Imperial crossroad: The influence of the Far East on Anglo-American relations, 1933-1939

The problem investigated by this thesis is the degree to which Far Eastern foreign and defence issues influenced the formation of closer Anglo-American relations between 1933 and 1939. It is based on a wide array of primary documents from the United States, Great Britain and Canada. There is also an adequate amount of secondary literature used to supplement the primary research.; The major conclusions to be drawn from this study are many. First, is the point that both the American and British strategic foreign policy-making elites were interested in the maintenance of a balance of power to protect their interests in the Far East. That balance was concerned not only with the position of Japan and China, but also the Soviet Union. Second, the periodization traditional used to investigate this issue is not correct and a more comprehensive picture is created by using the period from 1933 to 1939. Third, the basis for the Grand Alliance of 1941-1945 between Britain and the United States can be found in their common interests in the Far East. Fourth, Anglo-American relations in general were moving closer and on better terms from 1933 to 1939. Finally, the primacy of the British Foreign Office and American State Department in the construction of each nation's strategic foreign policy is confirmed. This is especially important on the British side of the investigation, where the workings of the machinery responsible for the formulation of a strategy to defend the realm has been highlighted. That aspect of the work sheds new light on the historiographical question of who held the dominant position in that process: the Treasury or the Foreign Office.; Some other inferences that are in the study are that a similar policy-making elite system was in charge of the creation of a strategic foreign policy in both the United States and Great Britain at this time. As well, both of those groups held similar strategic views of important Far Eastern events.; Overall, the study calls for a re-interpretation of the importance Far East in the construction of the "Special Relationship", claiming that the Far East was just as important, if not more so, than the events in Europe from 1933-1939 in drawing the two western powers together.