The Lion and the Eagle -- British and Anglo-American Strategy, 1900-1950

New York: G.P. Putnam. Near Fine in Near Fine dust jacket. 1972. First Edition; First Printing. Hardcover. x, 499 pages; Clean and secure in original black cloth binding in very nice dustjacket. Maps, appendices, bibliography, index. How the US eventually replaced Britain as the world's leading power. During the interwar period, the United States failed to translate its economic power into military power; the Second World War forced it to do so. During the war, British and American political and military leaders repeatedly clashed over strategy. President Franklin Roosevelt made it clear that America was not fighting to preserve the British Empire.Indeed, Burk claims, with some justification, that one American war aim was to end the British Empire. Certainly this was true with respect to India. But as Burk points out, the U.S. still hoped that Britain would maintain its influence in, if not control of, the Middle East.Ironically, the U.S. effectively ended British influence in the Middle East during the Suez Crisis of 1956. “The Suez Crisis,” Burk writes, “was a watershed in British history. It was the end of Great Britain as an independent Great Power.” In reality, it was during World War II that Britain ceased being an independent Great Power. Suez merely exposed that fact.The final nail in the British imperial coffin was its decision to withdraw its forces east of Suez, which was implemented at the end of 1971. That is where Burk’s history ends because Britain for all intents and purposes ceased to be an empire. .