The Foreign Office's War, 1939-41

Provides a forceful corrective to the idea that Britain 'stood alone' until the invasion of the Soviet Union and the attack on Pearl Harbor brought about 'the Grand Alliance'. Based on extensive archival research, the book demonstrates that 1939 to 1941 was a period of intensive diplomatic activity by the British Foreign Office designed to ensure that Britain's potential enemies, especially Soviet Russia, Italy and Japan, remained neutral and that its most desirable potential ally, the United St