For conventional strategic minds such as Ludwig Beck or General Thomas the convergence between Britain, France and the United States was in no way surprising. In light of their experience in World War I, the trans-Atlantic alliance seemed a natural counter-weight to German power in Europe. For Hitler, by contrast, it was profoundly counter-intuitive. In particular, it ran counter to his deeply held belief, expressed clearly in his ‘Second Book’, that British and American interests were fundamentally antagonistic.140 What, therefore, explained the emerging Anglo-American alliance was the
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