ABSTRACT
Two issues pervade the vast literature on Anglo-American diplomatic relations during the Cold War. First, scholars who examine the fundamental nature of the Anglo-American relationship debate whether it was 'special' and what factors or persons made it so. Second, scholars have implicitly studied the connection between Britain's decline from great power status after the Second World War and the United States's concurrent rise to superpower status. Whether these two parallel developments were related causally or merely coincidental - and whether America's rise was resisted or resented by the British - are among the central queries posed by historians of Anglo-American relations.1 This chapter conducts an overview of Anglo-American official relations during the Cold War first by surveying the major schools of interpretation of the relationship as it evolved and as it was shaped by diplomatic issues around the globe and, second, by surveying major international developments that influenced the relationship.
