British Naval Strategy East of Suez, 1900-2000

The use of the sea as a means of projecting power and influence beyond national borders holds a unique place in the history of Great Britain. Directly linked to the concepts of empire, great power and strategic over-stretch, Britain's strategic position east of Suez in the twentieth century was a dominant area of interest and had an enormous impact in the overall construction of Great Britain's naval strategic posture. While not the scene of famous battles, such as Jutland, Taranto or the Battle of the Atlantic, which are easily connected to Britain's overall strategic position, Britain's global naval position was in fact predominantly formed by Far Eastern strategic influences from 1900 to 1945. After that, even in the face of the Cold War and emphasis on planning for a third European war, strategic influences east of Suez continued to play a major role in the creation of Britain's naval force structure and in its global strategic foreign policy formulation process. This collection of essays bya panel of established international scholars sheds new light on what some of those influences were and what actions were taken as a result of Britain's Far Eastern commitments. Not only are new evidence and approaches to those issues addressed presented, but new avenues for further research clearly outlined. The essays are based predominantly on primary research and archival evidence. The individual scholars provide cutting-edge research on this timely and important topic. British Naval Strategy East of Suez, 1900-2000 is a significant addition to the literature on Britain's strategic maritime position, and will be of interest to naval historians, as well as students ofinternational relations and British foreign policy.