Towards Postwar Cooperation: ‘Difficult, but not Impossible’

  • Martin H. Folly
Chapter
Part of the Cold War History Series book series (CWH)

Abstract

The months following the Yalta Conference have been seen as a period of rapid disillusionment in British Government attitudes to the Soviet Union. This process is taken as starting soon after the end of the Conference, in response to Soviet actions in Romania, and then in Poland and other countries, and reaching such a stage at VE Day, 8 May, that Martin Gilbert can describe the breakdown in relations as complete.1 The Soviets acted unilaterally in the countries the Red Army overran, denied their allies access to information about what was going on there and obstructed their representatives. At the same time, the war situation for the Allies improved — the temporary setback in the Ardennes had passed and the advance on the Western Front was rapid. The environment in which policies were formulated therefore changed, and policy-makers had to face a new set of challenges. However, disillusionment is probably too strong a term to apply to this period. Many of the central assumptions that supported the cooperative theory were still taken to hold good, or at the least were not categorically discredited. British attitudes underwent some changes, but virtually all in the Government at the end of Churchill’s premiership continued to see cooperation as a realistic policy target; difficult to achieve, and not necessarily smooth and intimate, but cooperation none the less, based on a fundamental commonality of interests.

Keywords

Soviet Policy British Policy Tactical Shift British Attitude Soviet Foreign Policy 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Notes and References

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Copyright information

© Martin H. Folly 2000

Authors and Affiliations

  • Martin H. Folly
    • 1
  1. 1.Department of American Studies and HistoryBrunel UniversityLondonUK

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