In 1945 Britain emerged from the Second World War exhausted and debilitated, but still a major global power, with enormous strategic commitments, imperial responsibilities and a sense of historical destiny as a major economic and political influence. This book charts how this role and self-image changed and how abruptly in 1945 the United States assumed Britain’s mantle of world leader. Taylor provides an alternative interpretation of how the Cold War arose, and how the reordering of the global economic, political and strategic system in the post-war world came about. It is essential reading for political geographers, historians, international relations experts and political scientists.