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Y113: Britain 1930–1997

Britain’s position in the world 1951–1997: the USA, Suez, the Cold War and the first approaches to Europe

  • 2 things to know
  • Unit group 1

Overview

Recall questions on the special relationship, the Suez crisis, relations with the Soviet Union, Thatcher, Reagan and Gorbachev, the UN Security Council, Korea, and Britain’s absence from and failed applications to the Common Market.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Numbers

Identify what sustained the special relationship with the United States after 1951.

Numbers

Why did Britain stay out of the European Coal and Steel Community and the Treaty of Rome?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Identify what sustained the special relationship with the United States after 1951.

    Model answer

    Shared intelligence, Britain's role in NATO and the stationing of American forces here, and above all nuclear cooperation renewed by the 1958 defence agreement and the supply of American missile systems, which made Britain the junior but indispensable partner.

  2. 2

    Describe the Suez crisis and its consequences.

    Model answer

    After Nasser nationalised the canal in 1956, Britain secretly agreed with France and Israel that an Israeli attack would give a pretext for Anglo-French intervention; the invasion was halted within days by American financial pressure on sterling and United Nations condemnation, Eden resigned, and Britain learned it could not act as a great power against Washington's wishes.

  3. 3

    How did British governments try to influence the Soviet Union between 1951 and 1963?

    Model answer

    Churchill pressed for summit diplomacy and a Geneva meeting was held in 1955, Macmillan made a well-publicised visit to Moscow in 1959 and cast Britain as an honest broker, and he helped bring about the 1963 treaty banning nuclear tests in the atmosphere, in space and under water.

  4. 4

    How did Thatcher handle relations with Reagan and Gorbachev?

    Model answer

    She built an exceptionally close ideological partnership with Reagan and supported his hard line and his missile deployments, while identifying Gorbachev early as a man she could do business with and acting as an interpreter between Washington and Moscow as the Cold War wound down.

  5. 5

    What did permanent membership of the UN Security Council give Britain, and what were its limits?

    Model answer

    It gave a veto and a seat at the top table out of proportion to Britain's declining power, and British forces served under UN mandates in Korea and against Iraq; but at Suez Britain had to veto criticism of its own action and was still forced to withdraw, showing the seat conferred status rather than freedom of action.

  6. 6

    What was Britain's part in the Korean War, and what did it cost at home?

    Model answer

    Britain sent the largest contingent after the United States, and its troops fought a celebrated defensive action at the Imjin River in 1951; the accompanying rearmament programme forced charges for spectacles and dentures on the health service, provoking Bevan's resignation and a lasting split in the Labour Party.

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