Historical Studies (Chinese Edition)

No.1, 2019

 

Edward Heath’s Adjustment of the Atlantic Alliance Policy and the Rebuilding of Anglo-American Relations(Abstract)

 

Liang Jun

 

In the early 1970s, the British Prime Minister Edward Heath made major adjustments to Britain’s Atlantic alliance policy, in an attempt to replace the “special relationship” between the Britain and the US with a “natural relationship” so as to facilitate Britain’s entry into the European Economic Community, and thereby actively promote the European Economic Community as an independent entity. The construction of a balanced relationship with Europe and the US would allow Britain to benefit from both sides. However, due to the growing USEuropean tension at the time, the firm determination of the US to maintain its hegemonic position in the alliance, and the great changes in the Nixon/Kissinger style of foreign relations management, Heath succeeded in bringing Britain into the European Economic Community, but fell out with the US over a series of major events including the two “Nixon shock waves,” the “Year of Europe” and the Middle East crisis. Hindered by Britain’s multidimensional dependence on the US, Heath eventually had to make a strategic retreat, resulting in the resumption of the “special relationship” between Britain and the US. The “natural relationship” was a pragmatic and highly flexible foreign policy that reflected the ardent wishes and attempts of a medium power not to be submerged but rather to achieve independence and autonomy and revitalize the nation at a time when the bipolar system was easing.