Since 1776, relations between the United Kingdom and the United States have ranged from military opposition to close allyship. The Thirteen Colonies seceded from the Kingdom of Great Britain and declared independence in 1776, fighting a successful revolutionary war. While Britain was fighting Napoleon, the two nations fought the stalemated War of 1812. Relations were generally positive thereafter, save for a short crisis in 1861 during the American Civil War. In the 1920s, New York City surpassed London as the world's leading financial center. The two nations fought Germany together during the two World Wars; since 1940, the two countries have been close military allies, enjoying the Special Relationship built as wartime allies and NATO and G7 partners. America and Britain are bound together by a shared history, a common language, an overlap in religious beliefs and legal principles, and kinship ties that reach back hundreds of years. In the 21st century, the United Kingdom and United States have closely coordinated on foreign policy, launching joint military invasions of Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003 and leading the 2011 NATO-led intervention in Libya.
In the early 21st century, Britain affirmed its relationship with the United States as its "most important bilateral partnership" in current British foreign policy, and the American foreign policy affirms its relationship with Britain as its second most important relationship, behind only Canada.Alex Spillius, 'Special relationship Britain and America share fundamental values, Clinton tells Miliband', The Daily Telegraph (February 4, 2009), p. 12.David Williamson, "U.S. envoy pays tribute to Welsh Guards' courage", The Western Mail (November 26, 2009), p. 16. as evidenced in aligned political affairs, cooperation in the areas of trade, commerce, finance, technology, academics, as well as the arts and sciences; the sharing of government and military intelligence, and joint combat operations and peacekeeping missions carried out between the United States Armed Forces and the British Armed Forces. As of January 2015, the United Kingdom was the fifth largest US trading partner in terms of exports and seventh in terms of imports of goods. In long-term perspective, the historian Paul Johnson has called the United Kingdom–United States relations "the cornerstone of the modern, liberal democratic world order".Paul Johnson, The Birth of the Modern: World Society 1815-1830, (1991) Preface, p. xix. The two countries have also had a significant impact on the cultures of many other countries, as well as each other. They are the two main nodes of the Anglosphere, with a combined population of just under 400 million in 2019. Together, they have given the English language a dominant lingua franca role in many aspects of the modern world.
Special Relationship
The Special Relationship characterises the exceptionally close political, diplomatic, cultural, economic, military, and historical relations between the two countries. It has been specially used for relations since 1940.Derek E. Mix - The United Kingdom: Background and Relations with the United States - fas.org. Congressional Research Service. April 29, 2015. Retrieved April 13, 2017.
History Origins
After several failed attempts, the first permanent English settlement in mainland North America was established in 1607 at Jamestown in the Virginia. In 1630, the Puritans established the Massachusetts Bay Colony; they emphasised not only pure religiosity, but also education and entrepreneurship.James Ciment, ed. Colonial America: An Encyclopedia of Social, Political, Cultural, and Economic History (2005) online
Smaller colonies followed throughout the 17th and early 18th centuries. Each colony reported separately to London. During British colonization, liberal administrative, juridical, and market institutions were introduced.Matthew Lange, James Mahoney, and Matthias vom Hau, "Colonialism and Development: A Comparative Analysis of Spanish and British Colonies", The American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 111, No. 5 (March 2006), pp. 1412–1462. The colonial period also saw the introduction of indentured servitude and slavery. All of the Thirteen Colonies were involved in the slave trade.
Early history
Over time, the Thirteen Colonies gradually obtained more self-government.A useful survey is Francis D. Cogliano, Revolutionary America, 1763–1815: A Political History (2008) excerpt and text search; the author is an American based at a British university. British mercantilist policies became more stringent, benefiting the mother country, which resulted in trade restrictions. Tensions escalated from 1765 to 1775 over issues of taxation without any American representation in Parliament. Congress unanimously declared independence in July 1776, formally initiating the Revolutionary War. The British managed to control New York City and parts of the South, but 90% of the American population was controlled by the Patriots. The entry of the French and Spanish decisively hurt British efforts. The Treaty of Paris ended the war in 1783,Jonathan R. Dull, A Diplomatic History of the American Revolution (1987); H. M. Scott, British Foreign Policy in the Age of the American Revolution (Oxford University Press, 1990). and the United States of America became the first colony in the world to successfully achieve independence in the modern era.George Athan Billias, American constitutionalism heard round the world, 1776-1989: a global perspective (NYU Press, 2009) p. 5.
