Britain and the myth of the Special Relationship

Explaining History

The British political class has clung on to a fantasy of its own relevance in Washington DC for decades. The special relationship that British Prime Ministers like to refer to (a bond that perhaps existed for Roosevelt and Churchill) has been an article of faith in Downing Street for decades but not in the White House. During the second Trump presidency, it will be exposed as the fiction it is.

In 1948, the British finally ended their mandate government over Palestine. As they withdrew a vicious civil war between Jewish and Arab communities began, followed by a full invasion by the Arab League when the state of Israel had been declared. The British had created the tensions through their handling of Jewish immigration. This episode reads from Kenneth O.Morgan's The People's Peace.

• I will be running a livestream Q&A for students on Wednesday November 20th. You can access it here, subscribe to the channel to get your reminder.
• https://youtube.com/live/knBuNLBD-bU?feature=share (in case the link doesn't work)

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