The Special Relationship UK and US

The Special Relationship UK and USThe term special relationship is used to describe the Anglo-the Statesn relations briefly after the Second World contend when Britain and the United States developed a close working relationship and co-operated extensively in terms of array altogetheriance, intelligence, dainty, nuclear affairs and also in cultural and intellectual life. The relationship between President Roosevelt and superlative curate Churchill established the beginning of an exceptional relationship in political history. The term special relationship was coined by Winston Churchill in his Sinews of Peace Address (commonly called the Iron Curtain speech) at Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri, on 5 abut 1946.Arguably, a period in which two Britain and the United States had a lot to gain from profound cooperation was the late 1940s.Britain had been weakened by the effects of the War and required pecuniary assistance to restore its industries and rebuild its cities. The United States on the other hand was facing Soviet threat and was restricted by isolationist tendencies and domestic remonstrance on the domestic political front. Gallagher (2004110) states that this period was a time when London and Washington recognized the need to maintain the kind of unity that had been so authorized during the fight against Japan and Nazi Germany.The Anglo-American relationship had several distinctive features. In the axis of intelligence, the United States and Britain sh bed a wide range of information than every does among its other allies especially during the Second World War and thereafter restored beneath the 1948 UKUSA agreements of which Dickie (1994260) describes as the most fruitful joint venture of the Anglo-American partnership, with extraordinary dividends for both sides. This agreement target up the signals intelligence (SIGINT) apparatus of the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. In the same vein, British intelligence o peratives worked with the Central Intelligence delegacy (CIA) and functioned from the US embassy in London (Dumbrell, 2001).Britain and the United States also shared numerous isobilateral defence links left everywhere from the Second World War. Colman (2004) states that In December 1941, the cooperation between the British and American establishments reached its peak with the signing of the Anglo-American Alliance and the creation of the combined chief of staff which is a collaborated British and American military command which presides over all Anglo-American operations. The NATO alliance, focused on the defence of Western Europe had Britain and the United States as its leading members. The formation of NATO in 1949 had the British regular army of the Rhine (BOAR) as the Britains land force contribution with over 50,000 troops stationed in Germany in 1962 (Colman, 2004).The special relationship giveed in the Atlantic Charter of 1941, which is a set of guiding principles at the coming of peace targeted to govern relations between states. The Anglo-American relationship was furthered strengthened by economic connections, atomic and nuclear matters, and considering the fact that both countries share a common heritage and a common language. It is also pertinent to note the personal relationships that existed between some American Presidents and British Prime Ministers, significantly Churchill (whose mother was American) and Roosevelt and years later between Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. The extent of the unity of purpose and cooperation which existed between the British and American governments during the Second World War frame one of the most phenomenal aspects of that period.However, the special relationship was intensely strained during the Suez crisis of 1956 and raised questions as to how special the relationship really was in reality. This essay seeks to calculate how the Suez crisis impaired the UK, USA special relationship and to decipher if the relationship was really that special.The Suez crisis of 1956 greatly strained the relationship between Britain and America the crisis exposed their differences to colonialism, communism and their separate stakes in the Middle easternmost. Also, the Anglo-American Alliance and Britains position as a great power was in ruins during this period.The Suez Canal was a sea route of broad strategic importance to Britain. As the main significance of the British Empire it connected Britain with India and the pacific. The major figures involved were Anthony Eden, Britains Prime Minister, US president Dwight D. Eisenhower, his repository of state, nates Foster Dulles and the Egyptian president Gamal Abdul Nasser.The Suez Canal was the focal point of Britains military presence in the Eastern Mediterranean especially since Britain domination of Egypt since the mid-eighties (Dimbleby and Reynolds, 1988). Eden, who was Churchills successor as prime Minister argued that the Canal was Brit ains great imperial lifeline, particularly for oil (The Economist, 27 July 2006). For the Egyptians on the other hand, the Canal Zone was a constant reminder of the despised British occupation and efforts to terminate Britains presence in the Canal Zone were escalated especially after the military