The US Air Force moved into Lakenheath in Britain in 1948. Ramstein air base was established in Germany in the early 1950s. Today there are over forty US military bases in Europe, hosting around 85,000 troops.
But nothing lasts forever. And, for the first time in my life, it is conceivable that the US military presence in Europe could come to an end.
The immediate irritant is the war in Iran. European reluctance — and occasional refusal — to let the US use its European bases for missions in Iran has infuriated Donald Trump, who has lambasted Europeans as “cowards” and called Nato a “paper tiger”. Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, has pointedly asked why America bothers to maintain bases in Europe — if it cannot use them when the chips are down.