This military history offers a provocative take on the “Special Relationship” between the UK and the USA from the close of WWI into the Cold War. After the Great War, the American government contemplated what it would mean to pursue global superpower status. One potential consequence might have been conflict with Great Britain. And so, the US drew up War Plan Red: a scheme by which American forces invaded Canada and the Caribbean, drawing the Royal Navy into North American waters—and leaving the rest of the British Empire vulnerable to attack. In 1939, the American military created an intelligence-gathering machine within their Embassy in London under Ambassador Joe Kennedy. Two years later, the US Army Special Observer Group traveled to Britain to plan for Anglo-American cooperation should the United States enter World War II. Their intelligence-gathering activities spread out as far as the Middle East, Africa, South America, Russia, and Asia—far beyond the terms of the original brief. At the start of the Cold War, a whole new range of subterfuge was initiated by the CIA. So, were the Americans allies or spies? In this enlightening study, acclaimed military historian Graham M. Simons examines how two of history’s greatest allies could find themselves in bitter conflict.

A humorous history of simmering tensions between the US and Canada from the War of 1812 to actual invasion plans drawn up by both sides. It’s known as the world’s friendliest border. Five thousand miles of unfenced, unwalled international coexistence and a symbol of neighborly goodwill between two great nations: the United States and Canada. But just how friendly is it really? In War Plan Red, the secret “cold war” between the United States and Canada is revealed in full and humorous detail. With colorful maps and historical imagery, the breezy text walks the reader through every aspect of the long-running rivalry—from the “Pork and Beans War” between Maine and Newfoundland lumberjacks, to the “Pig War” of the San Juan Islands, culminating with excerpts from actual declassified invasion plans the Canadian and US militaries drew up in the 1920s and 1930s.

In Churchill Cold War Warrior, renowned military historian Anthony Tucker-Jones reassesses Winston Churchill’s neglected postwar career. He explains how in an unguarded moment Winston inadvertently sowed the seeds for the Cold War by granting Stalin control of Eastern Europe. Famously Churchill, at Fulton, then warned of the growing danger created by this partition of the continent. Winston after the Second World War wanted to prove a point. Shunned by the electorate in 1945, instead of retiring he was determined to be Prime Minister for a second time. Biding his time he watched in dismay as Britain scuttled from India and Palestine and weathered the East-West confrontation over Berlin. He finally got his way in 1951 and took the reins of a country with drastically waning powers. Churchill was confronted by a world in turmoil, with an escalating Cold War that had gone hot in Korea and an unraveling British Empire. Communism and nationalism proved a heady cocktail that fanned the flames of widespread conflict. He had to contain rebellions in Kenya and Malaya while clinging on in Egypt. Desperately he also sought to avoid a Third World War and the use of nuclear weapons by reuniting the 'Big Three'.

This book examines the interplay between sanctions and nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. The volume aims to tackle three separate but closely intertwined issues: It aims to revisit the debate on, and deconstruct the concept of, sanctions; to provide a working theoretical framework; to differentiate between positive sanctions (or incentives or carrots) and negative sanctions; to identify the actors who may initiate sanctions (i.e. states, regional, and/or international organizations); to ascertain the legality and legitimacy of such sanctions taking place; to problematize and discuss the utility of sanctions; and so on. It aims to disentangle the concepts of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, particularly in light of the most recent geopolitical global shifts on nuclear powers-interplay taking place in the background of the war in Ukraine and rising tensions in Southeast Asia, and so on. Finally, it aims to conjoin the cause-and-effect cases between the application of sanctions, on the one hand, and the decision by states to pursue nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, on the other. By doing so, the volume helps to update and stimulate the academic and policy debate on the inter-relation between sanctions and nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. This book will be of much interest to students of nuclear non-proliferation, economic sanctions, security studies, and International Relations.

The story of the Consolidated B-36 is unique in American aviation history. The aircraft was an interesting blend of concepts proven during the Second World War combined with budding 1950s high-tech systems. The program survived near-cancellation on six separate occasions during an extremely protracted development process. It was also the symbol of a bitter inter-service rivalry between the newly-formed US Air Force and the well-established US Navy over which of which of the two organizations would control the delivery of atomic weapons during the early years of the Cold War. Entering service in 1948, the B-36 was a remarkable design. It was the largest mass-produced piston-engine aircraft ever built, having the longest wingspan of any combat aircraft in history. Importantly, in terms of the developing Cold War at least, the B-36 was the first bomber capable of delivering any of the weapons in America’s nuclear arsenal without modification. To achieve this part of its role, the Peacemaker had an operational range of 10,000 miles, being capable of intercontinental flight without refueling. It is difficult to imagine a modern aircraft remaining airborne for two days without refueling – but such missions were relatively routine for the B-36 crews. while there were, at the time of its service, questions around its flight speed, the Peacemaker flew so high that this was considered of little concern – few fighters of its era could reach the same altitudes, and operational surface-to-air missiles were still in the future. The B-36, despite its seemingly conventional appearance, pushed the state-of-the-art technology further than any other aircraft of its era. Its sheer size brought with it structural challenges, while its high-altitude capabilities led to engine cooling and associated problems. However, all of these were finally overcome, and the B-36 served well as the first ‘Big Stick’ of the Cold War.

Uncovers and examines Britain's counter-subversive policies and security measures implemented in the post-war Middle East, Middle Eastern affairs make headlines. Not only are they politically volatile, but the cultural and religious contexts complicate Western involvement in the region. This book reveals secret British intelligence liaisons with Middle Eastern regimes during the early Cold War. It shows how Britain tried to influence regional intelligence and security services and shape their approach to countering communist subversion. Analysing newly declassified documents alongside extensive archival research and historiography, the book pieces together the intelligence culture build by the British Empire in the Middle East in the post-war era.