After the Second World War, England for a long time experienced the consequences of participation in armed conflicts. The results of her intervention were extremely mixed. This state after the sad events remained independent. The country managed to contribute to the fight against fascism, but the development of England after the Second World War went downhill - it lost world leadership, almost lost its colonial status.
About political games
Despite the fact that the history of the war, told to English schoolchildren, notes that it was the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in 1939 that gave the green light to the Nazi troops, one cannot ignore that the Munich Agreement, which England signed a year earlier as part of other countries with Germany, divided Czechoslovakia. And, according to numerous studies, it was a prelude to the upcoming large-scale military action.
In September 1938, an agreement was signed between England and Germany on mutual non-aggression. This was the culmination of the British "appeasement" policy. Hitler easily convinced the prime minister in Foggy Albion thatagreements in Munich will guarantee security in European states.
According to experts, England hoped to the last for diplomacy, through which she wanted to rebuild the Versailles system. However, back in 1938, many experts emphasized that the presence of concessions to Germany would only push her to aggressive actions.
When Chamberlain returned to London, he said he "brought peace to our generation." To this, Winston Churchill once noted that: “England was offered a choice - war or dishonor. She has chosen dishonor and will get war." These words proved to be prophetic.
About the "strange war"
In September 1939, Germany launched an invasion of Poland. On the same day, on the eve of the Second World War, England sends a note of protest to Germany. And then the state of Foggy Albion, as the guarantor of the independence of Poland, declares war on the Nazis. After 10 consecutive days, so does the British Commonwe alth.
In October, the British army lands four divisions on the continent, which remain at the Franco-Belgian borders. It was far from the epicenter of hostilities. Here the allies create more than 40 airfields, but instead of bombarding German positions, British aircraft began to scatter propaganda leaflets that appealed to the morality of the Nazis. A few more months later, 6 more British divisions land in France, but none of them starts the war. So the "strange war" continued.
The General Staff of England during the Second World War explained this by the fact that there were “alarms andunrest . The French writer Roland Dorgelès described how the Allied troops watched calmly as the fascist ammunition trains ran over. As if the leadership was most afraid of disturbing the enemy.
Specialists argue that this behavior of England during the Second World War is due to its waiting positions. The Allies tried to understand where Germany would go after capturing Poland. And it is possible that if the Wehrmacht went to the USSR immediately after Poland, they would have supported Hitler.
The Miracle at Dunkirk
On May 10, 1940, according to the plan "Gelb", Germany invaded Holland, Belgium, France. Then the game of politics ended. Churchill began to assess the strength of the enemy soberly. He issued a decision to evacuate the British units near Dunkirk, along with the remnants of the French and Belgian troops. Military experts did not believe that the operation called "Dynamo" would be successful.
Nothing cost the Germans, who were nearby, to defeat the demoralized allies. But a miracle happened, and about 350,000 soldiers managed to reach the opposite shore. Suddenly, Hitler decided to stop the troops, and Guderian called this a political decision. There is a version that there was a secret agreement between the Germans and the British.
After Dunkirk, it became clear that England, having entered the Second World War, remained the only country that managed to avoid complete surrender to the Nazis. Her situation worsened by the summer of 1940. Then Nazi Italy took the side of Germany.
Battle forEngland
The Wehrmacht still had plans to capture Foggy Albion, and the battle for England in World War II was inevitable. In July 1940, Germans began bombing British coastal convoys and naval bases. In August, airfields, aircraft factories, London were attacked.
The British Air Force gave the answer - a day later, 81 bombers advanced to Berlin. Despite the fact that only more than 10 planes reached the target, Hitler was furious. He decided to bring down the entire power of the Luftwaffe on Britain, and the sky literally began to “boil” above it. At this stage, the loss of England in the Second World War of civilians amounted to 1,000 people. But soon the intensity of the attacks decreased due to the effective counteraction of British aircraft.
About numbers
2913 British planes and 4549 Luftwaffe machines took part in air battles over the country. 1547 royal fighters and 1887 German fighters were shot down. Thus, the British Air Force showed effective work.
Mistress of the Seas
After the bombings, the Wehrmacht planned Operation Sea Lion to invade Britain. But it was not possible to win in the air. And then the leadership of the Reich was skeptical about the landing operation. German generals argued that the strength of the Germans was concentrated on land and not on the sea. The land army of Foggy Albion was no stronger than the defeated French, and the ground operation against the British could have been successful.
English military historian claimed that in the battlefor England in World War II, the country managed to survive thanks to the water barrier. Berlin was aware that its fleet was weaker than the British. Thus, the British Navy had 7 active aircraft carriers and 6 on the slipway, while Germany was not able to equip one of its aircraft carriers. On the water, this ratio would decide the outcome of any battle.
Only German submarines could seriously hit the merchant ships of England. But, with the support of the United States, England sank 783 German submarines in World War II. And then the British Navy won the Battle of the Atlantic.
Until the winter of 1942, Hitler cherished the hope of taking Britain by sea. But Admiral Erich Raeder convinced him to forget about it.
