The special relationship and post-war British policy towards Germany 1945-51

Croft, Stuart John (1989) The special relationship and post-war British policy towards Germany 1945-51. University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.

Abstract

This thesis argues that at the end of the first decade of public access to the government records of the period, analysts of British foreign policy in the era of the first power-war Labour governments can be divided into two groups: traditionalists and revisionists. In the first chapter, the nature of the assumptions made by analysts in each of these groups is outlined along with a post-revisionist synthesis. It is this post-revisionist synthesis that forms the framework for the re-examination of British foreign policy in the 1945-51 period undertaken in this thesis. In chapter two it is argued that the United Kingdom sought to work with both the Soviet Union and the United States in managing the problems of the post-war world in 1945 and early 1946. The Soviet Union, however, appeared to British policy-makers to be hostile, and the United States indifferent. Consequently, from 1946 to 1947, the United Kingdom sought to act independently of both superpowers, an attempt examined in chapter three. As British power weakened and the United States became more assertive in international affairs, the United Kingdom sought to work throughout 1948 and 1949 with the Americans in opposition to the Soviet Union, as analysed in chapter four. In chapter five, British attempts to maintain some equality with the United States within the western bloc between 1949 and 1951 is examined. Throughout the thesis the analysis concentrates on the general tone of British foreign policy in the 1945-51 period. However, a specific focus is kept on British policy towards Germany, since London's interaction with the problems of Germany acted not only as a microcosm of British foreign policy attitudes during the tenure of the first post-war Labour governments, but also heavily influenced the way in hich the world appeared from London. The conclusion seeks to re-evaluate the post-revisionist synthesis offered in this thesis in the light of the evidence presented, and offers an overall assessment of the record of the first post-war Labour governments.

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