War of 1812
The two nations fought again in the War of 1812. Neither side prevailed. The end of the war marked the end of a long period of conflict (1775–1815) and ushered in a new era of peace between the two nations. It was celebrated in the US as a victorious "second war of independence", while the British, having finally defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo, celebrated that triumph and largely forgot their second war with the US.Jasper M. Trautsch, "The Causes of the War of 1812: 200 Years of Debate," Journal of Military History (Jan 2013) 77#1 pp 273–293. online
American Civil War
Relations verged on open conflict during the war, and remained chilly after it as Americans resented British and Canadian roles in their Civil War. Both sides worked to make sure tensions did not escalate toward war. The arbitration of the Alabama Claims in 1872 provided a satisfactory reconciliation; The British paid the United States $15.5 million for the economic damage caused by Confederate Navy warships purchased from it.Maureen M. Robson, "The Alabama Claims and the Anglo‐American Reconciliation, 1865–71." Canadian Historical Review (1961) 42#1 pp: 1–22. The British also withdrew from their military and political responsibilities in North America, bringing home their troops from Canada (keeping Halifax as an Atlantic naval base), and turning responsibility over to the locals; in 1867, the separate Canadian colonies unified into a self-governing confederation named the "Dominion of Canada".C. P. Stacey, "Britain's Withdrawal from North America, 1864–1871." Canadian Historical Review 36.3 (1955): 185-198.
World Wars The Great Rapprochement saw the convergence of social and political objectives between London and Washington from 1895 until World War I began in 1914. During World War I, the Americans planned to send money, food and munitions, but it soon became clear that millions of soldiers would be needed to decide the war on the Western Front.Ronald Spector, "'You're Not Going to Send Soldiers Over There Are You!': The American Search for an Alternative to the Western Front 1916–1917," Military Affairs (1972) 36#1 pp. 1–4 in JSTOR Two million soldiers were sent to Europe, with more on the way as the war ended.J Ellis & M Cox, The WW1 Databook (Aurum press 2001) p. 245
Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, the level of mutual hostility was moderately high. The British diplomatic establishment largely distrusted the United States for a series of reasons. They included British suspicion of America's newfound global power, intentions, and reliability. Despite the frictions, London realized the United States was now the strongest power, and made it a cardinal principle of British foreign policy to "cultivate the closest relations with the United States".C. J. Low and M. L. Dockrill, eds. The Mirage of Power: volume 3: The documents: British Foreign Policy 1902-22 (1972) p. 647
Although many of the American people were sympathetic to Britain during its World War II conflict with Nazi Germany, there was widespread opposition to American intervention in European affairs. But beginning in March 1941, the United States enacted Lend-Lease in the form of tanks, fighter airplanes, munitions, bullets, food, and medical supplies. Britain received $31.4 billion out of a total of $50.1 billion sent to the Allies. Lend-lease aid was freely given, with no payments. There were also cash loans that were repaid at low rates over half a century.Leo T. Crowley, "Lend Lease" in Walter Yust, ed. 10 Eventful Years (1947)1:520, 2, pp. 858–860.William Hardy McNeill, America, Britain and Russia: Their Cooperation and Conflict 1941–1946 (1953) pp. 137-50, 772-90 In August 1941, Churchill and Roosevelt announced the Atlantic Charter at a meeting in Newfoundland. It became a fundamental document—All the Allies had to sign it—and it led to the formation of the United Nations. Shortly after the Pearl Harbor attack, Churchill spent several weeks in Washington with the senior staff hammering out wartime strategy with the American counterparts at the Arcadia Conference. They set up the Combined Chiefs of Staff to plot and coordinate strategy and operations. Military cooperation was close and successful.McNeill, America, Britain and Russia: Their Cooperation and Conflict 1941–1946 (1953) pp 90-118, 129-37 Technical collaboration was even closer, as the two nations shared secrets and weapons.Paul Kennedy, Engineers of Victory: The Problem Solvers Who Turned The Tide in the Second World War (2013)James W. Brennan, "The Proximity Fuze: Whose Brainchild?," U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings (1968) 94#9 pp 72–78. Millions of American servicemen were based in Britain during the war. Americans were paid five times more than comparable British servicemen, which led to a certain amount of friction with British men.John Reynolds, Rich Relations: The American Occupation of Britain, 1942–45 (Random House, 1995)
Cold War In the aftermath of the war, Britain faced a deep financial crisis, whereas the United States enjoyed an economic boom. The United States continued to finance the British treasury after the war. Much of this aid was designed to restore infrastructure and help refugees. Britain received an emergency loan of $3.75 billion in 1946; it was a 50-year loan with a low 2% interest rate.Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1949 p. 846 online A more permanent solution was the Marshall Plan of 1948–51, which poured $13 billion into western Europe, of which $3.3 billion went to Britain to help modernise its infrastructure and business practices. The aid was a gift and carried requirements that Britain balance its budget, control tariffs, and maintain adequate currency reserves.C. C. S. Newton, "The Sterling Crisis of 1947 and the British Response to the Marshall Plan," Economic History Review (1984) 37#3 pp. 391–408 in JSTOR In British Malaya, the British colonialists got American aid in the war against the communist independence movement (1948–1960). The need to form a united front against the Soviet threat compelled the US and Britain to cooperate in helping to form the North Atlantic Treaty Organization with their European allies. NATO is a mutual defence alliance whereby an attack on one member country is deemed an attack on all members.