Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

The Anglo-American relationship has been of central importance to Britain's international policy since the early years of the Second World War, when the need to win American sympathy and material aid seemed essential to national survival, especially after the fall of France in June 1940. A sophisticated propaganda campaign was launched in North America, and by 1941 Britain was heavily dependent on US aid, much of it from Franklin Roosevelt's ‘lend-lease’ programme, even just to continue fighting. Once America was directly forced into the war, as a result of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the two ‘Anglo-Saxon’ countries fought closely side by side. They enjoyed extensive economic co-operation, launched joint military operations in North Africa, Europe and the Far East, and developed agreed plans for the post-war world. The fact that the two countries were brought together at such a desperate time helped forge a close relationship whose durability was reinforced by a common language, cultural heritage and commitment to an ‘open’ global trading system, a powerful combination of shared attitudes and shared national interests. Over the following decades, as the British empire came to an end and Britain became a member of the European Community, the so-called ‘special relationship’ with Washington remained a prime concern for almost all governments in London, sometimes ... log in or subscribe to read full text