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Britain and the End of the Cold War
CCBH Annual Conference, 23-25 June 2009,
Institute of Historical Research, University of London
In November 1989 the Berlin Wall was dismantled. This event marked the beginning of the end of the Cold War.
The Cold War is often seen as an ideological struggle between the two superpowers that emerged from the Second World War, the USA and the USSR. Nations like the UK have been thought of as adjuncts to the superpower they were in alliance with. However, more recent scholarly analysis of the Cold War has ‘decentred’ the conflict, by examining how the Cold War was fought at the peripheries; and by exploring the activities of so-called subsidiary actors, the UK included. The latter analysis shows that the each country’s involvement in the development of the Cold War was conditioned by a number of factors, in particular the international role of the country.
After 1945 the UK remained a global player, even though progressively ceasing to be an Imperial power, because of her sustained political, diplomatic and economic links with post-colonial countries around the globe. The UK was also the USA’s most ‘reliable ally’ and ideologically hostile to communism and UK governments believed that they had the right to sit at the international top table. Fighting the Cold War, therefore, was an integral part of UK policymaking. The Cold War also had an impact on British culture, as can be seen in film, radio, television and the arts, and on the development of science and technology. With the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War, the UK sought to expand its influence in the former Soviet bloc.
The 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall is the ideal time for a systematic and academic assessment of the ways in which the Cold War and the end of the Cold War affected Britain and we invite papers on this. Possible areas for papers include (but are not limited to) the following:
• The Cold War in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean
• Defence reviews: Sandys, East of Suez, Nott
• The end of Empire
• Nuclear defence and protest
• NATO
• The Commonwealth and the Cold War
• Gender and the Cold War
• The BBC and the Cold War
• The Grenada crisis, 1983
• The British presence in Germany
• The development of the armed forces
• The Strategic Defence Initiative
• The intelligence services
• Science and technology
• Armament and disarmament
• UK attitudes to the United States
• Cold War culture - films and literature
• Red Scare
• UK reactions to perestroika
• Policy after the fall of the Berlin Wall
• The Thatcher-Reagan-Gorbachev relationship
• Eastern Europe and the Know-How funds
Please send a short synopsis (up to 300 words) of your paper with your contact details to Dr Michael Kandiah, michael.kandiah@sas.ac.uk, by 16th January 2009.
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CCBH News Zone: Britain and the End of the Cold War: Call for Papers
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