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British Foreign Policy - Cold War

After the Second World War, relations between the United States and Russia became increasingly tense and hostile. This political state was known as the Cold War and dominated global international relations in the second half of the 20th century. The Anglo-American Bizonal Fusion Agreement of December 1946 embodied Russian concern about the consolidation of allied zones. The Soviet government, led by Stalin, feared a unitary Germany run by non-communist political parties. A conference of foreign ministers held at the end of 1947 failed to agree on future policy towards Germany.

Following the introduction a new currency in the western zones, from July 1948 Stalin deployed an embargo on rail and road traffic to Berlin from the west. The aim was to force an allied withdrawal from Berlin, and discredit western policy towards Germany. Truman was determined that the allies should stay in Berlin and used an airlift to provide the city with food and fuel. Stalin called off the blockade in May 1949 having failed in his objectives. Another conference of foreign ministers failed to produce an agreement.

The blockade heightened the tensions of the Cold War. It greatly increased concerns about the vulnerability of Western Europe to an attack by Stalin's forces. In the Brussels Treaty of March 1948, Britain, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg agreed mutual assistance in the event of an attack.

On its own the pact was too weak to deter the Soviet Union from aggression but the Berlin blockade had, by now, convinced the US that Russia was a serious threat. The Vandenberg Resolution of June 1948 enabled the US to enter into military treaties with foreign states, and in April 1949, the United States, Canada, the Brussels powers, and most of the other Western European nations signed the North Atlantic Treaty, agreeing to mutual defence in the event of an attack by the Soviet Union. The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) was formed.

After Joseph Stalin's death in 1953 Winston Churchill met with the United States and Soviet Union to address security and problems of the East-West relationship. The meeting took place in January 1954; no agreement was reached on Germany but a further summit was arranged in Geneva. The Geneva summit in 1955 led to the establishment of harmonious relations between the US and China, and the resolution of conflict in the Formosa Straits. Britain was concerned about Germany and the Far East.

The Russians built up a most effective security system of their own in Eastern Europe. Their basic objective was the withdrawal of the U.S.A. from Europe, Their position was therefore that the German settlement should lead to the withdrawal of Western armed forces, and particularly American forces, from Germany; that all foreign bases should be eliminated; and (iii) that the European Defence Community (E.D,C.) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (N.A.T.O.) should be abandoned.

In July 1959, after a conference of foreign ministers in Geneva, Macmillan visited Moscow to discuss the Berlin crisis with the Soviets. Khrushchev agreed to discuss the problem at the May 1960 Paris summit, but discussions collapsed. After the Berlin crisis and the failed Paris summit, Britain's influence in East-West détente negotiations weakened. During the 1950s and 1960s Britain played a significant role in negotiations over Germany and Berlin. Although influential in meetings leading to the in the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of 1963 and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1968, British influence in the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks from 1969 was negligible.

The importance of the Commonwealth and Britain's relationship with the US meant it approached supranational European cooperation with caution. Britain attempted to join the European Economic Community (EEC) in the early 1960s but didn't achieve membership until 1973. Britain sent a representative to the Messina Conference in June 1955, but withdrew. The British proposed a Free Trade Area around the customs union of the European Economic Community (EEC), but this was rejected. The 'Inner Six' (France, West Germany, Italy and the three Benelux countries: Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg) signed the Treaty of Rome in March 1957, establishing the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom). The EEC was inaugurated in 1958.

Britain joined the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC) in 1961 and worked towards the reduction of trade restrictions between members. Britain was suspicious of the French Schumann plan to establish a supranational body regulating the production and sale of coal and steel. In 1959 Britain signed the Stockholm Convention with other non-EEC European states (Austria, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and Switzerland) and created the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). However, EFTA was no competitor for the EEC and was ineffective in establishing a useful free trade area.

The Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, was alarmed at the rapid economic advances made by France and Germany and sought to join the EEC. Britain's commonwealth ties, domestic agricultural policy, and close links to the US were obstacles in joining and the French President, Charles de Gaulle, vetoed Britain's application in 1963. The Wilson government again failed to take Britain into the EEC in 1967 but Georges Pompidou, who succeeded de Gaulle, finally relented and Britain joined in January 1973 under the premiership of Edward Heath. The 1974 Wilson government was unhappy with the terms of EEC membership and held a referendum in June 1975. A substantial majority voted in favour of continued membership although Britain consistently resisted supranational industrial, scientific and social policies.