Britain and the Baltic states: the late 1940s and the early 1990s
LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Baltijos valstybės; Šaltasis karas; Didžioji Britanija (Great Britain); Baltic States; Cold war; Great Britain.
ENIn September 1945, the first meeting of the Conference of Foreign Ministers in London ended in disappointment. There were key disagreements over the status of Tripolitania and other Italian colonies, the Great Power status of France and its representation and influence at the proposed peace conferences, as well as the political future of East European nations. British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin singled out Romania and Bulgaria as states which would be touchstones for future relations with the Soviet Union. It was widely accepted in the West that, following the Yalta agreements, Poland was now closely tied to Moscow. It was hoped, however, that Czechoslovakia would regain its independent, democratic character. The Baltic states for their part were not even mentioned, for they had lost their independence and been absorbed into the USSR as Soviet republics in 1940. The British government’s de facto recognition of this reality was in keeping with low levels of support for Baltic independence in London prior to 1939, a state of affairs in part reflecting the enormous strain on British resources on the eve of war rather than any lack of interest or concern. As things stood, Western governments could do little to influence the course of events in the former Baltic states. Even the United States accepted that they were unable to change much, although they too withheld any kind of recognition of the incorporation of the three countries into the Soviet Union. [Extract, p. 73]
