Malta in a post-war international context (1945-1964)

Abstract

The objective of this work is to assess post-war international developments upon the Maltese Islands. An attempt has been made to quantify the influence international developments had upon Anglo-Maltese relations during the 1945-1964 period. Britain and Malta emerged from the Second World War with a high level of mutual goodwill. But successive attempts by Malta to secure financial aid from the United Kingdom soon led to a relationship dominated by continuous bickering. During the fifties Anglo-Maltese relations again became cordial as efforts were made to implement the integration proposal. However, the late forties and fifties were also the period of the Cold War and of the rise of militant Third World nationalist movements. As a result, colonial policies were continuously being revised by metropoles which did their utmost to salvage what they could of their eroding empires. Moreover, global affairs in general, and the Med1terranean geopolitical situation in particular, also experienced a profound change once the United States, who gradually undertook many of Britain's former responsibilities, began to advocate a more energetic foreign policy after 1947. As decolonization gained momentum and British overseas commitments contracted during the late fifties, Anglo-Maltese relations again worsened. The Maltese now campaigned vigorously for independence until their aspiration became a reality in 1964.