Tony Insall - Böcker

This book is a collection of diplomatic documents describing the development of British relations with the Nordic countries between the end of the Second World War and the defeat of the Labour Government in 1951.The end of the Second World War brought hopes of building a new society in Western Europe. This volume documents Foreign Office concerns about the range of problems, both multilateral and bilateral, which still remained to be resolved in the Nordic area, and describes the evolution of policies to deal with them. The Soviet Union, which in May 1945 already occupied parts of Norway and Denmark and dominated Finland, was perceived as a growing threat. The Nordic region was considered to be of significant strategic importance during this period. The documents describe the process whereby Britain attempted to encourage Scandinavian countries away from their support for neutrality and, by enlisting American support, began the process which led to the signature of the Atlantic Treaty in 1949, signed by Norway, Denmark and Iceland. They also include material describing the establishment of Information Research Department (formed to counteract Soviet propaganda) and illustrating some of its methods. Some documents not previously in the public domain have been declassified for this volume. Most are drawn from the archives of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, but there are also a number of Prime Ministerial and Cabinet Office documents. This book will be of much interest to students of the Cold War, European history, British political history, international history and IR in general.

This book is a collection of diplomatic documents describing the development of British relations with the Nordic countries between the end of the Second World War and the defeat of the Labour Government in 1951.The end of the Second World War brought hopes of building a new society in Western Europe. This volume documents Foreign Office concerns about the range of problems, both multilateral and bilateral, which still remained to be resolved in the Nordic area, and describes the evolution of policies to deal with them. The Soviet Union, which in May 1945 already occupied parts of Norway and Denmark and dominated Finland, was perceived as a growing threat. The Nordic region was considered to be of significant strategic importance during this period. The documents describe the process whereby Britain attempted to encourage Scandinavian countries away from their support for neutrality and, by enlisting American support, began the process which led to the signature of the Atlantic Treaty in 1949, signed by Norway, Denmark and Iceland. They also include material describing the establishment of Information Research Department (formed to counteract Soviet propaganda) and illustrating some of its methods. Some documents not previously in the public domain have been declassified for this volume. Most are drawn from the archives of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, but there are also a number of Prime Ministerial and Cabinet Office documents. This book will be of much interest to students of the Cold War, European history, British political history, international history and IR in general.

This volume documents the drafting, negotiation and signature of the treaty that has been the cornerstone of European defence for the past sixty-five years: the North Atlantic Treaty signed in April 1949. The story begins at the end of 1947, when the British Foreign Secretary, Ernest Bevin, became convinced of the need to persuade the United States of America, which had emerged from the Second World War as the pre-eminent global military and economic power and one of the only two superpowers, to underwrite the future security of Western Europe. It progresses through the negotiation of the Brussels Treaty of March 1948—an essential prerequisite to securing American participation in a wider defensive system—and ends with the signature of the North Atlantic Treaty after a series of setbacks, difficulties and security threats. The documents, drawn from the archives of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Cabinet Office and No. 10 (with some transferred into the public domain for the first time), demonstrate how diplomatic skills and determination, inspired by Bevin’s vision, led to a system of collective security that played an indispensable part in the preservation of peace between East and West for the rest of the twentieth century. This book will be of much interest to students of the Cold War, European and American history, British political history, international history and IR in general.

Group Captain Gilbert Insall holdsa unique record: he is the only person to have both won a Victoria Cross andescaped successfully from a German prisoner of war camp during the First WorldWar. The Madness of Courage describes how, when forced down by enginedamage after destroying a German fighter, Gilbert ignored intensive shelling inorder to repair his aircraft and return to base. But a few weeks later, he wasshot down and captured. And thus began a distinguished career in prisonbreaking.He tunnelled out of Heidelbergprison camp and later hid among boxes on a horse-drawn cart to get away fromCrefeld, each time being recaptured. Then, in Stroehen, Gilbert and severalcompanions concealed themselves in a claustrophobically small space they hadexcavated under the floor of the bathhouse. They remained there for seventeenhours, while a fruitless search for them was carried out, and eventuallyemerged and successfully reached Holland.Meticulously told by Gilbert'sgreat-nephew, the critically acclaimed intelligence historian Tony Insall, TheMadness of Courage is a gripping true story about a remarkable man at atime before the Geneva Convention was signed, when conditions for prisoners ofwar were often appalling and the British War Office did little to helpprisoners escape. Instead, Gilbert's family, assisted by French intelligence,gave him the support he needed to break out of captivity in an extraordinaryfeat of bravery, resilience and ingenuity.

Europe, 1940. Naziforces sweep across the continent, with a British invasion likely only weeksaway. Never before has a resistance movement been so crucial to the war effort.In this comprehensiveappraisal of Anglo-Norwegian cooperation in the Second World War, Tony Insallreveals some of the most striking successes of the Norwegian resistance,particularly the reports produced by the heroic SIS agents living in thecountry’s desolate wilderness. Their coast-watching intelligence highlightedthe movements of the German fleet and led to counter-strikes that sank manyenemy ships – most notably the Tirpitz in November 1944.Delving deep into thearchives, Insall also shows how SIS and SOE’s effective cooperation with theirNorwegian counterparts produced some of the most remarkable achievements of thewar.This fully updatededition draws on a wealth of new source material, revealing previously unknownstories of fraught sea crossings, a disastrous British-Norwegian operation,covert dealings with the Russians and much more.