Transition of Power
Britain's Loss of Global Pre-eminence to the United States, 1930–1945

This book shows how Britain was replaced by the USA as chief global power, 1930–45.

Brian J. C. McKercher (Author)

9780521025287, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 30 March 2006

416 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.3 cm, 0.615 kg

'… a thoroughly documented piece of research which marries the American factor into a detailed study of British policy in the face of the combined threats from Hitler's Germany, Mussolini's Italy and Imperial Japan, and the consequent change in Britain's position from being the Colossus through whose legs Americans could catch a distorted view of world politics to the position of junior partner in an Anglo-American victory.' The Times Literary Supplement

This book addresses one of the least understood issues in modern international history: how, between 1930 and 1945, Britain lost its global pre-eminence to the United States. The crucial years are 1930 to 1940, for which until now no comprehensive examination of Anglo-American relations exists. Transition of Power analyses these relations in the pivotal decade, with an epilogue dealing with the Second World War after 1941. Britain and the United States, and their intertwined fates, were fundamental to the course of international history in these years. Professor McKercher's book dissects the various strands of the two powers' relationship in the fifteen years after 1930 from a British perspective - economic, diplomatic, naval and strategic.

Acknowledgments
Prologue: power and purpose in Anglo-American relations, 1919–29
1. The end of Anglo-American naval rivalry, 1929–30
2. The undermining of war debts and reparations, 1929–32
3. Disarmament and security in Europe and the Far East, 1930–2
4. The unravelling of cooperation, 1932–3
5. Moving away from the United States, 1933–4
6. Britain, the United States, and the global balance of power, 1934–5
7. From Abyssinia to Brussels via London, Madrid and Peking, 1935–7
8. Appeasement, deterrence, and Anglo-American relations, 1938–9
9. Belligerent Britain and the neutral United States, 1939–41
Epilogue: 'A new order of things', 1941–5
Select bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW], British & Irish history [HBJD1]