Nuclear deterrent

Question 1

Arguments in favour of the British nuclear deterrent

Answer 1

· Labour gov of late 1940s decided to build a British nuclear bomb in 1947

· because before the NATO Treaty was signed in 1949 they feared that the US might be unwilling to defend EU and that they needed a nuclear weapon to deter the USSR

· USSR had conventional forces much larger than those of Western Europe

· the British nuclear deterrent continues to contribute to the defence of Western EU

· possession of an independent deterrent maintains Britain’s ‘great’ power status

Question 2

Arguments against the British nuclear deterrent

Answer 2

· since 1962 when Macmillan persuaded JFK to supply Britain with Polaris missiles to carry British warheads, the British nuclear deterrent has not been independent but reliant on the Americans

· the British nuclear deterrent is virtually irrelevant when measured against the size of the American and Russian nuclear arsenals

· the heavy costs in maintaining it reduce the gov investment in other areas such as education or health services and conventional forms of defence

Question 3

Nuclear weapons as an issue in British domestic politics in the 1950s and 60s

Answer 3

· late 50s and early 60s pressure grew for nuclear weapons to be abandoned to make the world safer

· 1958, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) was founded

· they began a series of annual protest marches from the nuclear weapons plant at Aldermaston in Berkshire to Trafalgar Square

· the march in 1960 attracted as many as 100,000 protesters

· but supporters of the nuclear deterrent maintained that Britain needed to be strong to prevent Soviet aggression even though it was clear by the 1960s that Britain needed US missiles to deliver its bomb

· the Labour Party was more divided on the issue of nuclear weapons than were the Tories

Question 4

SUCCESS? of Nuclear weapons as an issue in British domestic politics in the 1950s and 60s

Answer 4

· Widespread public opposition grew shown by the CND and protests

· Internal divisions in Labour undermined their strength in solving the issue

· Limited success due to social unrest and political division

Question 5

Britain and international agreements on nuclear technology

Answer 5

· 1963, Britain joined the USSR and the USA in banning nuclear testing in space, under water and in the atmosphere

· Britain also signed the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty by which signatories agreed not to share nuclear tech with other nations

· the continued build-up of nuclear armed missiles by US and USSR in the 60s rendered the much smaller British deterrent increasingly insignificant

· so much that British played little part when the two superpowers negotiated the two Strategic Arms Limitations Treaties (SALT) in 1972 and 1979

Question 6

SUCCESS? of Britain and international agreements on nuclear technology

Answer 6

· Britain had limited influence in international agreements

· Moderately successful in shaping international agreements on nuclear technology as Britain signed major treaties but had a limited influence

Question 7

Britain and nuclear weapons in the 1980s

Answer 7

· Britain’s role in the nuclear balance between East and West once again became controversial in the 1980s

· in the mid-1970s the USSR had begun deploying SS-20 intermediate range missiles capable of hitting targets anywhere in EU

· 1979 NATO powers agreed to deploy US intermediate range cruise missiles in response

· this increased the likelihood of Europe becoming a nuclear battleground

· prompted a group of women in 1981 to set up a protest camp at the RAF and USAF base at Greenham Common in Berkshire

· the camp was for women only and was to demonstrate opposition to the siting of US nuclear weapons on British bases

· the camp lasted for 19 years and became a potent symbol of women’s rejection of war and violence

Question 8

SUCCESS? Britain and nuclear weapons in the 1980s

Answer 8

· Limited success as there was a renewal of tensions

Question 9

Thatcher - ‘zero’ option

Answer 9

· PM Thatcher did not sympathise with the Greenham Common protest

· she was alarmed by Reagan’s willingness in his talks with Gorbachev to embrace what became known as the ‘zero’ option

· Dec 1984 she told him that ‘zero’ option - complete abolition of nuclear weapons on both sides

· she believed that the abolition of nuclear weapons would leave Europe exposed to the conventional forces of the USSR - they were much larger than NATO

· although the zero option wasn’t adopted the collapse of the USSR in 1991 did lead to agreements by which both the US and Russia significantly reduced their nuclear arsenals

Question 10

End of the century

Answer 10

· at the end of the century, Britain’s nuclear policy remained much like its foreign policy - nominally independent

· but in reality dependent on the US

· debate continued about cost, ethical issues and viability of the nuclear option

Question 11

SUCCESS? of End of the century

Answer 11

· Limited as debate continued

· Remained dependent on the US

· In the 1940s Britain was successful in establishing a successful nuclear deterrent that strengthened its global status. However throughout the century this success was undermined by its dependence on the US and domestic unrest.