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Whitehall Histories: Foreign and Commonwealth Office Publications

About the Book Series

FCO historians are responsible for editing Documents on British Policy Overseas (DBPO) and for overseeing the publication of FCO Internal Histories.

DBPO comprises three series of diplomatic documents, focusing on major themes in foreign policy since 1945, and drawn principally from the records of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The latest volumes, published in Series III, are composed almost wholly of documents from within the thirty-year ‘closed period’, which would otherwise be unavailable to the public.

Since the early 1960s, several Internal Histories have been prepared by former or serving officers, the majority of which concentrated upon international developments and negotiations in which the UK has been directly involved. These were initially intended for use within the FCO, but some of the more substantial among them, studies that offer fresh insights into British diplomacy, are now being declassified for publication.

12 Series Titles


Transformational Diplomacy after the Cold War Britain’s Know How Fund in Post-Communist Europe, 1989-2003

Transformational Diplomacy after the Cold War: Britain’s Know How Fund in Post-Communist Europe, 1989-2003

1st Edition

By Keith Hamilton
August 23, 2018

This book examines the 'Know How Fund', Britain’s bilateral technical assistance programme in post-communist central and eastern Europe, devised in response to the end of the Cold War. The Know How Fund (KHF) was the technical assistance programme which Margaret Thatcher’s government launched in ...

The Challenge of Apartheid: UK–South African Relations, 1985–1986 Documents on British Policy Overseas. Series III, Volume IX

The Challenge of Apartheid: UK–South African Relations, 1985–1986: Documents on British Policy Overseas. Series III, Volume IX

1st Edition

Edited By Patrick Salmon
April 09, 2018

This volume examines diplomatic relations between the United Kingdom and South Africa during one of the most turbulent periods of the apartheid era. The crisis of apartheid that began in 1984 provoked international outrage on an unprecedented scale. This volume documents the attempt by the British ...

Detente in Europe, 1972-1976 Documents on British Policy Overseas, Series III, Volume III

Detente in Europe, 1972-1976: Documents on British Policy Overseas, Series III, Volume III

1st Edition

Edited By Gill Bennett, Keith A. Hamilton
January 20, 2016

Drawing on records of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, this work focuses on Britain's role in the Mutual and Balanced Force Reductions in Vienna, and British policy towards the Soviet Union and its satellites. British reactions to detente between the superpowers are charted....

Berlin in the Cold War, 1948-1990 Documents on British Policy Overseas, Series III, Vol. VI

Berlin in the Cold War, 1948-1990: Documents on British Policy Overseas, Series III, Vol. VI

1st Edition

Edited By Keith Hamilton, Patrick Salmon
July 31, 2015

This volume consists of a book and downloadable resources containing a facsimile collection of diplomatic documents covering British reactions to critical developments regarding Berlin, its quadripartite administration, and role in the Cold War during the crises of 1948-49, 1959-61 and 1988-90. ...

In Victory, Magnanimity, in Peace, Goodwill A History of Wilton Park

In Victory, Magnanimity, in Peace, Goodwill: A History of Wilton Park

1st Edition

By Richard Mayne
September 11, 2014

Wilton Park was once a secret camp for interrogating enemy generals during World War II. But it took on its true, unique role in 1946 as a training centre for German prisoners-of-war. This volume tells of its history and the extraordinary life of Heinz Koeppler, its founding father....

The Brussels and North Atlantic Treaties, 1947-1949 Documents on British Policy Overseas, Series I, Volume X

The Brussels and North Atlantic Treaties, 1947-1949: Documents on British Policy Overseas, Series I, Volume X

1st Edition

Edited By Tony Insall, Patrick Salmon
August 18, 2014

This volume documents the drafting, negotiation and signature of the treaty that has been the cornerstone of European defence for the past sixty-five years: the North Atlantic Treaty signed in April 1949. The story begins at the end of 1947, when the British Foreign Secretary, Ernest Bevin, ...

Britain and China 1945-1950 Documents on British Policy Overseas, Series I Volume VIII

Britain and China 1945-1950: Documents on British Policy Overseas, Series I Volume VIII

1st Edition

Edited By S.R. Ashton, G. Bennett, K. Hamilton
July 17, 2014

An examination of Britain's relations with China from the end of the World War II to the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950. This volume demonstrates how Britain's effort to recover something of its pre-war commercial pre-eminence in China were handicapped by its post-war financial weakness....

The Southern Flank in Crisis, 1973-1976 Series III, Volume V: Documents on British Policy Overseas

The Southern Flank in Crisis, 1973-1976: Series III, Volume V: Documents on British Policy Overseas

1st Edition

Edited By Keith Hamilton, Patrick Salmon
July 17, 2014

A fascinating collection of British foreign policy documents covering reactions in Whitehall to political change and revolution in the Mediterranean basin from 1973 to 1976. This volume contains many previously unpublished documents, including Joint Intelligence Committee papers, which cast new ...

The Nordic Countries: From War to Cold War, 1944–51 Documents on British Policy Overseas, Series I, Vol. IX

The Nordic Countries: From War to Cold War, 1944–51: Documents on British Policy Overseas, Series I, Vol. IX

1st Edition

Edited By Tony Insall, Patrick Salmon
November 07, 2013

This book is a collection of diplomatic documents describing the development of British relations with the Nordic countries between the end of the Second World War and the defeat of the Labour Government in 1951. The end of the Second World War brought hopes of building a new society in Western ...

The Invasion of Afghanistan and UK-Soviet Relations, 1979-1982 Documents on British Policy Overseas, Series III, Volume VIII

The Invasion of Afghanistan and UK-Soviet Relations, 1979-1982: Documents on British Policy Overseas, Series III, Volume VIII

1st Edition

Edited By Richard Smith, Patrick Salmon, Stephen Robert Twigge
October 25, 2013

This volume examines British policy towards the Soviet Union in the aftermath of the invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979. The documents in this volume, many released into the public realm for the first time, describe the development of British policy towards the Soviet Union during the ...

German Unification 1989-90 Documents on British Policy Overseas, Series III, Volume VII

German Unification 1989-90: Documents on British Policy Overseas, Series III, Volume VII

1st Edition

Edited By Patrick Salmon, Keith Hamilton, Stephen Robert Twigge
February 10, 2012

This volume is comprised of a collection of diplomatic documents covering British reactions to, and policy towards, the collapse of the German Democratic Republic and the unification of Germany in 1989-90. The peaceful unification of Germany in 1989-90 brought a dramatic end to the Cold War. This ...

Britain's Entry into the European Community Report on the Negotiations of 1970 - 1972 by Sir Con O'Neill

Britain's Entry into the European Community: Report on the Negotiations of 1970 - 1972 by Sir Con O'Neill

1st Edition

Edited By Sir David Hannay
October 30, 2000

In January 1972 Britain signed the Treaty of Acccession to the European Community. Sir Con O'Neill, a key figure in the negotiations, gives an analysis of negotiations which had an impact on Britain's relations with Europe, and insights into the processes of multilateral diplomacy....

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