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- Title
Britain and the world, 1945-9: the view from the Foreign Office.
- Authors
Adamthwaite, Anthony
- Abstract
In the debates about the causes of Britain's precipitate post-1945 decline from 'Big Three' membership to regional European power, the Foreign Office was always the b<ecf>te noire of press, politicians and public. In thirteen years it was the target of three major inquiries--Plowden (1964), Duncan (1969), Berrill (1977). The diplomats, it was alleged, 'savagely side-tracked' Bevin's 'dynamism' and 'forward looking attitudes'. The Foreign Office 'exploited Bevin's reputation and, taking advantage of his failing powers, continued unchecked its normal routine of unplanned catastrophe'.[1] According to popular stereotype, the Carlton-Brownes of the FO were obsessed by past greatness and neglected to make the necessary adjustments to second-class power status which would have spared Britain the painful retreats of the 1950s and 1960s. <BR> Recent research has produced sympathetic reassessments of the 1945-51 Labour government's foreign policy. The reappraisals confirm Bevin as hero and conclude that 'in terms of what the governments set out to do, it was a considerable achievement'.[2] However, little has been said specifically about Foreign Office attitudes and planning in the immediate postwar years.[3] The purpose of this article is to investigate Foreign Office perceptions of British power in the years 1945-9, and to ask how well the Office responded to the transformation of international affairs.
- Subjects
FOREIGN offices (Government agencies); BRITISH politics &; government
- Publication
International Affairs, 1985, Vol 61, Issue 2, p223
- ISSN
0020-5850
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.2307/2617481