their history of internal empire to rival that of Greater Britain. British exceptionalism is a myth, not accurate history.21/01/2016Britain and the world53

Post-imperialism for the European powersFor centuries, European countries shaped the wider world. Europes first overseas empires were formed after 1492 by Spain and Portugal. Several European nations are still coping with the legacies of empire, not just Britain but also France, Spain and Portugal. Britain is not unique.

A bunker mentality operates among some British politicians and publics. However, in the post-modernist age, multiple identities apply: English, British, European, international.


British people identifying themselves with the Queens Diamond Jubilee 2012. How many Britons identify themselves with the European Union and the United Nations?21/01/2016Britain and the world55

Britain remained a significant playerIt can be argued that Britain since 1945 has remained a significant player on the international stage and has also remained one of the worlds major military powers.

This is despite various economic problems and tight resources.

The international context changed greatly between 1945 and 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed.21/01/2016Britain and the world56

The nerve centre of British power: a Trident nuclear missile submarine.21/01/2016Britain and the world57

Changes in the international context 1945 to 2003End of the Cold War 1989 91. Soviet socialism collapsed in Eastern Europe in 1989 and in the USSR itself in 1991.

De-colonisation: India granted independence 1947; other colonies in Asia and Africa granted independence 1950s and 1960s. Many stayed in the Commonwealth, whose head is the Queen.21/01/2016Britain and the world58

Changes in the international context 1945 - 20033) Britains entry into the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1973. Britain had stood apart from European membership 1945 to 1973 but under Edward Heath finally joined the Community.

4) International terrorism: after the end of the Cold War in 1989, a new threat to Western security emerged international terrorism, particularly from fanatical Muslims. Hence Britains participation in the Iraq invasion in 2003.21/01/2016Britain and the world59

The new century begins: Al-Qaeda, an Islamic terrorist group, attacks New York and Washington, September 11th, 2001.21/01/2016Britain and the world60

Britains world role after 1945Only the English-Speaking peoples count: that together they can rule the world. (Winston Churchill, U.S. State Department Dinner, April 1954)

Churchill remained an imperialist to the end. Under Churchills influence the Conservatives in opposition had voted against the independence of India and Burma in 1947.21/01/2016Britain and the world61

Churchill remained an imperialist to the endChurchill had stated bluntly during the war that I have not become the Kings First Minister in order to preside over the liquidation of the British empire and he stuck to this position right up to leaving office in 1955.

The British governing classes, represented above all by Winston Churchill, were unable to adjust to their diminished world role after 1945.21/01/2016Britain and the world62

Queen Victorias Diamond Jubilee, 189721/01/2016Britain and the world63

Britains governing classes could not accept the loss of world power statusThe British governing classes after 1945, both Labour and Conservative, were completely unreconciled to the post-war diminishment of Britain.

However, in 1947 it certainly seemed for a while that the Labour government was withdrawing from Britains world role. But this was forced on Labour by the pressing demands of near-bankruptcy, rather than a real change of heart.


Wrong set of prioritiesThe leading British post-war historian Alan Bullock, Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University and Hitlers first biographer, made the central charge against all post-war British political leaders.

Instead of straining to keep up the part she had played as a leading power since the eighteenth century, so the argument runs, Labour should have taken the opportunity to withdraw from all overseas commitments in the shortest possible time and concentrate the countrys energies on rebuilding her economy and foreign trade.21/01/2016Britain and the world65

Winston Churchill remained an imperialist to the end of his premiership in 1955.21/01/2016Britain and the world66

Something of its former greatnessAfter 1945 the British governing classes saw a Britain that could preserve something of its former greatness. The country was a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, still had an empire in Africa and bases East of Suez.

Britain accepted her junior partner position with the United States in order to bolster her retrenched imperial role.21/01/2016Britain and the world67

Queen Elizabeth II, Head of State of the United Kingdom and Head of the Commonwealth since 1952.21/01/2016Britain and the world68

NATO membershipFollowing the foundation of NATO in 1949, in which the Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin played a major part in establishing, Britains political leaders could set about constructing its new, updated and virtual, world role.

By the mid-1950s the three key institutions which would both embody and sustain the great pretence of a world role and world leadership were in place and are still there today.21/01/2016Britain and the world69

The Queen, the Commonwealth, and the bombThe three key institutions which both embody and support Britains pretence of a world role are:

1 The Queen2 The Commonwealth3 The atomic bomb21/01/2016Britain and the world70

The Queen21/01/2016Britain and the world71

The Commonwealth21/01/2016Britain and the world72

The bomb: one of Britains Trident submarines armed with nuclear missiles.21/01/2016Britain and the world73

The Coronation, summer 1953: a lavish imperial event.The Coronation of the Queen in summer 1953 was a seminal moment for defining Britain and its role in the post-war world. It was a lavish imperial event, relayed to Britain and the world via the new medium of television.

The newspapers talked of a new Elizabethan Age.

The coronation displayed a Britain that still for all the reduced circumstances of war, and all the egalitarian changes under Labour saw itself as an imperial, global power.21/01/2016Britain and the world74

Denial of realityThe coronation took place in 1953 as though the empire was in full swing and Britain was crowning an empress, and an empress who derived her authority from God.

The young Queen herself and her court played into the pomp of this global role as though to the manner born. She proclaimed herself Queen and Head of the Commonwealth and would later show a continuing personal resolve to stress the importance of the newly-created British Commonwealth of Nations.21/01/2016Britain and the world75

The Queen has placed her headship of the Commonwealth at the centre of her view of her constitutional role.21/01/2016Britain and the world76

Continuing desire for global grandeurFor Attlees post-war Labour government the idea of a new multi-racial British Commonwealth was a godsend. It could keep the Labour left with their growing moral opposition to colonialism at bay.

And the continuing desire for British global grandeur could be fulfilled.

The imperial mentality continued.21/01/2016Britain and the world77

The British imperial lion.21/01/2016Britain and the world78

The lingering sense of empireThe lingering sense of empire was widely shared throughout British post-war society in the 1950s and 1960s. Above all the countrys political and ruling classes believed that the empire still existed.

The top officials of the Foreign Office, the intelligence services and the governing political class were all drawn from a very narrow social background, ex-public school boys educated at a very small number of elite institutions.21/01/2016Britain and the world79

An imperial ruling classAn imperial ruling class governed Britain during the nineteenth century and up until the 1960s. From 1918 1950 over 80% of all Tory cabinets were populated from public schools.

By 1960, an incredible 83.2% of top army positions, 65% of top civil servants and 82.6% of ambassadors came from public schools.21/01/2016Britain and the world80

The upper-class public school educated ruling elites governed Britain until the 1960s. Sir Alec Douglas-Home (pictured) was the last Prime Minister (1963 64) from this very narrow social background until David Cameron became premier in 2010.21/01/2016Britain and the world81

The imperial ruling class governed Britain until the 1960s.The post-war prime ministers Attlee, Churchill, Eden, Macmillan, Douglas-Home and their civil servants, armed forces commanders and ambassadors, had direct experience of the empire in its heyday.

They were imbued with the imperial mentality as young men in the 1920s and 1930s when the empire was still a going concern.21/01/2016Britain and the world82

British superiority complexThe British after the war, into the 1950s and 1960s, and with lingering influence in some sections of society after 1970, continued to believe that they were an exceptional people.

Possession of an empire from the 18th century until the 1960s, which covered a quarter of the world, gave rise to a British superiority complex.21/01/2016Britain and the world83

Britannia: the English did not mix, they conquered, and then they ruled a quarter of the world.21/01/2016Britain and the world84

Making of Modern Britain World Role after 1945

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