On colonial interests
Since one of the important tasks even before the Second World War, England had to protect Egypt with the Suez Canal, Britain paid a lot of attention to the Mediterranean theater of operations. But there the British fought in the deserts. And it was a shameful defeat that thundered in June 1942. The British outnumbered Erwin Rommel's African Corps twice in strength and technique, but lost. And only in October 1942 did the British turn the tide of the battles at El Alamein, again having a significant advantage (for example, in aviation it was 1200:120).
In May 1943, the British and Americans secured the surrender of 250,000 Italo-Germans in Tunisia, and the way was opened for Allied troops in Italy. In North Africa, England lost 220,000 officers and men in World War II. Second chance for rehabilitation after shameful flight from continent foura year ago was the opening of the Second Front for England on June 6, 1944.
Then the Allies totally outnumbered the Germans. However, in December 1944, under the Ardennes, a German armored group managed to push through the line of American troops. Then the Americans lost 19,000 soldiers, and the British - about 200. This ratio of losses caused controversy among the allies. Only Dwight Eisenhower's intervention in the conflict made it possible to settle it.
Great concern for England in World War II was the fact that the USSR liberated most of the Balkans at the end of 1944. Churchill did not want to lose control of the Mediterranean and shared a sphere of influence with Stalin.
The tacit consent of the Soviet Union and the United States led to the suppression of communist resistance in Greece by England, and in January 1945 she began to control Attica. And then the Soviet threat to Britain became great.
A look at the causes
By and large, the main reason for England's participation in the war was the German invasion of Poland in 1939. The British were supposed to help Warsaw, but they carried out only a small operation in the west of Germany. England counted on the fact that Hitler would turn his troops to Moscow. And so it happened, but with one caveat: the year before, he had occupied 70% of French territory and planned to land troops in the UK.
About the guilty
Responsibility for starting this war is shifted from one country to another, and this issue is still relevant. It is impossible not to take into account that a whole range of factors played a role. Bye Westblames the Soviet Union for colluding with the Germans in 1939 with the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, Russian historians blame England and France for the rise of Germany. So, London and Paris tried to appease the Nazi regime, allowing it to satisfy the appetite in the countries of Eastern Europe.
But on one fact, the views of historians coincide: the Nazis gained power thanks to events that radically changed the national identity of the German people. The thing is that after the defeat in the First World War, revanchist sentiments grew in German society.
There were restrictions on the number of German armed forces, the navy was lost. All these conditions were onerous. The main supporter of harsh sanctions against the defeated country was France, which wanted to get rid of a competitor and potential military enemy.
England agreed with the initiatives of the French. And then, playing on the deep desire of the Germans to return to a decent life, in 1933, Adolf Hitler appeared at the forefront of the country.
The lesser evil
Besides this, as a result of the Treaty of Versailles, two major players, Germany and the young Soviets, were eliminated from the political games. Thanks to isolation, these two states drew closer in the 1920s.
When the Nazi dictatorship was established, the relationship betweenthey cooled down. In 1936, Germany and Japan conclude the Anti-Comintern Pact, which was supposed to counteract the spread of communist ideology.
The growing Soviet Union caused many fears among Western states. And, contributing to the strengthening of Germany, England, together with France, hoped to contain the "communist threat" in this way.
And Hitler took advantage of this fear. In 1938, having received the consent of England and France, he returned Austria and the Sudetenland to Czechoslovakia. In 1939, he began to demand that Poland return the "Polish Corridor". Having concluded agreements with France and England, Warsaw counted on their help.
Hitler understood that by occupying Poland, he would face France and England, and maybe the USSR, which sought to regain the eastern Polish territories taken in 1921.
And then, in the spring of 1939, Berlin began to soften the rhetoric against Moscow. And in the end, the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact was signed.
About the fatal pause
Polish society is dominated by the belief that in 1939 the division of Poland could have been avoided. Then the troops of the French and the British would be able to strike at western Germany, forcing Hitler to return the troops to the barracks.
And Poland relied on facts: after all, in 1939 the balance of power was in favor of France and England. So, in aviation, the balance of power was 3300 aircraft against 1200, and this is only when comparing France and the Third Reich. And during this period, England also entered the Second World War.
BSeptember 1939, the French crossed the German borders, capturing more than 10 settlements. But in 5 days they broke through only 32 km deep into German territories. September 12, the French canceled the offensive.
The Wehrmacht mined the border strips even before the French invasion. And while the French were moving inland, the Germans launched sudden counterattacks. On September 17, the Reich returned all the lost territories.
England refused to help Poland. And the royal forces appeared on the German borders only in October 1939, when Nazi troops were already in Warsaw.
This unwillingness of England to "disturb the enemy" surprised many contemporaries. This was called the "strange war" by the press. When the French took cover behind the Maginot Line, they watched the reinforcements of the German army with new forces.
Thus, all these facts point to the fact that the rise of the Hitler regime was the result of shortsightedness in the policy of England and France after the First World War. Their actions fueled the radical mood of German society. A humiliated nation complex appeared, which became fertile ground for the socialist party under the leadership of Adolf Hitler.
Conclusion
In short, after the Second World War, England paid off its debts only in 2006. Her losses amounted to 450,000 people. Warfare spending accounted for most of the foreign investment.
