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Britain, Scandinavia, and the North Atlantic Treaty 1948–49

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 October 2009

Nikolaj Petersen
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Extract

The recent opening of official archives has permitted many new insights into the complex process which led to the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty in April 1949. One of these concerns the role of the Scandinavian countries, both as actors in their own right, and as pawns in the policy calculuses of the leading western powers. Recently Geir Lundestad has documented in great detail the role which Scandinavia played in American foreign policy in the 1945–49 period and especially in relation to the Atlantic Pact negotiations. In comparison, the position of Scandinavia in Britain's security policy in the period concerned is very little known.

Type
Research Article
Information
Review of International Studies , Volume 8 , Issue 4 , October 1982 , pp. 251 - 268
Copyright
Copyright © British International Studies Association 1982

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References

1. On this aspect, see i.e. Skodvin, Magne, Norden eller NATO? Utenriksdepartementet og alliansespørsmaalet 1957–1949 (Oslo 1971)Google Scholar; Eriksen, Knut Einar, DNA og NATO. Striden om norsk NATO-medlemskap innen regjeringspartiet 1948–49 (Oslo 1972)Google Scholar; Lundestad, Geir, ‘USA, skandinavisk forsvarsforbund og Halvard Lange: En revurdering' Internasjonal Politikk (1977), pp. 139–73Google Scholar; Knut E. Eriksen, ‘NATO, Norden og “den utro tjener” Halvard Lange’, Ibid. pp. 261–302; Amstrup, Niels, ‘Grønland i det amerikansk-danske forhold 1945–1948’, in Amstrap, Niels and Faurby, Ib (eds.), Studier i dansk udenrigspolitik, tilegnet Erling Bjøl (Aarhus, 1978), pp. 155–98Google Scholar; Nikolaj Petersen, ‘Optionsproblematikken i dansk sikkerhedspolitik 1948–49’, Ibid. pp. 199–236; Petersen, Nikolaj, ‘Danish and Norwegian Alliance Policies 1948–49: A Comparative Analysis’, Cooperation and Conflict, xiv (1979), pp. 193–210CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

2. Lundestad, Geir, America, Scandinavia, and the Cold War, 1945–1949 (Oslo and New York, 1980)Google Scholar.

3. Cf. Amstrap, op. cit.; Lundestad, , America, Scandinavia and the Cold War, op. cit. pp. 63–76Google Scholar.

4. J. P. (47) 56 (Final), ‘Scandinavian Defence—Strategic Considerations. Report by the Joint Planning Staff’, Ministry of Defence (June 1947). Foreign Office file 371, piece no. (henceforth FO) 65961. Public Record Office, Kew.

5. Letter to R. M. A. Hankey, Northern Department, 12 March 1947. Ibid.

6. FO 73045.

7. Foreign Relations of the United States (henceforth FRUS) 1948, vol. III (Washington, DC, 1974), pp. 4–6Google Scholar.

8. This core was created with the signing on 17 March of the Brussels Treaty, also termed Western Union or the Five Power Pact, between Britain, Franc e and the Benelux countries. Its character of a multilateral, automatic defence treaty differed significantly from Bevin's original concept and owed much to American and Benelux pressure.

9. Dispatch no. VIII from Reventlow, 27 January 1948. Danish Foreign Ministry file (henceforth UM) 5 H 10, Foreign Ministry Archives, Copenhagen.

10. FO 71449.

11. Memo delivered to the State Department on 11 March 1948. FRUS 1948, vol. III, pp. 46–48Google Scholar.

12. Cf. Nikolaj Petersen, ‘Who Pulled Whom and How Much? Britain, the United States and Making of the North Atlantic Treaty’, Millennium (forthcoming).

13. Lange's memos of conversation. Norwegian Foreign Ministry file (henceforth UD) 25.2/63. Foreign Ministry Archive, Oslo. Cf. tel. no. 104 (8 March 1948) from Collier, Oslo. FO 71504.

14. Cf. n. 11.

15. Bevin in conversation with US Ambassador Douglas 25 February 1948. FRUS 1948, vol. III, p. 32Google Scholar.

16. Ibid. p. 48.

17. Bevin's memo of conversation. FO 71724.

18. Bevin's memo of conversation. FO 71371. Both Unden and Rasmussen reacted very favourably to Bevin's suggestion.

19. FRUS 1948, vol. III, pp. 40–42Google Scholar.

20. Ibid. pp. 61–64.

21. Minutes of fourth meeting, 29 March 1948. Ibid. p. 69.

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24. Ibid. pp. 140–41.

