ABSTRACT
After the Second World War, Britain’s old system of alliances and base agreements with the Middle Eastern states came under challenge from rising nationalist forces in those countries. It also became inadequate to meet British strategic requirements, which had to focus on the post-war threat of Soviet expansion in the area. Nationalist anti-Westernism, intensified in the Arab states by the creation of Israel in 1948, made difficult the development of any alternative form of politico-military cooperation between the Middle Eastern states and the West as a whole. Between 1950 and 1952 two Middle East defence proposals initiated by Britain with support from the United States, France and Turkey failed to be accepted by the Middle Eastern states. In 1953, however, the United States proposed a new approach to the defence problem in the Middle East. In April 1954 Turkey and Pakistan, forming the anchor positions under the United States-sponsored ‘northern tier’ defence concept, were persuaded to join in a loose agreement providing for limited defence cooperation between the signatories.
