This volume is comprised of a collection of diplomatic documents covering British reactions to, and policy towards, the collapse of the German Democratic Republic and the unification of Germany in 1989-90.The peaceful unification of Germany in 1989-90 brought a dramatic end to the Cold War. This volume documents official British reactions to the collapse of East Germany and the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the evolution of British policy during the ‘Two plus Four’ negotiations that...

Of all the Soviet Union's subject nationalities, the three Baltic republics, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, were the most determined and best organised in seizing the opportunities created by glasnost and perestroika to win freedom from Moscow's grip. At the time of first publication, in 1991, the final section of the book was speculative. Now for this revised edition, the authors have provided a new final chapter which brings the story up to date -- and the three republics to political in...

This volume examines diplomatic relations between the United Kingdom and South Africa from 1986 to 1990, when deadlock gave way to the first stages in the unwinding of apartheid.By the middle of 1986, the South African Government had succeeded in containing the township revolt, but its hesitant moves towards reform had brought the end of apartheid no closer. The intransigent figure of President P.W. Botha ensured a continuing stalemate until his reluctant departure from office in A...

This volume documents the British Government’s response from mid-1946 to early 1948 to the twin challenges of economic recovery and the search for a meaningful Western security framework in the face of the increasing polarisation of Europe into Eastern and Western spheres of influence.Although relations between the wartime Big Three allies, the UK, US and USSR, had begun to fracture even before the end of hostilities in 1945, it was during 1947 that the postwar division of Europe b...

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 su...

This volume examines diplomatic relations between the United Kingdom and South Africa during one of the most turbulent periods of the apartheid era.The crisis of apartheid that began in 1984 provoked international outrage on an unprecedented scale. This volume documents the attempt by the British Government to formulate a response that would go some way towards meeting demands for action on the part of critics of South Africa in the Commonwealth, the United States and the European ...

A fascinating collection of British foreign policy documents covering reactions in Whitehall to political change and revolution in the Mediterranean basin from 1973 to 1976.This volume contains many previously unpublished documents, including Joint Intelligence Committee papers, which cast new light on key events, such as the international crisis triggered by the coup against Archbishop Makarios in Cyprus, Turkey’s military intervention in the island, the overthrow of the Caetano r...

This volume examines British policy towards the Soviet Union in the aftermath of the invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979.The documents in this volume, many released into the public realm for the first time, describe the development of British policy towards the Soviet Union during the eventful years 1979-1982. The new Conservative government, under Margaret Thatcher, was determined to strengthen British defences against the perceived Soviet threat and advocated a strong respon...

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 e...

In this magisterial narrative, Zara Steiner traces the twisted road to war that began with Hitler's assumption of power in Germany. Covering a wide geographical canvas, from America to the Far East, Steiner provides an indispensable reassessment of the most disputed events of these tumultuous years. Steiner underlines the far-reaching consequences of the Great Depression, which shifted the initiative in international affairs from those who upheld the status quo to those who were intent on ...

An economic horror story: The complete meltdown of a major modern country's financial system, and its disastrous effects on every aspect of society.A hundred years ago, many theorists believed-just as they did at the beginning of our twenty-first century-that the world had reached a state of economic perfection, a never before seen human interdependence that would lead to universal growth and prosperity. Then, as now, the German mark was one of the most trusted cur...

A controversial and important work of revisionist history that rebuts the accepted version of the role of the Versailles Peace Treaty in the rise of Nazism and the unleashing of World War II.The Versailles Peace Treaty, the pact that ended World War I between the German empire and the Allies, has not enjoyed a positive reputation since its signing in June 1919. Conventional wisdom has it that the treaty's requirements for massive reparation payments crippled the ec...