(1): Special performance
In July 1945, the British held parliamentary elections, in which Churchill and his Conservative Party lost, and Churchill was forced to resign. The Labour Party came to power to form a cabinet, and the Leader of the Labour Party, Clement. Attlee served as Prime Minister in the Attlee Labour Government, and Bevin served as British Foreign Minister. In August 1946, Churchill, who had already stepped down, accompanied by U.S. President Harry Truman, delivered a speech entitled "Pillar of Peace" in Fulton, Missouri, in which he proposed that the English-speaking countries unite "with the Commonwealth and Empire on one side and the United States of America as the other."
Although Churchill was already in the field at this time and could not represent the British government, he received the attention of the world at that time because he was accompanied by the President of the United States, in sharp and inflammatory language, and also proposed the concept of the "Iron Curtain" for the first time. The Attlee government of the British Labour Party is in the interests of the United Kingdom and does not exclude the formation of a "special relationship" with the United States.
Economically, the implementation of the Marshall Plan was actively promoted. On June 5, 1947, U.S. Secretary of State Marshall published a plan for U.S. aid to Europe. He proposed that the way for the United States to assist Europe was to make long-term and effective arrangements to provide medicines to cure the disease, and that the Europeans should first propose to unite most of the European countries into a whole, propose a comprehensive recovery plan, and ask the United States to provide assistance.
In June, Bevin flew to France to discuss the European economic revival plan with French Foreign Minister Pidur, and then invited Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov to participate in the meeting in Paris, and with the support of the United States, Britain and France proposed the principles of unifying economic plans and national resources, and finally the Soviet side believed that this principle violated national sovereignty and withdrew from the revival plan. In July, 16 European countries held an international economic conference in Paris to formulate a joint plan for The Economic Revival of Europe, and applied for assistance to the United States. In April of the following year, the European Economic Recovery Plan was officially launched.
Britain played an important role in the formation of the Marshall Plan, was the spokesman for the United States to exclude the Soviet Union in the economic revival plan, was also the promoter of the unity of Western European countries, and was the specific implementer of the Marshall Plan. In July 1948, Britain and the United States signed the Anglo-American Economic Cooperation Agreement on the implementation of the Marshall Plan in Britain. The agreement stipulates that britain could receive $2,618.8 billion in aid from the United States from 1948-1952, of which $2,315.1 billion was for supplies and $313.7 billion for loans. As a result, britain became the recipient of the Marshall Plan with the largest share of the recipients. However, "the Marshall Plan strengthened the economic relationship between the United States and Britain while also increasing Britain's economic dependence on the United States."
Militarily, it contributed to the establishment of the North Atlantic Treaty. In order to strengthen European defense against the Soviet Union, in March 1948, with the support of the United States, Britain began negotiations with France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and the United States, and on the 17th, the five foreign ministers signed the Brussels Treaty in Brussels for a period of 50 years, stipulating that if a contracting country was attacked in Europe, the contracting states should provide all military and other assistance. The essence of the Brussels Treaty is a treaty of political, economic, cultural and other cooperation between Britain, France, Belgium, Luxembourg and other countries based on military alliances.
U.S. President Harry S. Truman addressed Congress and praised the contents of the Brussels Treaty. The United States supported the Brussels Treaty Organization, but it was far from enough to control Western Europe and deal with the Soviet Union. Due to the decline in national strength, Britain is becoming less and less able to "rule" Western Europe, and the security guarantees of Western Europe are increasingly inseparable from the United States. Therefore, the United Kingdom hopes to have the support of the United States in its organization.
In April 1949, the United States signed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization with 12 countries, including the United Kingdom, Luxembourg and other members of the Brussels Treaty Organization, as well as Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Italy, and Iceland. The Treaty provides for relevant defensive provisions, such as "whenever any One Of the Contracting Parties considers that the integrity, political independence or security of any of the Contracting Parties is threatened, the Contracting Parties shall consult together". The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was the product of the United States' confrontation with the Soviet Union in order to control Western Europe, as well as its global strategy. This process also shows that Britain not only supported the United States' policy of promoting military alliance with Western Europe and strengthening the containment of the Soviet Union, but also helped the United States realize its intention to control Western Europe militarily" The establishment of NATO marked the formation of the Atlantic alliance system led by the United States, and Britain was undoubtedly an important promoter and member of the Atlantic system.
The idea of "three-ring diplomacy" in the United Kingdom: Three-ring diplomacy is the basic principle of post-war diplomacy put forward by the United Kingdom based on the post-war domestic and foreign situation. In 1948 Churchill pointed out that "there are three great rings in free and democratic countries: the British Empire, the English-speaking world, and the united Europe. The special relationship between Britain and the United States was an important link in the three rings, both to unite with the United States to control Western Europe and to deal with the Soviet Union.
The principle of three-ring diplomacy based on the special relationship between Britain and the United States did allow Britain to maintain a certain degree of power and prestige in Europe. However, international relations are often complex and changeable. Britain believes that it is at the center of Europe and contradicts the world hegemony of the United States, but Britain does not dare to have enough strength to make itself truly control Western Europe, resulting in the scope and room for maneuver of its diplomacy becoming smaller and smaller, and becoming more and more dependent on the powerful power of the United States, and the United States also borrows Britain's hand to achieve the purpose of controlling Western Europe and thus achieve its world hegemony. Britain's placing the special relationship between Britain and the United States in an important position in the third ring is enough to explain britain's "special treatment" of the United States in foreign relations.
So, is the UK and the US really so close? Of course not....... Stay tuned to the next article.
Thanks for the attention, thanks for the suggestion~