“History is a shaper of the world.”
Looking in history, we will always see a permanent race of the states for control and influence over other states, regions, continents, and even the whole world – the superpower role. This race always has had different reasons behind, from the desire to be the leading nation of the world (the Germany of Hitler) to the desire of sustaining world development and through that being the first country to make a real difference in the world (the USA of Donald Trump).
The end of the XX century and the beginning of the XXIst century were mostly guided by the impact and influence of the USA, which is considered to be the superpower of our days. It had positive and negative influences on the world we have today. Through the positive influences, we find its participation in both World wars and its sustainment for the formation of the EU. As Europe has always shown its inclination towards war because of the multiple powerful states who longed for power and control of the whole continent, the USA came with the Marshall Plan that with the US foundings was meant to orient the European states attention on recovery after the war and avoidance of further wars by a concentration of the European powers on common development and economic growth.
Through the negative impacts, we can mention the military interventions which did not necessarily establish democracy and peace in the Middle East, especially the Irak war.
In its international activity, we observe that the USA’s relationship with France and Germany is much more different than that it has with the United Kingdom. When it comes to the UK, the USA has been reluctant to maintain a close relationship at a different level than the diplomatic one. The dialogue for EU formation was held with France and Western Germany, and later much more with Germany. Although the United Kingdom joined the Union, it was not the first country to discuss the EU’s future. Then we assist at the Brexit process, which is followed by a serious reexamination of the trade relationships between the USA and the UK.
So, let’s look into history to understand the reasons behind today’s USA and UK decisions.
The history behind the independence day
“Everything began with the independence day.”
The USA and the UK have a great history behind them. Much of it can be traced back to the XVII century at the British mass migrations in the US colonies and the XVIII-XIX centuries to the independence war and other expansion wars.
The Independence War describes the roots of USA-UK relations. Their relation has started with Great Britain’s colonization of 13 regions of the Northern American continent. These colonies were mostly involved in the slave trade and represented an interest for Great Britain because of the cotton, and the faithful trade relations the colonies were forced to have only with Britain and no other European powers. Britain considered itself as a liberator of the US citizens, especially after the French and the Indian Wars, after which it colonized French Louisiana during 1754-1763.
Everything seemed to be alright until the British crown considered that the colonies were in debt to the crown for the French and Indian War and established at the Stamp Act 1765 and the Tea Act of 1773, series of taxes for the colonies. The taxes outraged the locals, especially the Massachusetts colony, which was seen by King Gorge III as disloyal. In this direction, the commander of all British troops in North America, Thomas Gage, decided to take preventive action and suppress the warlike preparations of the locals by a surprising battle in 1774. But the unexpected happened when the locals mobilized so fast and assaulted the William and Mary Fort, where the local British troops kept their reserves of weapons. This battle was followed by others at Lexington, Concord, Bunker Hill, York Town, and the sea battles.
The independence idea had on the basis the king and the parliament’s unjust treatment and Britain’s rules. In the beginning, only a few colonies were engaged in the Independence War, which was considered radical. The idea was spread in other colonies’ grace to Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” pamphlet from the beginning of 1776. A few months later, the motion of independence was introduced by Richard Lee, and the formal statement on the colonies’ independence was made by the committee of five: T. Jefferson, J. Adams, R. Sherman, B. Franklin, and R.B. Livingston. The Declaration was finally adopted on the 4th of July, 1776.
A significant contribution to winning the US Independence War is due to the European states which were interested in weakening Great Britain. As a result, in 1778, France, and in 1779 Spain joined the war in the USA. The Netherlands sustained the US through official recognition of the USA and financial support while waging its own war against Britain.
Great Britain expected to win the war, especially the sea one, because of its trust of being the largest naval force at the time. Despite its naval powers, Britain was defeated by the US colonies’ grace to France and Span that wore their own sea war in Europe with Britain.
The war last between 1775-1783. At this moment, we would have expected Britain to withdraw from America and focus on its own businesses.
Contrary to the expectations, in 1812 started another war between the USA and the UK because of the British restrictions of the US trade. This war, won by the US, has spread even more the independence idea and its celebration.
The USA’s success has been used as a basis for further expansion, which Great Britain did not like. For this reason, the UK kept confronting the US in different wars and battles like the conflict on Nicaragua Canal, The American Civil War, the Venezuela and Alaska border disputes, etc.
The USA’s independence represented a great loss for the British empire, which stimulated a decrease of British influence in many other regions, especially India. As time passed, the multiple wars in which Great Britain was involved weakened it as a superpower. Its weaknesses raised new opportunities for the USA’s strengths, which resulted in: the USA gradually becoming a naval power and controlling most of the world waters, and becoming a military and economic power. All of that, to the detriment of the UK, which as an ex-superpower of many centuries, was dethroned by the USA and its allies.
In the end, we believe that the history of the UK and the USA share, highlight their nowadays political positions, relations, and ‘closeness.’
Even if the diplomacy highlights good relations between the two powers, the UK loss in the USA power advantage, and the USA long-running war for liberation, will always be a shadow rationale behind every international decision. Even the UK living the EU decision can be seen through the nostalgic lenses of the UK desire for more power and influence in the world.
Sources:
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Benn, C. (2014). The War of 1812. Bloomsbury Publishing, Osprey Publishing.
Goldin, C. D., Frank D. L. (1975). The economic cost of the American Civil War: Estimates and implications. Journal of Economic History, vol. 35, no.2, 299-326.
History.com Editors. (2020, 06, 01). Fourth of July- Independence Day. Retrieved 06 22, 2020, from History: history.com/topics/holidays/july-4th
Sloan, J.A. (1938). Anglo-American Relations and the Venezuelan Boundary dispute. The Hispanic American Historical Review, 486-506.
US Diplomatic Mission to Germany. (2010, 01, 01). Independence day (July 4). Retrieved 06 22, 2020, from USA Embassy DE: usa.usaembassy.de/holidays-fourth.htm
Waldstreicher DL (2020, 06, 22). Independence Day. United States History. Encyclopedia Britannica, britannica.com/topic/Independence-Day-United-States-holiday.
Wallace, W.M. (2020, 06, 22). American Revolution. United States History. Encyclopedia Britannica, britannica.com/biography/Fisher-David-Hackett.