Introduction

Abstract

The purpose of this book is to provide a general overview and analysis of British foreign policy in the period since the close of the Second World War. Particular attention is given to relationships within the Atlantic area, the region of most consequence to postwar British foreign policy. As that nation has retreated from broadly based international empire and influence, there has been more direct and explicit engagement in European affairs, principally through membership of the European Community. Entry into the Community, finally achieved on 1 January 1973 after two earlier rebuffs by the French, capped a decade of effort to gain admission and also a much longer period during which the British had been trying to come to terms with the necessity of a new attitude toward Europe. Also in the Atlantic area, the postwar period brought increasing reliance and emphasis upon ties with the United States. That relationship—always special—became clearly more crucial to Britain.