The Anglo American Military Relationship

The Anglo-American Military Relationship explores military cooperation since the end of the Cold War. Much of the literature on the Anglo-American 'Special Relationship' has focused on the personal linkages between American Presidents and British Prime Ministers. This book argues that much of what is special between the two countries has resided in their military cooperation. This has provided the ballast that has underpinned other aspects of the political and economic relationship and given it durability. The book focuses on how the British armed services have worked alongside a superpower, in both peacetime and conflict. This military cooperation has been a challenging task, not least because it has occurred within a dynamic strategic context in which the nature of conflict has been evolving. British armed forces have engaged with their American allies in high intensity warfare, as well as in developing military doctrines to address insurgency, peace enforcement, and nation-building tasks. Working so closely with the US military has generated risks as well as benefits for Britain's armed forces. It has led them to engage in tasks that have weighed heavily upon their resources and has resulted in numerous tensions between the two sides.

The documents also reveal the way the concept of the 'special relationship' was used as a 'tool of diplomacy' on both sides of the Atlantic.

During the crucial period of 1917-1918, the United States superseded Great Britain as the premier power in the world. The differing strategic perspectives of London and Washington were central to the tensions and misunderstandings that separated the two dominant powers in 1918 and determined how these two countries would interact following the Armistice. David R. Woodward traces the projection of American military power to western Europe and analyzes in depth the strategic goals of the American political and military leadership in this first comprehensive study of Anglo-American relations in the land war in Europe. Based on extensive research in British and American archives, the study focuses on Woodrow Wilson and David Lloyd George, whose relationship was poisoned by the mutual suspicion and hostility generated by their disagreements over strategy and military policy. President Wilson sought to use his country's military effort in western Europe as a tool to gain acceptance for his "new diplomacy." The British, anxious over the Turko-German threat to Asia and their worsening manpower situation, sought to utilize American military intervention for their own political/military purposes. Woodward's use of unpublished sources provides new perspectives on war leadership, and his analysis of the British-American interaction serves as a case study of the inevitable tension between national self-interest and efforts at collective security, even among nations that share many cultural and political values. For historians and anyone interested in military history and World War I, Trial by Friendship fills a gap in the study of Anglo-American relations by providing a strong, well- written study on an area of American history that has received scant attention from scholars.

28 George H.W. Bush outlines the new international order: 'Address before a Joint Session of the Congress on the State of the Union', 29 January 1991 -- 29 Clinton deprecates the 'Special Relationship': B.M. Seener, 'Report and Retort: The Special Relationship is not flat', 8 August 2007 -- 30 Major's foreign secretary characterises the fallaciousness of the New World Order: 'Hurd warning over "slide into disorder": Foreign Secretary backs imperial UN and defends Britain's global role to justify permanent Security Council seat', 28 January 1993 -- 31 Blair, 'Doctrine of the International Community', 22 April 1999, Chicago Economic Club -- 32 George W. Bush inaugurates the war on terror, 21 September 2001 -- 33 George W. Bush declares that the United States willundermine the international 'Axis of Evil': State of the Union Address, 29 January 2002 -- 34 Obama and Cameron, 'The U.S. and Britain still enjoy special relationship', 12 March 2012 -- Further reading -- References -- Index

New research by several leading political historians creates a detailed and diverse study of Anglo-American relations in the twentieth century. Declassified documents provide unique insight into the personal relationships between Eisenhower and Eden, and Lyndon Johnson and Harold Wilson. This volume offers a breadth of scholarship drawn from three continents and examines the diplomatic negotiations, powerful personalities and political considerations at the heart of British-American affairs.

This book provides an examination of contemporary Anglo-American relations. Sometimes controversially referred to as the Special Relationship, Anglo-American relations constitute arguably the most important bilateral relationship of modern times. However, in recent years, there have been frequent pronouncements that this relationship has lost its ‘specialness’. This volume brings together experts from Britain, Europe and North America in a long-overdue examination of contemporary Anglo-American relations that paints a somewhat different picture. The discussion ranges widely, from an analysis of the special relationship of culture and friendship, to an examination of both traditional (e.g. nuclear relations) and more recent (e.g. environment) policies. Contemporary developments are discussed in the context of longer-term trends and contributing authors draw upon a range of different disciplines, including political science, diplomacy studies, business studies and economics. Coupled with a substantive introduction and conclusion, the result is an insightful and engaging portrayal of the complex Anglo-American relationship. The book will be of great interest to students of US and UK foreign policy, diplomacy and international relations in general.

The diplomatic, economic and naval gains made by the United States at British expense during the Great War were not necessarily permanent—while the Americans sought to build on these gains in the 1920s, the British resisted, leading to a struggle for supremacy. This collection focusses on a crucial period in the histories of both British and American foreign policy, examining the diplomatic, economic, financial, naval and strategic elements of the trans-Atlantic relationship.

This book examines Winston Churchill’s role in the creation and development of the Anglo–American special relationship. Drawing together world leading and emergent scholars, this volume offers a critical celebration of Churchill’s contribution to establishing the Anglo–American special relationship. Marking the seventieth anniversary of Churchill’s pronouncement in 1946 of that special relationship in his famous Iron Curtain speech, the book provides new insights into old debates by drawing upon approaches and disciplines that have hitherto been marginalised or neglected. The book foregrounds agency, culture, values, ideas and the construction and representation of special Anglo–American relations, past and present. The volume covers two main themes. Firstly, it identifies key influences upon Churchill as he developed his political career, especially processes and patterns of Anglo–American convergence prior to and during World War Two. Second, it provides insights into how Churchill sought to promote a post-war Anglo–American special relationship, how he discursively constructed it and how he has remained central to that narrative to the present day. From this analysis emerges new understanding of the raw material from which Churchill conjured special UK–US relations and of how his conceptualisation of that special relationship has been shaped and re-shaped in the decades after 1946. This book will be of much interest to students of Anglo–American relations, Cold War Studies, foreign policy, international history and IR in general.