Title: The Churchill Complex – The Rise and Fall of the Special Relationship
Author: Ian Buruma
Publisher: Atlantic Books, 2020
(First)
ISBN: 9781786494658
Pages: 308
The
relationship between the US and the UK is an interesting and unique one. The US
owes the development of its early political systems to Britain, but the two
countries soon engaged in a bloody war of independence which the US won. This
defeat dimmed British reputation as a world power for some time, but the rise
of colonialism and industrial revolution helped it stay at the helm for another
century and a half. Eventually, diminishing returns from the colonies and
increased competition from widening industry in other nations took their toll
on the British Empire. After its pyrrhic victory in the two world wars, the
empire was gasping for breath. The colonial system had to be disbanded simply
because it had become economically unviable. Britain stared at a future in
which it would be relegated to the margins of world history as just another
medium-sized western European nation. It managed to avert this fate by
hitchhiking on the US’ political strategies to assert their own will in the
world. It was Winston Churchill, Britain’s war-time prime minister, who was
instrumental in roping in the US as an ally in World War II. Aid flowed freely
east across the Atlantic during the war. Most of the time, what the US received
in return were grandiose exclamations on the interconnectedness of both the nations’
societies and culture. Churchill coined the term ‘Special Relationship’ to
characterize the engagement. The ‘Special Relationship’ waxed and waned to
follow events in the late-20th and early-21st centuries.
This book studies the legacy of Churchill in still maintaining the vitality of
the relationship. Ian Buruma is an American political writer with many books to
his credit. He was named as one of the 100 top global thinkers by Foreign
Policy magazine in 2010. He lives in New York and teaches at Bard College.
Churchill
was a great orator whose rousing speeches contributed a great deal in quickly
channeling public opinion to his project of combating the German might.
Churchill stood up against Hitler’s intimidating tactics that exposed his
predecessor Neville Chamberlain as a gullible fretter. Chamberlain meekly
countersigned Hitler’s annexation plan of Czechoslovakia at the Munich
conference in 1938. For a long time, the epithet of ‘Munich’ was attributed to
any action in which one party readily capitulated to the other. Churchill
helped Britain hold her head high and earned immense respect for his country
and himself both at home and abroad. In a sense, Churchill was more popular in
the US than in Britain. He had an American mother and his sentimental feelings
for the native country of his mother, often expressed in flowery speeches across
the US caught the public imagination. His frequent references to the
‘English-speaking peoples’ and ‘Anglo-Saxon kith and kin’ appealed to Americans
of a certain age and class. Buruma establishes this idea with a witty narrative
and good examples. He places Churchill as an ideal which his successors tried
to emulate with varying degrees of success.
This
book portrays the dilemma of the British state by the middle of the twentieth
century. Its colonial assets were slipping away and along with it its prestige
on the international stage. All crumbling empires reach such a state in the
twilight of their careers. By the end of 1940s, the dusk of empire was
beginning to fall. The idea that the Commonwealth nations would enable Britain
to continue as a great global power was becoming fanciful. Even though not
directly related to the US-UK relationship, the author hints at several facts
that expose the effectiveness of national struggles for freedom. It answers the
question that whether Britain would have granted freedom to her colonies even
if they didn’t pursue a struggle for independence. Buruma remarks that Britain
was more concerned with how to hand over power without creating chaos. When the
old sources of authority breaks down, vicious civil wars will often follow.
British PM Harold Macmillan expressed the idea with a remarkable observation
that African leaders were not ready for independence in the late 1960s, but
power had to be handed over. He was concerned that if colonial rule is
prolonged further, the best and most intelligent people would be in jail
whereas they have to learn how to run the country.
The
author analyses the prospects of the Special Relationship after the world war
ended in 1945. Britain eagerly sided with the US in the Cold War with Soviet
Union that ensued armistice. Much of the effort was to ensure British relevancy
in international platforms. Whenever Britain tried to assert its self-interest,
the US had no qualms in snubbing its ‘special partner’. When Nasser of Egypt
nationalized the Suez Canal Company in 1956, this was taken as an affront to
European interests as the major shareholders were British and French companies.
Britain and France invaded the Canal Zone militarily with the help of Israel.
The attack was in spite of dire warnings issued by the US against it. The Pound
was under severe pressure at this time and the British had to dig into their
gold and dollar reserves to maintain its value. The US suddenly refused to lend
money as long as the British continued the war. A loan from the IMF was also
blocked. When PM Anthony Eden pleaded with Eisenhower to allow British troops
to clear the Canal and remain to keep peace, he got a blunt message in return
which threatened that “if you don’t get out of Port Said by tomorrow, I’ll cause
a run on the pound and drive it down to zero” (p.77). Chastened by this
misfortune, the British never overstepped the line drawn by the US and
faithfully followed the instructions that came from Washington. This book
provides a survey of all major international events from World War II to the
term of Donald Trump and examines how the ‘Special Relationship’ fared in each
of them.
Buruma
exhibits the possession of an excellent sense of humour in the narrative. This
helps readers appreciate the argument’s logic and go along the way. The US-UK
relationship was often portrayed by critics as of a one-sided, servile nature.
Britain is often compared to a door mat or a poodle in the American scheme of
things. The British always invoked ties of blood, language, culture and values
that bind Britain and America. This book does not predict a bright future for
this state of affairs as people with no Anglo-Saxon background assume supreme
positions of power in the US such as Barak Obama. The book imparts a nice
reading experience to all readers and expects only a marginal familiarity with
modern world history in return.
The
book is highly recommended.
Rating:
4 Star
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