The rise and fall of the European defence community : Anglo-American relations and the crisis of European defence, 1950-55 / Kevin Ruane.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ruane, Kevin.

Series:

Cold War history series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

European cooperation.

Military relations.

Defenses.

Europe, Western--Defenses.

United States--Military relations--Great Britain.

Great Britain--Military relations--United States.

Great Britain.

United States.

Western Europe.

Physical Description:

ix, 252 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

New York : St. Martin's Press, 2000.

Summary:

Using the European Defense Community (EDC) as a case-study, this book examines the competing and often conflicting views of the British and American governments towards European integration in the early- 1950s. The British, fearing an "agonizing reapprais"' of the American defense commitment to Europe if the supranational EDC failed, went to great lengths to ensure the success of the scheme. When despite these efforts, the EDC finally collapsed in August 1954, NATO was plunged into arguably the most severe crisis in history. The crisis also possessed an Anglo-American dimension, with London and Washington badly divided on how it should be resolved. In the end, the British were instrumental in the creation of the Western European Union as a successor to the EDC. Their crisis management, however, had been rooted in fear of the "agonizing reappraisal"- a danger dismissed by many historian as exaggerated but which the British, in 1954, were perhaps right to take seriously.

Contents:

1 Introduction: Agonizing Reappraisals 1

Part I The Crisis Looms

2 Britain, the United States and the Rearming of Germany, October 1950 to May 1952 15

3 Anglo-American Relations and the EDC, May 1952 to December 1953 31

Part II The Crisis Breaks

4 A Parting of the Ways: the Bermuda Conference and the Paris NATO Council, December 1953 53

5 French Ratification of the EDC: Competing Anglo-American Approaches, January to July 1954 70

6 The Death of the EDC, July to August 1954 89

Part III The Crisis Resolved

7 Selling the Solution: British Crisis Management, August to September 1954 111

8 Anglo-American Divorce and Reconciliation, September 1954 130

9 Phoenix from the Ashes: the Birth of the Western European Union, September 1954 to May 1955 152

10 Agonizing Reappraisals: Anglo-American Relations and the Crisis of European Defence 175.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 229-241) and index.

ISBN:

0312234821

OCLC:

43569331