Special relationship between England and America

Résumé du document

Louis XVI, who detested the English, protested " Americans feel a fatadic predilection to Britain". This quote was the first use the expression a "special relationship", that Churchill later went on to use in 1946. Indeed these two countries have shared a common language and similar cultures, since the Piligrim Fathers arrived on board the Mayflower. This common point helps to promote this close relationship. I will aim to analyse what this special relationship is between Britain and America, which dates back from pre-revolutionary times until today. But what does this relationship consist of? Why can we say that it is a "special relationship"?

To answer this, we must first analyse the military alliance between these two countries, and then we will focus on their economic and political cooperation. The most significant relationship between Britain and the US is their military alliance. This military relationship started back in August 1941 when both signed the Atlantic Charter with the aim of creating a better future for the world. This cooperation reached its zenith in December 1941 when the Anglo-American Alliance was signed. This led to greater cooperation with their nuclear research, missiles and bases and even military interventions.

Extraits

[...] Nowadays this special relationship is always present in these areas. But we can only wonder if this cooperation will be the same if Mitt Romney is elected in November. In particular he has a very different economic position which could perhaps change this relationship if he has elected. Bibliography A Special Relationship - Anglo-American Relations In The Cold War And After de John Dumbrell Macmillan - 2001 Les Relations Anglo-Américaines De 1945 À 1990 - Une "Special Relationship" ? [...]

[...] Then during the era of the Thatcher government, Britain let the USA install Cruise, a missile which was both long-range and very precise. It was during Reagan's presidency that there biggest expansion of missile bases. But now, the American presence on British soil is less than during the Cold War and now there are approximately 1000 US troops left in Britain. So despite the earlier conflicts over the independence of America and the subsequent wars, their relationship would eventually improve. The cooperation between the two countries has mainly been about close military cooperation. [...]

[...] There are close bonds over economic policy between the two countries as well. This bond started during the industrial revolution in Europe when Britain relied on American imports of cotton, which help launch the industrial revolution in Britain. One could say that without the USA, Britain may not have had their industrial revolution until much later. Moreover British ideas have had a profound influence on US economic policy, the two most notable being historian Adam Smith and his ideas on free trade, and the economist John Maynard Keynes , on counter-cyclical spending. [...]

[...] This common point helps to promote this close relationship. I will aim to analyse what this special relationship is between Britain and America, which dates back from pre-revolutionary times until today. But what does this relationship consist of? Why can we say that it is a "special relationship"? To answer this, we must first analyse the military alliance between these two countries, and then we will focus on their economic and political cooperation. The most significant relationship between Britain and the US is their military alliance. [...]

[...] But this cooperation extends to more than simply helping during times of war. Indeed these two countries decided to combine their nuclear research during the Cold War. In 1942 Churchill agreed to hand over to Roosevelt the ‘Tube Alloys' research to assist the Manhattan Project, which was the code name of their nuclear research programme aimed at manufacturing the atomic bomb. After the Falklands War in 1982 the two nations have opted to share weapons research and design. There was also top secret cooperation with COMIT and the US NSA, which was a system that monitored both military and civilian phone calls to collect intelligence. [...]