coup of 1952 which ousted the voluptuous king Farouk. It became somewhat difficult to operate the transmission channel as Egyptians boycotted British employment and attacked British personnel. (Dimbleby and Reynolds, 1988)The British government came to a decision in 1954 to invalidate the Canal Zone by June 1956. Eden hoped that this decision would foster a new relationship with Egypt and also since the American and British government agreed to financially support Nasser with a loan of $70 Million towards the procurement of the Aswan High Dam to provide better irrigation and electric power to Egypt. (Dimbleby and Reynolds, 1988)However, despite the loan offered by Britain and America, N asser was not forthcoming, he undermined the Baghdad pact, a regional defence organization which was British-led and rejected the Anglo-American peace treaty plans with Israel. His ambition was to politically resurrect the strong Arab gentleman against colonialism and opposition of great powers exploitation of the Middle East. Dimbleby and Reynolds (1988) state that while accepting the loan from the Anglo-American government, Nasser ordered arms from the Soviet conjunction through Czechoslovakia.By March 1956, the Anglo-American governments could no longer put up with Nasser Eden condemned and compared Nasser with Mussolini and Hitler of the 1930s, adding that the Egyptian leaders objective was to become a Caesar from the Gulf to the Atlantic, and to kick us out of it all (Shuckburgh, 1987327). Dulles the US secretary of state announced on 19 July 1956 that the Aswan loan offered to Egypt had been cancelled. Nasser retaliated on 26 July 1956 by declaring to an amazed world the na tionalization of the Suez Canal, stressing that Egypt would be in charge of the canal and proceeds used to finance the Aswan dam.Britain placed economic and political sanctions on Egypt as the British interest was in impish jeopardy, the British government was ready to use force to bring Nasser down. Eden tried to convince Eisenhower on the removal of the Nasser government for a regime friendlier to the West. However, Eisenhower was as unreceptive to Britain, just as Britain had been to America at the peak of the Dien Bien Phu crisis in Vietnam in 1954 (Louis and Owen, 1989)America did not have much at stake in respect to the nationalization of the Suez Canal as Britain did and as such believed that diplomacy was the best option, Dulles on 2nd October told a news conference that under the North Atlantic Treaty, Suez was not a part of Americas obligations to her Allies. (Dimbleby and Reynolds, 1988)Britain sort alliance with France as co-owners of the canal. Israel was encouraged to escalate the border raids in Sinai and invade Egypt signalling another Arab-Israeli War thereby posing a threat to the Suez Canal. Britain and France would exploit the opportunity as a pretext to intervene and secure the Suez Canal (The Economist, 27 July 2006). The American government was completely kept in the dark concerning these preparations for action.Eden concluded that although the Americans were in principle not happy with Britains use of force against Egypt to recover the canal, they would not completely oppose Britain. Outright American antagonism was least expected and that is exactly what Britain was faced with.A twelve hours ultimatum was issued by London and Paris for Israel and Egypt to retreat from the canal which was to be taken over by British and French forces. Israel accepted this ultimatum while Egypt rejected it and on the 31st of October 1956, the British and French destroyed Egyptian airfields.Eisenhower was infuriated by the obvious deception of his close st ally and Britains unwillingness to revert to diplomacy. Eisenhower, who was completely kept in the dark, felt utterly betrayed by his old allies, he told his aides Ive just never seen great powers make such a complete mess and botch of things (Dimbleby and Reynolds, 1988214). He was determined to bring the whole enterprise to a stop. The timing of Britains actions was further unfortunate for Eisenhower who was up for re-election on 6 November 1956 of which his intention was to win as the incumbent peace president, and it was pertinent he showed his capability of controlling global diplomatic and military conflicts. As such, Eisenhower could not afford to get caught up in a foreign complicated lieu of no direct interest to America.America proved adept working via the United Nations and introduced a resolution calling for a ceasefire and desists from the use of force by all UN members. This resolution was passed by a majority of 64 to five votes, Russia voting with the US (Dumbre ll, 2001). Britain on the other hand was severely criticised from all around the world instigated by the Americans. Apart from publicly criticising Britain and giving her a cold shoulder, Rachman (2001) highlights that the Americans further used the diminishing value of the pound superlative as a weapon to evict Britain from Egypt. A run on the pound ensued under US pressure as foreign holders of the sterling began to back out their holdings. America attacked the fragile economy of Britain and prohibited the IMF to offer emergency loans to Britain until the invasion was called off.The British Treasury envisaged an imminent financial