Drawing on records of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, this work focuses on Britain's role in the Mutual and Balanced Force Reductions in Vienna, and British policy towards the Soviet Union and its satellites. British reactions to detente between the superpowers are charted.

This study draws on previously unpublished records of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and other Whitehall Departments. It focuses on Britain's role in the Mutual and Balanced Force Reductions in Vienna, and British policy towards the Soviet Union and its East European satellites. British reactions to detente between the superpowers are charted, and the work reveals official unease over what this might mean for the future of Europe.