On Thursday, after 307 years, Scotland may vote for independence and with it, potentially change the world order that has lasted since the end of the Second World War. Decisions taken across the highlands and lowlands of Scotland will echo far beyond the shores of a disunited kingdom. Fifty years ago, U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson declared that Britain had ‘lost an empire but not yet found a role.’ He may have been premature.
During two decades of war -- in Iraq (twice), Afghanistan and elsewhere, Britain chose the role as America’s ‘ally-in-chief.’ British and US troops fought and died together, from Basra to Helmand and beyond. Half a century after he dismissed ‘Great’ Britain, on September 18, the Britain Acheson spoke of, may cease to exist. A Kingdom of England, Wales and Northern Ireland would continue. But Britain would be partitioned - not for the first time. In 122 AD, the Roman Emperor Hadrian built a wall, stretching 75 miles to keep ‘barbarians’ of Scotland out of England. Two millennia on, a vote for independence would consign Great Britain to the same history books as Hadrian.
During two decades of war -- in Iraq (twice), Afghanistan and elsewhere, Britain chose the role as America’s ‘ally-in-chief.’ British and US troops fought and died together, from Basra to Helmand and beyond. Half a century after he dismissed ‘Great’ Britain, on September 18, the Britain Acheson spoke of, may cease to exist. A Kingdom of England, Wales and Northern Ireland would continue. But Britain would be partitioned - not for the first time. In 122 AD, the Roman Emperor Hadrian built a wall, stretching 75 miles to keep ‘barbarians’ of Scotland out of England. Two millennia on, a vote for independence would consign Great Britain to the same history books as Hadrian.