Reviews
Projects a big picture, tracing the cold war across the UK and beyond'
Yorkshire Post
Engrossing… Like a military commander at the top of his game, Royle marshals his material to maximum effect to show how Scotland has been shaped by, and also helped shape, the Cold War, which began in 1945 and ended after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. He ranges far and wide and has that rare talent to marry the local with the geopolitical… But this is not not simply a story of military hardware and confrontation. Royle is very interesting on how the Cold War influenced our cultural life from the novel to poetry and the protest song'
The Herald
About the Book
Between the end of the Second World War and the collapse of Communism confrontation with the Soviet Union was an everyday reality. As part of Nato’s response, Scotland played a key role in the alliance’s forward maritime defence strategy, aimed at containing the Soviet threat from naval and air forces. During this period 10 per cent of the UK’s naval and air forces were based in Scotland, and there was a substantial US presence as well as top secret satellite and command stations.
In this book Trevor Royle paints a fascinating portrait of this extraordinary period, examining not just the wider military and political contexts, but also showing how the defence industry brought huge economic benefits, how CND maintained a high-profile presence, and how anti-nuclear sentiments underpinned much of the left’s thinking in Scotland and contributed to the hegemony enjoyed by the Labour Party in Scotland during the Cold War.
The Author
Trevor Royle
Trevor Royle is a broadcaster and author specialising in the history of war and empire. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and is also a member of the Scottish Government’s Advisory Panel for Commemorating the First World War.You may also like…
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£12.99
On the brink of the First World War, Scotland was regarded throughout the British Isles as ‘the workshop of the Empire’. Not only were Clyde-built ships known the world over, Scotland produced half of Britain’s total production of...
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£12.99
Trevor Royle examines Scotland’s role in the Second World War from a wide range of perspectives. The country’s geographical position gave it great strategic importance for importing war materiel and reinforcements, for conducting naval...
