At the Tehran Conference at the end of 1943, the United States, the Soviet Union, and the British could still sit together to discuss how to fight Germany and how to divide the results after defeating Germany. At this time, Churchill was still able to sit on an equal footing with Roosevelt and Stalin to discuss and decide on international affairs. But Churchill was already cold and warm, and he knew that Britain was no longer a large empire with colonies all over the world.
Therefore, there are vivid metaphors for "giant bears", "North American bison" and "little donkeys". Churchill put it this way: On one side of me sat a giant Russian bear with erlang's legs, on the other side lay a huge North American bison, and in the middle was a poor little English donkey.
Churchill was quite emotional, and the metaphor was also graphic. Yes, how can a poor "little donkey" sit on an equal footing with "giant bears" and "North American bison"? So, why did the well-known British Empire come to this? In fact, after the First World War, Britain was already injured, and at the beginning of World War II, Germany was also hard to support. It was not until Hitler implemented the Barbarossa Plan to drag the Soviet Union into war, and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and pulled the United States into the water, churchill, who was sitting on a needle felt, was deeply relieved and glad.
In fact, Britain's national strength has ceased since the First World War. The First World War was ostensibly won by the Entente powers of Britain, France and Russia, but Britain and France were already seriously injured, the Soviet Union and Russia were like a day in the sky, and the United States, which was not affected by the war, became the world's first economic power by making war wealth.
Britain at that time certainly did not admit defeat, because although the homeland was not very good, the framework of the empire that never set still existed, and it tried to recover by extracting colonies all over the world. This is also the reason why Britain has been pursuing a policy of appeasement in the early days of World War II, after all, there is a natural barrier to the English Channel, and Nazi Germany will not be able to fight it all at once.
As a result, Hitler's ambitions became more and more ambitious, first annexing Poland, then sweeping through Western Europe, landing France, and air raiding the British mainland, Britain could only desperately resist and support bitterly, but fortunately, the Soviet-German War and the Pacific War broke out successively, forcing the Soviet Union and the United States to personally go down to duel with the Axis powers, and Britain was able to breathe.
At that time, the Soviet Union and the United States were much stronger than the British, so Britain's international discourse power was naturally not so good, and Churchill understood this very well, which led to the famous remarks of "giant bear", "North American bison" and "little donkey".
By the Yalta Conference in 1945, Churchill's greatest concern was who would fill the power vacuum after the collapse of Nazi Germany. At that time, the Soviet front was already deep into Eastern Europe, and in his opinion, it was absolutely impossible to sit idly by and watch the Soviet Union extend its hand into Eastern Europe. Therefore, in 1946 Churchill delivered the "Iron Curtain Speech" of great significance, and his whole set of understanding of the international situation could never have been a day or two.
During his time in Yalta, Churchill was able to dig his heart out and make painstaking efforts for the benefit of his country and even Europe. For example, France, which surrendered in World War II, was brought into the Five Permanents, resolutely opposed China's entry into the Five Permanents, demanded that the eastern European countries elect their own governments, demanded the restoration of Polish territory, demanded recognition of Britain's interests in the Mediterranean, interests in Hong Kong, and so on. Although Britain's national strength is not as good as that of the United States and the Soviet Union, after all, it was once a brother in the world, and in the three-way competition and bargaining, it still got some things.
By the end of World War II, the tide of colonial independence that swept the world once again hit the British Empire, Gandhi's "non-violent non-cooperation", Jinnah wanted to divide Pakistan, Aung San took the Japanese army to fight the British army occupying Burma, Malaysia and Sri Lanka also became independent; followed by the successive departures of Australia, Canada, Jordan, Iraq, and Sudan, so that Britain's "sun never sets" became a smoke cloud.
Although the United States and the Soviet Union had begun the Cold War at that time, there was a striking agreement in destroying the world colonial system dominated by Britain and France.
By the time the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was founded, the United States became the undisputed boss of the West, and at this time Britain was willing to be the little brother of the United States. Britain is extremely pragmatic and knows that there is no way to do it. After World War II, Britain itself was so poor that it continued to implement food rationing, and it did not end until 1954, two years later than the defeated Germany, and France, which surrendered, was not as miserable as Britain, and did not implement food rationing at all.
And the United States through the "Marshall Plan" to spread silver almost bought the whole of Europe, while Britain simply can not come up with money, but also need a large amount of assistance from the United States, there is no right to speak is too normal.
However, after all, the United States and Britain belong to the same camp NATO, and it is not difficult to say that it is an ally face. Until the Second Middle East War in 1956, the Suez Canal War, the United States ordered britain to withdraw its troops, and how could Britain, which was accustomed to eating meat, easily spit out meat in its mouth? The United States saw the situation and sold the pound sterling, so that the pound fell sharply, at this time let the British people understand that Britain is not the british empire of the past, the United States is the real boss.
In 1952, Egypt, influenced by the tide of colonial independence around the world, overthrew the British-backed Farouk dynasty and established a republic. In 1954, the two sides agreed that the British troops would withdraw from Egypt in batches, but Britain and France did not want to return the Suez Canal to Egypt. In June 1956, the Egyptian government announced the nationalization of the Suez Canal. Britain and France were willing to let go easily, the negotiations failed and submitted to the United Nations, the result was rejected, and finally allied with Israel to besiege Egypt, hoping to use force to gain control of the Suez Canal.
Egypt was certainly not a rival to the three countries, but knew that the goal of the three countries was Port Said, which could control the Suez Canal, so it held on to it and was not captured. At this time, the Soviet Union could not see the three countries bullying its little brother Egypt, so it threatened Britain and France with nuclear weapons and warned Israel not to fight again, otherwise the consequences would be at its own risk.
At this time, Britain and France first shouted that NATO should be united and asked the United States to come out to support it. At this time, the idea of the United States was that it did not want the Soviet Union to send troops, nor did it want to protect the interests of Britain and France in the Middle East, but wanted to drive out the British and French forces and control the Middle East by itself.
What happened after that was known to everyone, Britain and France were forced to cease fire and withdraw their troops in ashes. The war marked the rapid collapse of the global colonial systems of Britain and France, and the United States and the Soviet Union became indisputable world poles. By the time the African independence movement arose in the 1960s and 1970s, the colonies of Britain and France were lost, their power shrank again, and they were no longer eligible to sit on an equal footing with the United States and the Soviet Union.
In short, it can be concluded that Churchill had already sensed the situation during the Tehran Conference, and then churchill's sense of international status in Yalta and Potsdam would be deeper, and when NATO was established in 1949 and the Suez Canal War in 1956 was undefeated and defeated, the British people could also feel that Britain was no longer the former Britain.
Therefore, after the Tehran Conference, Churchill called Britain a poor little donkey, while Russia was a giant bear and the United States was a huge North American bison, and it was not difficult to understand!