Ernest Bevin And The Forming Of The Western Alliance After The Second World War

The year of 1945 was the breakthrough in the human history. The Attlee Government was a shinning star.The Labour Government in itself and its role in the new international situation had very important studying value.Ernest Bevin as the secretary was the key man in the carrying out the policies of the Attlee Government.The diplomatic idea of Ernest Bevin was consistant with the Attlee Government. The Great Design of Bevin after World War II was to realize the western alliance which primarily took on the Western Europe. The relation with the United States was the major factor.The idea of the western alliance had a connection with the Cold War.When the Cold War began, the Britain was deeply involved in it.Ernest Bevin played a leading role in west,especially about the matters of Europe. It was naturally that Bevin had become the advocator of the idea of the western alliance.In tradition, when we talked the Cold War, we often meant the conflict between the America and the Soviet Union. But we neglected the other countries' role in the Cold War.Thus, we easily ingored the development of the international relationship and the mutual action.The thesis was to study the Attlee Government's diplomacy to the U.S.A in Europe (especially taking on the Secretary of Ernest Bevin) .So we could have a proper understanding to the Attlee Government's diplomacy. At the same time,we could break up the traditional opinion which mainly focused on the U.S.A and the Soviet Union.In history, the diplomatic concern of the Britain was Europe.But the Europe had become very weak after the World War II and had lost its center of the power. The western Europe lost its respect and confidence, it disapeared from the center to the fringe and became a little role.After the Secong World War, the Attlee Government had to adapt its dipomacy and realized the most national interst.Einstein had said:"Now evrything had changed except our thinking method.We were drafting into a disaster which did not appear in the past. We must have a complete thiking method if we wanted to live."The purpose of the thesis was to study the policy of the Attlee Government toward the U.S.A in Europe(mainly western Europe).That was the idea of the western alliance of Bevin.In history, the aim of the diplomatic policy of every country was to protect the national interest including the Britain.The abilities of the Attlee Government had diminished after the Second World War. Furthermore, the Britain was a small island. It couldn't defend itseslf when it was attacked by the nuclear weapons. So, the basic diplomatic task of the Attlee Government was to realize two aims:the economic reconstruction and the safety defence.In the two aims, the economy was the basis of the defence.In a word, the idea of Ernest Bevin was primarily from the uneasiness of the expansion of Soviet Union.In fact,the reaction came from the diffirence between the Britain and the Soviet Union.In order to diminish the fear, Ernest Bevin advoca(?)ed the idea of the western alliance.It mainly took on the Marshall Plan and the Western Union and the NATO,the future of the Germany,that was, we called them the four legs of the idea of the western alliance.The Labour Party was deeply involved in these things and played a very important role. So I thought the role of the Attlee Government was(the key person was Bevin)no less than the role that it played in the World War II.Bevin had a far-sighted thinking and it encouraged the U.S.A to change its diplomacy. It realized the hope of the partnership between the Britain and the U.S.A. Also, the special relationship had developed during the time and became the major body of the idea of the westen alliance.There were six parts in the thesis.Chapter one :Introduction.In this chapter, the academic significance of the subject,the review of former study and current situation.The study in the past was traditional and lacked systematic analysis.The thesis was mainly devoted to the western Europe and explain how Bevin carried the idea of the western alliance.At the same time, there were some questions had been stated which could help us understanding the thesis.Chapter II: The carrying of the idea of the western alliance. At the same time, the thesis explained the efforts of Bevin.So all these efforts had got a good base to the successful diplomacy of the idea of the western alliance. At the same time, it stated some clues that when the idea of Bevin realized, he was not always consistant with the U.S.A.Chapter III:The first leg of the idea of the western alliance. It was the Marshall Plan and its practice.Through the difficulties in 1945 and 1946, there was a turningpoint in 1947. The turningpoint was a exciting beginning for the Britain.The diplomacy was put into practice successfully. The U.S.A acceptted the responsibility of the Greek and the Turkey.It was a chance for the Attlee Government. The Trumanism was a symbol of the American's diplomacy changing.The Cold War began and gave a base to several generations' opinion.The Attlee Government used the chance and persuaded the America to take on the responsibility of helping the Europe.Ernest Bevin as the secretary of state had a talk with Douglas and put his suggestion to the America. The next day after the talking, Marshall had his speech in Harvard, the speech was named Marshall Plan.In order to put the plan into practice, the Attlee Government put its heart and efforts. In the end, the economy of the Western Europe survived and had a high jump in 1950s. All these were the efforts of the Labour Party.Chapter IV:The second and third leg was the electing of the Western Union and the NATO.In economy,Ernest Bevin draged the America into westen Europe and took the responsibilities. This was the first step of the Labour Party's diplomacy. But it was not enough to help the Western Europe recover its economy. If there was no politic security, there was nothing. So Bevin put a proposal of the Western Union. The idea calls for the unity of the Western Europe.The treaty of Dunkirk was the beginning.Following the step was the signing of the treaty of the Brussels. The U.S.A did not attend the two treaties. The security of the Western Europe was not garanteened. Ernest Bevin useed every method to persuade the America to attend the security of the Atlantic system. The Atlantic was the key zone to the America, so it finally had a talk with the Attlee Government. At the end, there was a satisfying result. The NATO was elected.The idea of Bevin succeeded. The U.S.A disengaged from the isolationism wholly.This was the most highest point of Bevin as the Secretary.Chapter V:The fourth leg-the dealing with the problem of the Germany.The Germany was occupied by the America,the Britain,the France and the Soviet Union. So the problem of the Germany was perplexed. The Attlee Government gave a defence net to the Western Europe in economy, politics and the security. So how to deal with the German problem was very important. The Germany was a part of the Europe. It played a vital role in the economy and the political security of the Western Europe.In order to put Germany into the Western Europe, the Attlee Government put proposal to recover Germany. In the end, the Germany became a member of the ERP and attended the NATO in 1955. The diplomatic policy of the Labour Government succeeded. Chapter VI:Conclusion.In this chapter,the thesis reviewed the difficulties of the idea of the westen alliance at first and its finally success.Through the diplomatic efforts of Ernest Bevin,the Labour Government, realized its diplomatic strategy, that was, dragging the U.S.A into the Western Europe and filled in with the vacuum in Europe after the World War II. The Labour Government got a success and realized the best national interest. At the same time, Bevin was not always consistant with the America. So in the thesis, there were two characters of the idea of the western alliance: diplomacy: one was persuading and using, the other was rejection and throwing. In a word, the diplomacy of Bevin had a great success in Europe.