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By the end of the Second World War, Britain had seen her pre-war status as a global superpower eroded. Britain, with her Imperial interests, remained a power, but not a superpower. Britain also emerged from the Second World War deeply in debt to the Americans, with rebuilding after the was and aspirations for social reform to be funded. Although Anglo-Americcan research had produced the atomic bombs which devastated Nagasaki and Hiroshima, the US McMahon Act of 1946 had precluded Britain from further participation in the research. Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin resolved that Britain would build her own bomb, correctly perceiving that nuclear capability would secure Britain a place \'at the top table\' in international affairs. This bomb was tested on 3 October 1952.The Communisation of Eastern Europe increased post-war tensions and rivalry between the Soviet Union and the United States, generally referred to as the Cold War.
Fear of Soviet domination of Europe induced the Americans to join with Britain, France, Italy and the BeNeLux countries in setting up the North Atlantic Treaty (NATO) for the defence of Europe (Germany became a member in 1955). Thereafter, UK-American co-operation and nuclear deterrence have underpinned Britain\'s foreign and defence policies.
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