The Power of Proteus: Great Britain, South Africa, and the Simonstown Agreements, 1948-1955

Abstract

In 1955, the governments of the Union of South African and the United Kingdom exchanged three letters known as the Simonstown Agreements which transferred the Royal Navy Base at Simonstown to the Union, affirmed British responsibility for the defense of the Cape sea routes, and committed South Africa to the purposes of imperial defense in Africa and the Middle East. The Simonstown Agreements were an historical milestone: the conclusion of an era of cooperation between South Africa and Britain and the beginning of years of disagreement. This thesis traces the evolution of the negotiations up to their successful conclusion and seeks to uncover the policies inside the councils of government of both countries that made the Agreements possible. The negotiations and final Exchange of Letters are assessed within the context of the political and economic conditions of both countries as well as their relations with each other. Written in 1985, the author was the first historian to review the diplomatic papers upon their release in that year by the Public Records Office in the UK. The author takes the view, counter to the prevailing wisdom at the time, that the Simonstown Agreements were not a further ‘nail in the coffin’ of the British Empire, but rather, in that they allowed for the Royal Navy to retake the base in time of war, as a fair deal for both nations.