However, one of the most portentous decisions reached at Quebec, certainly in the long term, was not even recorded in the Conference proceedings, so secret was it. This was the so-called "Quebec Agreement” between Roosevelt and Churchill over the future of nuclear research and the development of the atom bomb. Up to early 1942 the British had been ahead in terms of original research, thanks to brilliant work done in British universities under the auspices of the Maude Committee in following up a paper drafted in spring 1940 by two German-born physicists at Birmingham University, Professor Rudolf Peierls and Dr Otto Frisch, which had first laid down how an atom bomb might be made. But by 1942 the sheer size of American research resources, especially in terms of experimental equipment, meant that the British lead was being fast overtaken. In July 1942 the British "Tube Alloys” (the codename for nuclear development) Council reported to the Prime Minister that if there were to be a merger between the two countries’ efforts, it had better be effected quickly while the British side still had something to offer as part of a bargain. In the ensuing months the British found themselves more and more excluded from American information. In 1943 the Americans reached agreement with the Canadian Government for the entire Canadian output of uranium and the Canadian heavy-water plant, upon which the British themselves had been counting. Moreover, the British themselves, upon investigations, had come to realise that they could not spare the industrial resources in wartime to continue with their own nuclear development. It was therefore inevitable that Britain would have to accept that future research and development must be concentrated in the United States, albeit making use of British scientists and the fruits of British work.
Nevertheless the "Quebec Agreement” was reached on terms which really meant that Britain abdicated the hope and intention of becoming a leading independent postwar nuclear power, not only militarily but also industrially:
". . . in view of the heavy burden of production falling upon the United States as a result of a wise division of war effort the British Government recognise that any post-war advantages of an industrial or commercial character shall be dealt with as between the United States and Great Britain on terms to be specified by the President of the United States to the Prime Minister of Great Britain. The Prime Minister expressly disclaims any interest in these industrial and commercial aspects beyond what may be considered by the President of the United States to be fair and just and in harmony with the economic welfare of the world.” (Michael Howard Grand Strategy Vol IV) So even in this uncharted field of the future Britain dwindled to the second rank of power, dependent on American resources and American good will.
World History
