This volume documents the drafting, negotiation and signature of the treaty that has been the cornerstone of European defence for the past sixty-five years: the North Atlantic Treaty signed in April 1949.

The story begins at the end of 1947, when the British Foreign Secretary, Ernest Bevin, became convinced of the need to persuade the United States of America, which had emerged from the Second World War as the pre-eminent global military and economic power and one of the only two superpowers, to underwrite the future security of Western Europe. It progresses through the negotiation of the Brussels Treaty of March 1948 an essential prerequisite to securing American participation in a wider defensive system and ends with the signature of the North Atlantic Treaty after a series of setbacks, difficulties and security threats. The documents, drawn from the archives of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Cabinet Office and No. 10 (with some transferred into the public domain for the first time), demonstrate how diplomatic skills and determination, inspired by Bevin s vision, led to a system of collective security that played an indispensable part in the preservation of peace between East and West for the rest of the twentieth century.

This book will be of much interest to students of the Cold War, European and American history, British political history, international history and IR in general.

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This book is a collection of diplomatic documents describing the development of British relations with the Nordic countries between the end of the Second World War and the defeat of the Labour Government in 1951. The end of the Second World War brought hopes of building a new society in Western Europe. This volume documents Foreign Office concerns about the range of problems, both multilateral and bilateral, which still remained to be resolved in the Nordic area, and describes the evolution of policies to deal with them. The Soviet Union, which in May 1945 already occupied parts of Norway and Denmark and dominated Finland, was perceived as a growing threat. The Nordic region was considered to be of significant strategic importance during this period. The documents describe the process whereby Britain attempted to encourage Scandinavian countries away from their support for neutrality and, by enlisting American support, began the process which led to the signature of the Atlantic Treaty in 1949, signed by Norway, Denmark and Iceland. They also include material describing the establishment of Information Research Department (formed to counteract Soviet propaganda) and illustrating some of its methods. Some documents not previously in the public domain have been declassified for this volume. Most are drawn from the archives of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, but there are also a number of Prime Ministerial and Cabinet Office documents. This book will be of much interest to students of the Cold War, European history, British political history, international history and IR in general.

This book is a collection of diplomatic documents describing the development of British relations with the Nordic countries between the end of the Second World War and the defeat of the Labour Government in 1951. The end of the Second World War brought hopes of building a new society in Western Europe. This volume documents Foreign Office concerns about the range of problems, both multilateral and bilateral, which still remained to be resolved in the Nordic area, and describes the evolution of policies to deal with them. The Soviet Union, which in May 1945 already occupied parts of Norway and Denmark and dominated Finland, was perceived as a growing threat. The Nordic region was considered to be of significant strategic importance during this period. The documents describe the process whereby Britain attempted to encourage Scandinavian countries away from their support for neutrality and, by enlisting American support, began the process which led to the signature of the Atlantic Treaty in 1949, signed by Norway, Denmark and Iceland. They also include material describing the establishment of Information Research Department (formed to counteract Soviet propaganda) and illustrating some of its methods. Some documents not previously in the public domain have been declassified for this volume. Most are drawn from the archives of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, but there are also a number of Prime Ministerial and Cabinet Office documents. This book will be of much interest to students of the Cold War, European history, British political history, international history and IR in general.

In this extraordinary book, historian Tony Insall reveals how some of the most striking achievements of the Norwegian resistance were the detailed reports produced by intelligence agents living in the dangerous conditions of the country's desolate wilderness. A definitive appraisal of Anglo-Norwegian WWII cooperation, Secret Alliances provides remarkable insights into the uniquely close political relationship that afforded powerful assistance for a successful resistance movement. Using previously unpublished archival material from London, Oslo and Moscow, Insall explores how SIS and SOE developed productive links with their Norwegian counterparts - and examines the crucial intelligence from the Security Service and Bletchley Park codebreakers who supported their sabotage operations. Offering dramatic details on operations such as GUNNERSIDE - which targeted the heavy water plant in Vemork in order to foil the Nazis' plans to build an atomic bomb - and the sinking of the Tirpitz in November 1944, Secret Alliances is an authoritative new perspective on some of the most remarkable exploits of the Second World War.

This book analyses the remarkably close relationship between the British and Norwegian Labour parties and two of their leaders, Haakon Lie and Denis Healey, during the immediate post-war period. It examines the extent of party co-operation in disseminating anti-Communist propaganda produced by Information Research Department (IRD) of the Foreign Office in London, and a separate chapter looks at the history of IRD. There are also chapters examining the extent of co-operation aimed at rebuilding the Socialist International and attempts at party collaboration over Spain. The book is largely based on unpublished material from over ten different archives in Britain, Norway, the Netherlands and Russia and also incorporates material released at the request of the author under the Freedom of Information Act in Britain.