25. FRUS 1948, vol. III, p. 138Google Scholar.

26. Minute on ‘Norway' to the Secretary of State, 13 March 1948. FO 71504. The Norwegian questionnaire is in Lord Alexander's reply to Hauge, 7 April 1948. FO 71445.

27. FO 71371.

28. Dispatch no. 872 from Prebensen, 30 April 1948. UD 25.3/63.

29. Memo on ‘Scandinavian Defence Cooperation and Western Union’, 8 May 1948. FO 71452.

30. Letter to Cabinet Office, 27 May 1948. FO 71445.

31. Tel 249 to Embassy in Oslo, 16 May 1948. FO 71445.

32. Tel. 250 to Embassy in Oslo, 16 May 1948. Ibid.

33. Dispatch XLIII from Ambassador Reventlow, London, 27 May 1948. UM 5 H 10a.

34. Tel 341 to Embassy in Stockholm, 22 May 1948. FO 71724.

35. 27 May 1948. FO 71445.

36. Letter signed L. C. Hollis, 28 May 1948. FO 71716.

37. Foreign Office memo on ‘Supply of Arms to Sweden’, 8 December 1948. FO 71717.

38. Tel. 6885 to Embassy in Washington, 25 June 1948. FO 71725.

39. Memo handed to British Ambassador Franks on 25 September 1948. Department of State. Geographic File 1945–49 (henceforth DS) 711.58/9–2148. Cf. memo of conversation between Acting Secretary of State Robert Lovett and Ambassador Franks. DS 840.20/9–2448. The British reaction is summarized in tel. 716 to the US Embassy in Stockholm, 2 October 1948. FRUS 1948, vol. III, p. 259Google Scholar.

40. Cf. letter from Norwegian Ambassador in Stockholm, Bergesen, to Foreign Minister Lange, 27 May 1948. UD 38.3/3.

41. Cf. note 30.

42. Tel. 591 to Washington, 15 May 1948. DS 840.00/5–1548.

43. FRUS 1948, vol. III, p. 134Google Scholar.

44. Memo of conversation, 12 October 1948. DS 758.00/10–1248.

45. See letter from John Hickerson to General Carter, 23 October 1948. DS 711.58/10–2348.

46. Bevin's memo of conversation. FO 71453.

47. Marshall's memo of conversation. DS 740.00119 Council/10–548.

48. Lundestad, , America, Scandinavia, and the Cold War, 1945–1949, op. cit. pp. 270–71Google Scholar.

49. On 21 September Hickerson had written to Lovett: ‘Why the hell should we spend money to rearm the Brussels Pact countries when they are selling jet s to neutrals?’ FRUS 1948, vol. III, p. 254Google Scholar.

50. Hickerson's memo of conversation, 7 December 1948. DS 840.20/12–748.

51. Dispatch XXI from Danish Ambassador Kauffmann, Washington, 24 June 1948, UM 5 H 10a.

52. 7 July 1948. FRUS 1948, vol. III, p. 159Google Scholar. This position had strong domestic support. In April Senator Vandenberg had pointed out that Scandinavia should be included ‘as that had great vote appeal in the Senate’, Ibid. p. 105. Iceland and Greenland were the only strategic areas specifically discussed during the Senate hearings in May on the Vandenberg Resolution. The Vandenberg Resolution. Hearings held in Executive Session … (Washington DC, 1973), p. 12Google Scholar.

53. 9 August 1948. FRUS 1948, vol. III, p. 209Google Scholar.

54. See his memo to Lovett 31 August 1948. Ibid. p. 225.

55. See the Foreign Office's general ‘guidance' for the Washington Embassy. Tel 6988 to Washington, 28 June 1948. FO 73071.

56. See e.g. tel. 1023 Saving to Washington, 13 August 1948: ‘Norway and Denmark are of course of cardinal importance [for the proper organization of Western Europe's security], and indeed it might well be there, repeating history, that aggression would begin. We regard it as of high importance that these countries should be brought within the scope of an Atlantic Pact.’ FO 73074.

57. A Foreign Office memo stated that there was ‘very little sense in such an idea’, 28 July 1948. Ibid.

58. Cf. tel. 4324 from Washington, 10 September 1948. FO 73076.

59. FRUS 1948, vol. III, pp. 237–48Google Scholar.

60. See e.g. Hickerson's memo of conversation with Danish Ambassador Kauffmann, 24 September 1948. DS 840.20/9–2348. Kauffmann's record is in dispatch XXX, 24 September 1948, UM5H10a.

