‘British Leadership is Experienced, Cool-Headed and Predictable’: Anglo-Danish relations and the United States from the end of the Second World War to the Cold War

Abstract

This article analyses and portrays the bilateral relationship between Great Britain and Denmark from the end of the Second World War to 1951. It is shown how Great Britain played an important role for Denmark in this period both as a trading partner and as a political partner. This state of affairs was primarily due to most Danish politicians holding a dichotomous view on the still more influential partner in the far west, the United States. In the early post-war years, Denmark thus relied on Britain in both major and minor matters. It is argued that Britain exploited this state of affairs to promote British policies and political as well as economic interests in the still more important Nordic region in an era where British influence on world politics was diminishing and where British policies were certainly not always in concordance with American policies.

Keywords:

• Denmark
• Scandinavia
• Great Britain
• United States
• Cold War
• Second World War
• refugees
• trade

Acknowledgement

My thanks to Scandinavian Journal of History's two peer reviewers whose comments and suggestions were of great value.

Notes

1 The National Archives (TNA), FO 371/65877, Randall to Attlee, Denmark: Ideological Report, 22 April 1947.

2 Insall and Salmon, The Nordic Countries.

3 See Mariager, I tillid og varm sympati.

4 Kirchhoff, Samarbejde og modstand under besættelsen; Olesen, ‘The Obsession with Sovereignty’.

5 Scandinavia's growing importance in international affairs from the late 19th century to the Second World War is analysed in Salmon, Scandinavia and the Great Powers. See also Schröter, Außenpolitik und Wirtschaftsinteresse, and Seymour, Anglo-Danish Relations and Germany.

6 On this see the still important work by Hæstrup, … til landets bedste, vol. 1–2.

7 Telegram from Haigh to Steel, 31 March 1945. TNA, FO 371/47221.

8 On the ‘liberation government’, see Lundbak, ‘Modstandsbevægelsen i regeringen 1945’.

9 USNA (United States, National Archives), William C. Trimble, ‘Danish Political Summary – April’, 3 May 1945. NA.RG.84.2386. BOX 2.

10 Jacobsen, Foden i Døren, 107–13.

11 Statistisk Tabelværk 1929–1950; Statistisk oversigt 1951–1961.

12 On the convertibility crisis, see for example Harris, Attlee, 346; Cairncross, ‘Reconversion’, 25–51.

13 Mariager, I tillid og varm sympati.

14 On Denmark and the Marshall Plan, see Sørensen, Denmark's Social Democratic Government.

15 Anglo-Danish trade negotiations and agreements in 1945–1951 have been analysed in Jensen, Politisk Kamp om Danmarks Importpolitik, cf. Mariager, I tillid og varm sympati.

16 USNA, Policy Statement, United Kingdom, July 1950. NA.RG.84.2386. Box 19, pp. 1, 3.

17 Telegram from Attlee to Randall, 20 November 1946, FO 371/56127, N15022/394/15 (No. 75); telegram from Randall to Bevin, 13 March 1947, FO 371/65858, N5341/274/15 (No. 90); telegram from Randall to Bevin, 20 June 1947, FO 471/1, N7343/1096/15 (No. 94); telegram from Randall to Bevin, 12 September 1947, FO 371/65847, N10637/9/15 (No. 197); minute from Sargent to Attlee, 6 January 1948, FO 371/71366, N10637/9/15 (No. 106); telegram from Bevin to Randall, 17 April 1948, FO 371/71367, N4688/61/15 (No. 134); telegram from Randall to Bevin, 29 October 1949, FO 371/77341, N9366/1153/15 (No. 197). Mariager, I tillid og varm sympati; cf. Mariager, ‘Political Ambitions and Economic Realities’.

18 Telegram from Strang to Bevin, 26 November 1945, FO 371/47275, N16272/1866/15 (No. 42); letter from Steel to Warner, 10 January 1946, FO 371/55748, C695/688/18 (No. 45); telegram from Attlee to Randall, 20 November 1946, FO 371/56127, N15022/394/15 (No. 75); minute from Warr to Jellicoe, 22 February 1947, FO 371/65885, N26827122/15 (No. 88); minute of conversations with a Danish delegation, 27 October 1948, FO 371/70550, C9099/42/18 (No. 153); letter from Count Reventlow to Kirkpatrick, 7 March 1949, FO 371/77351, N3119/1821/15 (No. 187); cf. Mariager, I tillid og varm sympati.

