The Origins Of The Grand Alliance

This “uncommonly astute study” examines the early development of the US-UK military alliance that would eventually lead to victory in WWII (Paul Miles, author of FDR’s Admiral). On December 12, 1937, Japanese aircraft sank the American gunboat Panay outside Nanjing, China. Although the Japanese apologized, President Roosevelt set Captain Royal Ingersoll to London to begin conversations with the British admiralty about Japanese aggression in the Far East. While few Americans remember the Panay Incident, it was the start of what would become the “Special Relationship” between the United States and Great Britain. In The Origins of the Grand Alliance, William T. Johnsen provides the first comprehensive analysis of Anglo-American military collaboration before the Second World War. He sets the stage by examining Anglo-French and Anglo-American coalition military planning from 1900 through World War I and the interwar years. Johnsen also considers the formulation of policy and grand strategy, operational planning, and the creation of the command structure and channels of communication. He addresses vitally important logistical and materiel issues, particularly the difficulties of war production. Drawn from extensive sources and private papers held in the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States, Johnsen’s exhaustively researched study casts new light on the twentieth century’s most significant alliance.

The Breakdown of the Grand Alliance and the Origins of the Cold War, 1942-1946 provides a detailed explanation of the key events and the Allied approaches to them, producing the breakdown of the Grand Alliance. Given the commitment by all three Allies to maintain cooperation over and into the post-war world, an analysis of why that failed. The Breakdown of the Grand Alliance and the Origins of the Cold War, 1942-1946 starts with the evidence that the Soviet Union and its two Allies were initially aiming to achieve post-war cooperation over the nature of the international system and maintaining that cooperation after peace was established it then provides a detailed explanation of how that commitment began to be questioned from September 1944 and an analysis of why confrontational policies began to supersede those of cooperation from 31 December 1944 partly. Particular attention is paid to Poland, Romania, Germany, and the countries bordering on the northern and southern Mediterranean shores in which the UK and USSR had particular interests. The conferences of Yalta and Potsdam are covered while also examining Tehran. The initial Councils of Foreign Ministers are given considerable attention, along with the possibilities raised of extending the two temporary 1944 spheres of influence arrangements. The aim of the book is to provide evidence different to the standard focus on Eastern Europe as the initial origins of the Cold War's causes. Rather than assuming the Soviet intention was essentially always to expand Soviet power or achieve communist domination over what eventually became the Soviet satellite empire. Just because this was what eventually happened does not mean that this was always the objective whether or not re-enforced by ideology. Different assumptions about initial Soviet aims are based on evidence suggesting that until the autumn of 1944, these aims, and the US Moscow embassy's interpretation of those aims, were to maintain cooperation with the Western Allies. The specific questions are what led these aims to change and when they first became evident and developed between Dec 1944 and Sept 1945. The inconsistencies inherent in this process saw doubts arising on both sides as to whether confrontation or continued efforts at cooperation should be prioritised until the end of 1945

A broad-ranging study of the relationship between alliances and the conduct of grand strategy, examined through historical case studies.

This collection by leading British and American scholars on twentieth century international history covers the strategy, diplomacy and intelligence of the Anglo-American-Soviet alliance during the Second World War. It includes the evolution of allied war aims in both the European and Pacific theatres, the policies surrounding the development and use of the atomic bomb and the evolution of the international intelligence community. It also considers the origins and consequences of inter-allied economic relations as they emerged during the war and the personal relationship between Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

It is well documented that relations between the Allies and the Soviet Union were deteriorating from 1943. This volume examines the causes of this conflict that may, in fact, have started in 1940 with the problems of the Baltic states. Originally published 1988. A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.

The full story of the first and only time American and Soviets fought side-by-side in World War IIAt the conference held in Tehran November 1943, American officials proposed to their Soviet allies a new operation in the effort to defeat Nazi Germany. The Normandy Invasion was already in the works; what American officials were suggesting until then was a second air front: the US Air Force wouldestablish bases in Soviet-controlled territory. Though pushing relentlessly for the United States and Great Britain to do more to help the war effort - the Soviet body count was staggering - Stalin, recalling the presence of foreign troops during the Russian Revolution, balked. His concern was thatthe American presence would inflame regional and ideological differences. Eventually in early 1944, Stalin was persuaded to give in, and Operation Baseball and then Frantic were initiated. B-17 Superfortresses were flown from bases in Italy to the Poltova region (in what is today Ukraine).As Plokhy's fascinating and utterly original book shows, what happened on these airbases mirrors the fate of the Grand Alliance itself. While both sides were fighting for Germany's unconditional surrender, differences arose that no common purpose could overcome. Soviet secret policeman watched overthe Americans, shadowing every move, and eventually trying to prevent fraternization between American airmen and local women. A catastrophic air raid by the Germans revealed the limitations of Soviet air defenses. Relations soured and the operations went south. Based on previously inaccessiblearchives, Forgotten Bastards of the Eastern Front offers a bottom-up history of the Grand Alliance itself, showing how it first began to collapse on the airfields of World War II.

Vividly written and based on up-to-date scholarship, this title provides an interpretive overview of the international history of the Cold War.