61. FRUS 1948, vol. III, p. 271.Google Scholar

62. It was adopted by the Brussels Powers, 26 October 1948. Ibid. 270. President Truman accepted the paper immediately after being reelected in November. See letter from F. R. Hoyer Millar, 9 November 1948. FO 71453.

63. See Rasmussen's talk with Bevin, 25 September 1948, in FO 71453 (Bevin's record) and with Marshall on 5 October 1948, in DS 740.00119 Council/10–548. Rasmussen's records are in dispatch IV, 20 November 1948, to Kauffmann. UM 5 H 10a. Lange's conversation with Bevin on 25 September is in FO 71453 (Bevin's record) and UD 38.3/3 (Lange's record); his conversation with Marshall on 29 September is in UD 38.3/3 (Lange's record) and in FRUS 1948, vol. III, pp. 256–57Google Scholar (Marshall's record).

64. ‘The Relations of Sweden to Scandinavian Co-operation and Atlantic and Western Union’, 6 August 1948. FO 71458.

65. Ibid.

66. Letter from Ivone Kirkpatrick to Minister Hoyer Millar at the Embassy in Washington, 5 October 1948. Ibid.

67. Tel 11146 to Washington, 9 October 1948. FO 71453.

68. Minute, dated 26 October 1948. FO 71454.

69. FO 71458.

70. Hankey minute 12 October 1948. Ibid.

71. UD 25.2/72.

72. DS 840.20/11–1548.

73. Tel 13033 to Washington, 9 December 1948. FO 71454. Tel. 502 from Collier, Oslo, 1 December 1948. Ibid.

74. Tel 1035,19 November 1948. DS 840.20/11–1948.

75. See tel. 1301 from Matthews, Stockholm, 19 November 1948. DS 840.20/11–1948; tel 272 from Bay, Oslo, 27 November 1948. DS 840.20/11–2748.

76. Letter from Hoyer Millar to Kirkpatrick, 13 December 1948. FO 71455.

77. FRUS 1948, vol. III, p. 343.Google Scholar

78. Undated note (8 or 9 December), FO 71717.

79. Minute dated 14 December 1948. FO 71455.

80. Cabinet Paper (48) 249. FO 71716.

81. Summary of Karlstad talks, 6 January 1949. Dansk sikkerhedspolitik 1948–1966, vol. II: Bilag (Copenhagen, 1968), p. 50Google Scholar. The United States had asked Norway and Denmark on 31 December, and 3 January to indicate the desired form and timing of an official invitation to join the formal drafting of the Atlantic Pact. FRUS 1948, vol. III, pp. 348–51Google Scholar, and FRUS 1949, vol. IV, pp. 1–3Google Scholar.

82. Tel. 80 from Randall, 11 January 1949. FO 77391.

83. Minute dated 11 January 1949. Ibid.

84. Memo on ‘Scandinavian Defence and the Atlantic Pact’, 17 January 1949. FO 77394.

85. Note by Hankey, 19 January 1949. Ibid.

86. Minute dated 22 January 1949. Ibid.

87. ‘Scandinavia and the Atlantic Pact’, 28 January 1949. FO 77394.

88. Bevin's memo of conversation. FO 77398.

89. E.g. to Norwegian Ambassador Prebensen on 24 January (FO 77393) and 7 February (FO 77394), to Danish Ambassador Reventlow 8 February (Ibid.), and to Halvard Lang e on 14 February (FO 77398).

90. Unnumbered tel. 21 February 1949. FO 77394.

91. In mid-January the American Government told the Scandinavian countries i.e. that ‘(w)’ have repeatedly pointed out that our defense materials would be allotted on priority basis to countries coming within Vandenberg Res terms... Limitations of supply would in foreseeable future preclude furnishing weapons to countries not so qualified for assistance. We hope Scand Govts entertain no illusions on these points.’ FRUS 1949, vol. IV, p. 27Google Scholar.

92. This episode is analysed in great detail in Lundestad, , America, Scandinavia, and the Cold War 1945–1949, op. cit. pp. 295–309Google Scholar.

93. FRUS 1949, vol. IV, p. 96Google Scholar.

94. Tel from Ministry of Defence to B. J. S. M. in Washington, 10 February 1949. FO 77394.

95. Minutes by Gladwyn Jebb and Orme Sargent, 18 February 1949. Ibid.