19 TNA, FO 371/65854, Randall to Rasmussen, 10 February 1947.

20 TNA, FO 371/56131, Randall to Bevin, 30 April 1946.

21 See Havrehed, De tyske flygtninge i Danmark, 274.

22 Telegram from Bevin to Randall, 28 August 1945, FO 371/47226, N11265/15 (No. 23); minute from Warr to Hankey, 27 September 1946, FO 371/56089, N12283/3/15 (No. 71); telegram from Attlee to Randall including enclosure, 20 November 1946, FO 371/56127, N15022/394/15 (No. 75); minute from Warr to Hankey, 21 November 1946, FO 371/56089, N15027/3/15 (No. 76); letter from Mayhew to Pakenham, 22 November 1946, FO 371/56089, N15027/3/15 (No. 78); minute from Warr to Bevin, 22 January 1947, FO 371/65854, N895/121/15 (No. 83).

23 Memorandum from Bevin to the Cabinet Overseas Reconstruction Committee, 8 September 1945, CAB 121/361 (No. 26).

24 Telegram from Anderson to Randall, 23 July 1945, FO 371/47273, N8996/1866/15 (No. 14); record of a meeting between Sargent and Hvass and Rasmussen, 28 August 1945, FO 371/47274, N11254/1866/15 (No. 22); telegram from Bevin to Randall, 28 August 1945, FO 371/47226, N11265/5934/15 (No. 23); telegram from Attlee to Randall including enclosure, 20 November 1946, FO 371/56127, N15022/394/15 (No. 75); minute of conversation with a Danish delegation, 27 October 1948, FO 371/70550, C9099/42/18 (No. 153).

25 Telegram from Randall to Eden, 12 July 1945, FO 371/47225, N8589/9/15 (No. 13); telegram from Randall to Bevin, 26 September 1945, FO 371/47226, N12914/9/15 (No. 30); minute from Warr to Warner, 19 December 1945, FO 371/47227, N17162/9/15 (No. 43).

26 See also Salmon, ‘Great Britain and Northern Europe’.

27 Villaume, ‘Leaning on England’.

28 Mariager, I tillid og varm sympati.

29 British Policy Towards Scandinavia, Foreign Office, 4 May 1954. TNA, FO 371/111337.

30 Mariager, I tillid og varm sympati.

31 Aunesluoma, Britain, Sweden and the Cold War, 102–5.

32 Bevin quoted in Costigliola, ‘Culture, Emotion, and the Creation of the Atlantic Identity’, 28–9.

33 This aspect has been underlined in three doctoral dissertations on Britain's relations with the Nordic countries following the end of the Second World War: Aunesluoma, Britain, Sweden and the Cold War; Mariager, I tillid og varm sympati; Insall, Haakon Lie. See also Aunesluoma, ‘Our Staunchest Friends and Allies in Europe’.

34 USNA, ‘The Position of the United Kingdom and its Relations with the United States’, NA.RG.59 Policy Planning Staff, 1947–1953. Box 17 (Great Britain).

35 USNA. EUR Files: Lot 59 D233. Entry 1274.

36 Petersen, ‘Storbritannien, U.S.A. og skandinavisk forsvar’; idem, ‘Britain, Scandinavia and the North Atlantic Treaty’; cf. Mariager, ‘Den Kolde Krig’.

37 See the references in Helge Pharo's and Magnus Petersson's contributions to the present volume.

38 Salmon, ‘Great Britain and Northern Europe’.

39 Insall, Haakon Lie; Aunesluoma, Britain, Sweden and the Cold War; and Mariager, I tillid og varm sympathy.

40 Foreign Relations of the United States, vol. III: Western Europe (1948) and vol. IV: ‘Western Europe’ (1949).

41 On this aspect see Helge Pharo's and Thorsten B. Olesen's contributions to the present volume.

42 See for example Sevaldsen, ‘Culture and Diplomacy’; idem, ‘Trade Fairs and Cultural Promotion’.