collapse and on 7th November, Britain declared a ceasefire, stopped the operation and gave in to America demands. The French though furious were obliged to agree as their troops were under British authority, many of Britains illusions some the special relationship was destroyed and undermined by the Suez crisis of 1956.This is not the first time the A nglo-American relationship was severely strained and certainly not the last the Indo-China crisis and the difference of opinions over Formosa are some examples. In reference to the special relationship in the Middle East, Ashton (1996113) argues as to the reason why the Middle East proved to be such a fertile ground for conflict between the two powers was simply that their interests here often failed to coincide. Indeed, the US Cold War aims of containing the Soviet Union clashed with Britains tendency towards the Middle East in terms of the protection of its imperial interest. This difference in Anglo-American relations produced conflicts following the nationalisation of the Anglo-Iranian oil company in 1951 by the Iranian Premier Mohammad Mossadeq.The Anglo-American opposition further resurfaced in 1955 when Britain adhered to the Baghdad pact. Dulles, discussing the pact with Eisenhower asserted that the British have taken it over and run it as an instrument of British policy th at has drawn down upon it a tremendous amount of criticism (Foreign Relations of the United States, 1991).The Anglo-American dispute as a result of failure of interest to coincide was also apparent over the tension in the South-Eastern Arabia territory of Buraimi. Anthony Eden, in January 1957 the eve of his resignation as Prime Minister remarked It may be that the United States attitude to us in the Middle East dates from our refusal to give up Buraimi (Smith, 2008).As highlighted by Petersen (2000), Hoover the Assistant secretary of State responded to the Anglo-American crack over Suez by stating that this cleavage had gone a great deal deeper than people imagined. It had Started a long time ago tied(p) before Suez and as far back as the Buraimi incident (Petersen, 200072). Petersen further argued that the Buraimi crisis presented Anglo-American diplomats with a conflict of interest which eventually contributed to the rupture of the Atlantic Alliance during the Suez crisis of 19 56 (Petersen, 199272)The British was hurt the most by the Suez crisis, which resulted in a break down in relations between Britain and America, a near crippling of the Pound sterling and in the resignation of Eden the conservative Prime Minister, as his health wrecked. According to Freiberger (1992), the crisis further exploded the lingering imperial pretensions of Britain and quickened the independence of its colonies e.g. Ghana and Nigeria. Britain learnt from the Suez crisis that it would never be able to take actions independently of America again as British politicians are contented to play second fiddle to America.If there is a special relationship between Britain and America, then it is a one way street with Britain hanging on to the coat-tails of the United States. Suez showed the French that perfide Albion could not be relied on as Britain always places its special relationship with America above its European interests.ConclusionHistory shows that international relations va ry with the strength and character of various(prenominal) leaders and that applies to the relationship between the United States and Great Britain. In the aftermath of Suez, Britains position became somewhat untenable to act like a superpower, her position as a world power began to decline with the rise of America. The Suez crisis made it very clear to the US that it has to take more prominence in crisis of the Middle East. integrity could easily wonder if the United States actively developed a strategy to replace Britain as a dominant power in the Middle East or if the US sacrificed its allies with the ambition of gaining total domination of the region.However, there have been recent controversies regarding the existence of the special relationship. According to a recent depict by the Commons foreign affairs committee, Americas relationship with Britain is not more special than its relationship with its other main allies, and the term special relationship does not portray the mod ern Anglo-American relationship. (Times online, 28th March 2010)In this report, a committee of influential MPs state that Britains special relationship with the USforged by Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt in the Second World Warno longer exists (Times online, 28th March 2010). Does this mean that the relationship is dead? Relying on the traditional model of bilateral partnership will certainly doom this relationship to obscurity.Strengthening Britains leadership within the EU and a renewed partnership within multilateral institutions are essential for a strong and vital special relationship in the 21st carbon. Burwell (2010) echoed that the fundamental element of the special relationship in the 21st century must be partnerships that surpass the bilateral UK-US relationships. The Anglo-American special relationship should work towards a partnership with multilateral institutions to take on global challenges through diplomacy and political influence.