Until recently, studies of the Cold War have emphasised interpretations of American and Soviet activities. The process of East-West tension, though dominated by the Superpowers, was often conditioned, and in its early stages accelerated, by Britain's continuing world-wide interests and influence. For more than a decade, British scholars have been mining rich seams of newly-released material to demonstrate the central role in the origins and development of the Cold War played by British governments from Attlee to Wilson and beyond. This book provides a survey of this recent work, as well as offering its own interpretations of the major events from the start of the Cold War to its end with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.