Assessing the history of the ’special relationship’ between the UK and the US
Posted by admin on July 21, 2010
Since the Second World War, British Prime Ministers have forever hailed the so-called ’special relationship’ between Britain and the United States. It was a relationship they claimed had much to do with the countries’ shared history, cultural similarities and shared values. Not to mention the multiple times that we visit there on tourism, to go on ski holidays, and to experience our ’good friends'culture. The Second World War was a time in which Britain and the US fought hand in hand to defeat Nazism and rescue the world from the onslaught of an invention of a new evil - the Holocaust. The role that Britain played in winning the Battle of Britain and the role that America played in the D-Day landings both made a significant contribution to the allied victory.
However, the concept of a ’special relationship’ between these two countries has a times been an awkward term, inevitably because the enthusiasm for such a concept by British officials has rarely been reciprocated to such a degree by American politicians. In reality, Britain’s interest in the United States will always remain strong, however. The North American continent has been a vital trading partner ever since the English colonised the Eastern Seaboard and King James I founded Jamestown back in 1607.
So much, in fact that it could even be argued that after the Revolutionary Wars Britain began to recognise that the benefits of having America as a key trading partner, rather than a British colony would actually be less expensive and more economically beneficial for the empire. During the 19th century and early 20th century America transformed into a major industrial power and by the Great Boom of the 1920s its economic and cultural influence was unmatched by any other global power.
After the Second World War, Britain was forced to withdraw from many of its colonial holdings, such as India in 1947, Suez in 1956 and Zimbabwe in 1980. A combination of economic bankruptcy from the war and hefty loan repayments to the US meant that the British Empire did in fact set after all - despite Queen Victoria’s notorious phrase. Since then, Britain has a key ally of the US - although one which is unlikely to rank much above the likes of other countries such as Canada, Japan and Israel. Meanwhile, the United States is soon developing closer ties with India and China - whose economies will one day grow to become the largest in the world.