| As an indispensable part of her Cold War strategy, the policy of the United States towards Scandinavia was established from 1945 to 1952. Studies reveal that as far as Scandinavia is concerned, the fundamental principles and basic attitudes of the United States during this period find their full expression in such programmatic documents as NSC2/1, NSC28 and NSC121/1. With the three historical documents as its point of departure, the present thesis is intended to treat of the establishment and development of the policy the United States took towards Scandinavia, exploring her relationships with the latter as seen at the angle of the United States on the one hand, and discussing the effects other countries and factors exerted on the policy on the other. It is hoped that the thesis will make what little contribution it can to the studies of the relationships between the United States and Scandinavia during the period of Cold War in the years to come in China.The thesis is composed of three parts.Introduction is supposed to bring to the fore the state of the art of the studies of the issue under consideration both at home and abroad. It is argued that historians at home have to date done relatively little on the issue, whereas scholars overseas have not so far produced quite a few monographs on it, either. It seems that academicians of history abroad have found their interest in the histories of the alleged super powers at that time. In spite of their occasional touch and discussion, they have taken little or no interest in the issue per se, which is of great importance for gaining access to the relationships between the countries concerned during that period. Where they touched on it, the materials and information they used seem to be out of date. The thesis is supposed to bring to light the relationships between the United States and Scandinavia at the early period of Cold War by its heavy dependence on the newly-unclassified documents of the National Security Committee of the United States.Part One aims at presenting a bird's eye view of the backgrounds of the policy the United States took towards Scandinavia from 1945 to 1952. ItIVfocuses its attention on the establishment of America's global strategy and its policy towards Europe, as well as the terminal formation of the "Bridge Building" of the United States towards the countries in Scandinavia.Part Two attempts to deal systematically with the establishment of the policy the United States took towards Scandinavia by virtue of a close analysis into the documents of NSC2/1 and NSC28. In accordance with the inherent continuity and stage-by stage essence characteristic of America's policy towards Scandinavia, this part elaborates on how the United States treated Scandinavia: from requiring of it the right to the bases in it, from orbiting the three Scandinavia countries Norway, Denmark, and Iceland into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and making them under the control of the trade between the east and the west, to obliging the three countries to desert the "Bridge Building" between the east and the west.Part Three is intended to dwell further on the changes and development of the America's policy towards Scandinavia. It is argued that the policy the United States took towards Scandinavia changed along with the outbreak of the Korea War, after which the issue of security counted for much the world over. The United States tried to strengthen the trust and confidence of Scandinavia countries in it by changing its policy of security towards them. The United States also tries to influence the three countries with military aid, which is claimed to be instrumental for the terminal formation of safety pattern in Scandinavia. With an analysis into the document NSC 121/1 as a point of departure, this part makes an effort to bring to the fore the effects of the United States on Finland and Sweden. In addition, this part also takes pains to analyze and comment on the limitations of the policy of the United States towards Scandinavia.Conclusion... |
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