The Year of Europe: America, Europe and the Energy Crisis, 1972-74

This is the latest volume of Documents on British Policy Overseas and the first in the series to be produced in electronic format, covering the principal themes of: the European Union, transatlantic divisions, war in the Middle East and the diplomacy of the energy crisis.

Edited and selected by Foreign and Commonwealth Office historians, it consists of some 568 authentic documents, over fifty of which are not otherwise in the public domain, reproduced in facsimile on two fully-searchable CD-ROMS. These are accompanied by printed text providing an introductory analysis, document summaries and lists of persons and abbreviations.

Amongst the issues covered by the volume are:

• British reactions to Henry Kissinger’s attempt to redefine America’s relations with Western Europe through the launch in 1973 of his ‘Year of Europe’ initiative
• the determination of Edward Heath’s Conservative government to give priority to building a strong and politically integrated European Union during Britain’s first year as a member of the European Community
• transatlantic differences over the Middle East and their exacerbation by the outbreak of the fourth Arab-Israeli War
• the oil crisis of 1973, Anglo-French differences at the Washington Energy Conference of 1974, and British doubts about the future of the European project.