This important new study convincingly analyses the divergent policies behind the Anglo-American attempts to create collective defence structures in the Middle East after World War II. For the British these were part of increasingly desperate attempts to maintain their own military presence in the region, while the Americans preferred an alliance with independent partners in the region. The Suez Crisis marked the definitive failure of the British attempts, while the American attitude also allowed Turkey to become a full member of NATO rather than be part of the contested space between the superpowers that was the Middle East.
