Great Britain: European Representative or United States Ally

Essay by urvit21High School, 11th gradeA+, April 2005

download word file, 9 pages 0.0

After the Revolutionary War one must have wondered whether the United States and Britain would ever be of close relations again, but now Britain and their former colonies hold one of the strongest relationships in the world. Even though Britain is one of the major figures always associated with Europe, in reality Britain is closer politically to the United States than it is to the European community. This may have seemed unthinkable 300 years ago, but with all the communicative technology in the 21st century it is not hard to see how these two countries are able to share such a close bond. The bigger question, why, can also be answered by 20th and 21st century occurrences. This close relationship sprouted because of World War II, when an alliance between Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt formed to fight off the world threatening Nazis. This close relationship once again sprang to life with Tony Blair's relationship with George W. Bush. They have this relationship because of the war in Iraq as well as Britain's failure to become actively involved in the European Union.

World War II caused Europe to fall into disaster, and once Britain's last powerful ally, France, fell to the Nazis, Churchill relied on the United States, which is what started these two countries' relationship. During the war, Britain found themselves having to choose between the French and U.S. in terms of who Britain gave more recognition as a ally. This is because France and the U.S. were in a small power struggle and did not trust

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each other to great extent. Historian Simon Berthon wrote, "Churchill found himself caught in the middle of an extraordinary arms length duel between the President, who was the most powerful man in the world, and the French general who...