British Nuclear Weapons and the Test Ban 1954-1973: Britain, the United States, Weapons Policies and Nuclear Testing: Tensions and Contradictions

In 1962 Dean Acheson famously described Britain as having lost an Empire but not yet found a role. Perhaps nowhere is this more apparent than in the realms of nuclear weapons. An increasingly marginal world power, successive post-war British governments felt that an independent nuclear deterrent was essential if the country was to remain at the top table of world diplomacy.

Focusing on a key twenty-year period, this study explores Britain's role in efforts to bring about a nuclear test ban t...