Editor: GENG Zhi

Publisher: Social Science Academic Press, August 2019

ISBN：9787520144834

Introduction:

The wartime nuclear cooperation between the United Kingdom and the United States fully reflected the "special relationship" that had formed and at times reached a high level of effectiveness between the two countries during the Second World War.To defeat the Axis powers, the UK and the US forged a highly interdependent military, political, and economic alliance. Other countries within the anti-Fascist alliance were unable to achieve a comparable level of cooperation with the UK and the US.

However, even though the relationship between the UK and the US was special, the two remained separate sovereign states. The principle of national sovereignty as the supreme political authority did not lose its effectiveness. Driven by different national interests, the wartime nuclear cooperation was fraught with discordant notes and even temporarily ceased after the war. The atomic bomb, as a weapon with unparalleled destructive power, was undoubtedly distinct from any traditional weapon. Any government that first possessed such a weapon would not easily share it with others, even with very close allies. Therefore, nuclear cooperation was a very unique area within the UK-US special relationship.

This book utilizes resources such as the Prime Minister Churchill's documents, the Conant Files, the Harrison-Bundy Files, and the Stimson Diaries. It has selected and translated over 100 documents related to the UK-US nuclear cooperation before and during the Second World War,providinga relatively comprehensive collection of relevant materials for research in this field.