Macmillan, Menzies, history and empire

In response to the rapidly changing nature of the British Commonwealth and Empire in the early 1960s Harold Macmillan and Robert Menzies exchanged correspondence which reflected upon the history of the British Empire and the world. In this article I argue that in their exchanges and other writings over this history we can identify, to use William Appleman Williams' formulation, the 'common assumptions about reality' which were crucial in shaping their understanding of world affairs.<br />