Research Catalog

Title

South Africa, the colonial powers and "African defence" : the rise and fall of the white entente, 1948-60 / G.R. Berridge.

Author

Berridge, Geoff.

Publication

New York : St. Martin's Press, 1992.

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Holdings

Details

Description

xiii, 234 pages; 23 cm

Summary

• This book describes how, in the 1950s, South Africa tried to embroil Africa's colonial powers in an alliance against black nationalism, an alliance in the style of NATO and associated with it.
• It describes how - largely because of the contempt of British military planners for South African strategy, widespread suspicion of South Africa's intentions in the north, and fear of the consequences of being too closely identified with apartheid - Pretoria had to settle instead for an entente, and an entente, moreover, with its nose pointed at the Middle East.
• The book describes the elements of this entente, especially the Nairobi-Dakar system, and the multilateral 'Sea Routes' planning which was conducted at the instigation of Defence Minister Erasmus following the conclusion of the Simonstown Agreements in 1955. Finally, it describes how the entente virtually disappeared under the impact of African decolonization and the revolution in British military policy concluded by the Sandys White Paper of 1957.
• Generally, the book considers the argument that ententes have the advantages of alliances without their disadvantages, and suggests that this is exaggerated.

Subjects

• Europe > Foreign relations > 1945-
• Europe > Military relations > South Africa
• South Africa > Military relations > Europe
• South Africa > Foreign relations > 1948-1961

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 192-223) index.

Contents

• 1. Dreaming of a White Alliance, 1948-9. 'Leadership in Africa'. 'Educating' Dr Malan. The 'organic approach': te Water's tour of British Africa and Western Europe, April-July 1949. The 'inorganic approach': enter Eric Louw -- 2. Reluctantly to the Middle East, 1949-51. Secret commitment to the Middle East, September 1950. Gordon-Walker and South Africa. General Robertson's visit to the Union, May 1951. The Commonwealth Defence Ministers' Conference, June 1951. Still stalling on Simonstown -- 3. The Cloak of Multilateralism, 1949-54. France, Africa and South Africa. Anglo-French staff talks, 1949-52. The African Defence Facilities Conference, Nairobi, August 1951. Preparing for Dakar, 1951-4. The Dakar Conference, March 1954. The issue of 'follow-up' machinery -- 4. The Churchill Factor, 1951-4. Churchill kills the Simonstown negotiations, March 1952. Squaring up over Simonstown, 1952-4. Erasmus makes a concession, August-September 1954. Reviving the African Pact, September 1954.
• 5. The Simonstown Agreements, 1955. British tactics, December 1954-April 1955. Finessing the African Pact. The final negotiations, June 1955 -- 6. Louw versus Erasmus, 1955-6. The Pan-African Conference - confronting the zombie, July-November 1955. The Erasmus track, July-September 1955. Settling for South African goodwill, October 1955. Erasmus, radar, and the 'Southern Tier', November 1955-May 1956. Opposition to the Cape Town Sea Routes Conference, December 1955-December 1956. The Pan-African Conference: Britain bemused, 1956 -- 7. The Hollowing of the Entente, 1957-60. A 'Sea Routes Conference' of sorts - Paris, May 1957. Britain re-thinks African defence, March-September 1957. Erasmus-Mancroft talks, September 1957. Sea routes reach dead-end, June 1958-1960. The Nairobi-Dakar system: condemned to sleep, January 1956-December 1959. Little more than the shell: the entente in 1960 -- 8. Conclusion.
• Appendix A: The Fourth (Secret) Simonstown Agreement, on Anglo-South African Staff Talks with Regard to the Defence of the Middle East, 30 June 1955 -- Appendix B: The Agreed Communique Released Following the Erasmus-Mancroft Talks, London, 18 September 1957.

ISBN

• 0312085923
• 0333563514

LCCN

92018426

OCLC

• 26013225
• ocm26013225

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries