Britain and the Cold War - Essay Example

Britain and the Cold War Introduction Great Britain was considered the most powerful nation in the world in the years leading up to the Second World War. As the Second World War drew to a dramatic close, tension between the USSR and the United States emerged. And even as these two nations were slowly but surely recovering politically, economically and militarily, Great Britain was being plunged into an economic crisis. Along with this decline, Britain did not seem to hold as much power in international politics. There are a variety of factors which may be considered links and explanations to Britain’s decline in the Cold War years. This paper shall discuss the extent to which Britain’s decline is actually linked to the Cold War. It shall also assess the extent of Britain’s responsibility for the emergence of the Cold War. It shall determine if the British-American relationship by the end of the 1950s was considered close. It shall also determine what was considered to be most important for Britain’s Cold War policies between 1945 and 1950, whether it was on preserving the empire or allying with the United States. Discussion The Cold War was characterized by a high degree of tension between the United States and Soviet Union. This was based on various factors such as an arms race, polarization of domestic and international politics, and conflict in the Third World (Painter, 1999). The Cold War was also responsible for the division of Europe and of Germany. It also gave way to Japan, Germany and Italy’s re-entry into the International system after their defeat in World War II. The Cold War also impacted the Third World as Vietnam and Korea became divided. This war dominated world relations for a period of over forty years covering 1945 to 1991. Prior to World War II, there were six great powers in the world namely; Great Britain, France, Germany, the Soviet Union, Japan and the United States (Painter, 1999). All of these nations suffered during and after the Second World War. The years of the Cold War that followed changed the landscape of international politics as these nations all scrambled for dominance in the nuclear arms race. Britain’s decline as a superpower is linked to the Cold War in the sense that many of the Western and Eastern superpowers were now trying to up each other in arms and military capability (Middeke, 2000, p. 70). Although most nations of the world were devastated by the Second World War, major superpowers still saw the need to allocate a good majority of their budget to the development of their military capability (Ashton, 2002, p. 152). This was the trend also taken up by Britain. Spending for defence was increased from 8% to 14% in the early 1950s, and the “concomitant diversion of resources from the productive economy devastated the government’s capital investment programs” (Ruane, 2005, p. 170). The direction of the development aimed for by the government post-World War II was largely geared towards developing British nuclear capability. Many of Britain’s policy-makers saw the need to cement the “country’s claim to front-rank power status and the need to rethink global strategy in light of the growing power of the US nuclear arsenal” (Ruane, 2005, p. 170). Britain also attempted to restore its imperial power in a world that had become vastly different. The government of Attlee now faced economic challenges in the form of trade and budget deficits owed to the United States (Milward, 2002, p. 28). Britain suddenly became a debtor instead of a creditor. Britain had to make a choice between continuing to seek imperial dominance and helping its people recover domestically (Duara, 2004, p. 153). As the United States worked to assist Britain in its economic recovery, America’s offers came with a price – the conversion of the pound into the dollar. In other words – the dismantling of the imperial economy (Duara, 2004, p. 153). Although America was able to assist the empire in holding on to its power in the years that immediately followed the Second World War, aid from the US soon dwindled. “Despite British economic recovery, exports could not balance overseas payments under the overload of debt, social welfare and massive rearmament” (Duara, 2004, p. 155). Consequently, we saw the decline of the British Empire as a result of the Cold War. After the Second World War, many nations around the world formerly under the control of the British Empire were decolonized. Britain had conflicts with many of its colonies after the Second World War and just as the Cold War was starting to gain momentum. These conflicts “often involved bitter conflicts among colonial peoples themselves as they disputed control of the territories that the imperial countries gave up – conflicts that in many cases are still unresolved today” (Greer & Lewis, 2005, p. 603). Britain’s power and control over its colonies slowly declined as many of these colonies were considered to be allies and considered under the influence of the Commonwealth of Nations in contrast to the Empire. Being a small country – Britain was already at a disadvantage in contrast to the United States and the USSR as far as maintaining global dominance was concerned. As was mentioned by Rubinstein (1994, p. 1), it was already nearly impossible for Britain, “a comparatively small island-nation to maintain such a lead in the long-run especially after larger and more populous states like the United States and Germany industrialized”. Although Britain was the first nation to enter into the Industrial Age, other equally powerful nations soon caught up with this age. And since the two emerging superpowers at that time – the US and the USSR – were bent on beating each other in the nuclear arms race, they also progressed rather quickly into the Industrial Age. As a result, “Britain could no longer enjoy the same unchallenged superiority at manufacturing and exporting that it could when it was the only industrialized nation” (Rubinstein, 1994, p. 1). After the two major world wars, Britain was virtually bankrupt. Moreover, many of the economic institutions in Britain were not very forthcoming in implementing more enlightened and updated methods of banking and trading. The US and USSR were willing to make these concessions and improvements. This gave them the necessary edge over Britain to eventually topple it as the world’s sole superpower. The years that followed saw the decline of Britain. “The staple British export industries (coal, steel, textiles, and shipbuilding) were in long term decline. Markets lost during the War would never be fully recovered and economic problems seemed endemic” (Hall, 1998, p. 48). As Britain lost its dominance in these major industries, its status as an economic and political power slowly declined. Some authors also point out that the Cold War can be linked to Britain’s culture and attitudes toward capitalism and industrialism. As was previously mentioned, the Cold War prompted the US and the USSR to pursue military, economic, and political prowess. And Britain could not keep up. It surely did not help that Britain still had unfavourable attitudes about capitalism and industrialism. Their educational system still espoused the picture of the cultured Englishman who “was ill-equipped for the rough and tumble of business life and who, in any case, regarded business life and the pursuit of profit as vulgar and distasteful activities, unsuitable for the well-bred” (Rubinstein, 1994, p. 2). Britain still had archaic and traditional ideas about capitalism and industrialism, whereas the US was applying capitalism as a means to a more profitable end. As the United States and the USSR were fully taking advantage of the Industrial Revolution and of Capitalism in their urge to outbid each other in the military race, Britain was left behind. And as other emerging superpowers were now into their second wave of the Industrial Revolution, “Britain remained stubbornly attached to antiquated and increasingly uncompetitive industrial techniques” (Rubinstein, 1994, p. 4). This move did not bode well for a nation which was rapidly losing its grip on its territories and losing its status as a major economic and political player. As a result, Britain’s decline became inevitable. 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