After the Second World War, England for a long time experienced the consequences of participating in armed conflicts. The results of her intervention were extremely mixed. After sad events, this state 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 fascist troops, one cannot ignore the fact that the Munich Agreement, which England signed a year earlier as part of other countries with Germany, divided Czechoslovakia. And, according to numerous studies, this was a prelude to the impending large-scale military operations.
In September 1938, an agreement was signed between England and Germany on mutual non-aggression. This was the culmination of the British policy of "appeasement." Hitler easily convinced the prime minister at Foggy Albion that the Munich agreements would 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, as far back as 1938, many experts emphasized that the presence of Germany’s concessions would only push it toward aggressive actions.
When Chamberlain returned to London, he said that he "brought peace to our generation." To this, Winston Churchill once noted that: “England was offered a choice - war or dishonor. She chose dishonor and will get a war. ” These words were prophetic.
About the "strange war"
In September 1939, Germany launched an invasion of Poland. On the same day, on the eve of World War II, England sent Germany a note of protest. And then the state of Misty Albion, as the guarantor of the independence of Poland, declares war on the fascists. After 10 days, the British Commonwealth does the same.
In October, the British army landed on the continent four divisions that 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 aviation began to scatter campaign leaflets that appealed to the morality of the Nazis. A few months later, another 6 English divisions landed in France, but none of them embarked on a war. So the "strange war" continued.
The General Staff of England during the Second World War explained this by the fact that there were "anxieties and unrest." The French writer Roland Dorzheles described how the Allied troops calmly watched as fascist trains with ammunition move. As if the leadership was most afraid of disturbing the enemy.
Experts say that England’s similar behavior during the Second World War is explained by its expectation. The allies tried to figure out where Germany would go, capturing Poland. And it is possible that if the Wehrmacht immediately after Poland went to the USSR, then they would support Hitler.
Miracle at Dunkirk
On May 10, 1940, according to the Gelb plan, Germany invaded Holland, Belgium, and France. Then the game in politics ended. Churchill began to evaluate 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.
It 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. Hitler suddenly decided to stop the troops, and Guderian called this decision political. There is a version that there was a secret agreement between the Germans and the British.
After Dunkirk, it became clear that England, entering 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 the side of Germany took fascist Italy.
Battle of England
In the Wehrmacht, there were plans to capture the Foggy Albion, and the battle for England in the Second World War was inevitable. In July 1940, the Germans began bombing the coastal convoys and naval bases of Britain. In August, airfields, aircraft factories, and London were attacked.
The British Air Force gave the answer - a day later 81 bomber advanced to Berlin. Despite the fact that only more than 10 aircraft reached the target, Hitler was furious. He decided to bring down the power of the Luftwaffe to Britain, and above it the sky literally began to “boil”. At this stage, the loss of England in World War II civilians amounted to 1,000 people. But soon the intensity of the attacks decreased due to the effective counteraction of the British aviation.
About numbers
2913 British planes and 4549 Luftwaffe cars took part in air battles over the country. 1547 royal fighters and 1887 German were shot down. Thus, the British Air Force showed effective work.
Mistress of the seas
After the bombing, the Wehrmacht planned Operation Sea Lion to invade Britain. But to win in the air failed. And then the Reich leadership was skeptical about the landing operation. German generals argued that the strength of the Germans focused on land rather than sea. The ground army of Misty Albion was no stronger than the defeated French, and a ground operation against the British could be successful.
An English military historian claimed that the country managed to survive in the battle for England in World War II thanks to a water barrier. Berlin was aware that its fleet was weaker than the British. So, the British Navy had 7 active aircraft carriers and 6 on a slipway, and Germany was not able to equip one of its own aircraft carrier. On the water, such a ratio would predetermine 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 in the Second World War sank 783 German submarines. And then the British Navy won the battle for the Atlantic.
Until the winter of 1942, Hitler cherished the hope of taking Britain from the sea. But Admiral Erich Raeder convinced him to forget about it.
About colonial interests
Since one of the important tasks 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 doubled the African Corps of Erwin Rommel in strength and technology, but lost. And only in October 1942 the British turned 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 achieved the surrender of 250,000 Italo-Germans in Tunisia, and the path for the Allied forces in Italy was opened. In North Africa, England lost 220,000 soldiers and officers in World War II. The second chance for rehabilitation after a shameful flight from the continent four years ago was for England the opening of the Second Front on June 6, 1944.
Then the allies were totally superior to the Germans. However, in December 1944, under the Ardennes, a German armored group managed to push the line of American troops. Then the Americans lost 19,000 soldiers, and the British - about 200. This ratio of losses caused disagreement among the Allies. Only interference in the Dwight Eisenhower conflict allowed him to be settled.
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 with Stalin the sphere of influence.
The tacit agreement of the Soviet Union and the United States led to the suppression of England's communist resistance in Greece, and in January 1945 she began to control Attica. And then the Soviet threat to Britain became great.
A look at the reasons
By and large, the main reason for England to participate in the war is the German invasion of Poland in 1939. The British were supposed to help Warsaw, but they had only a small operation in western Germany. England hoped that Hitler would turn troops to Moscow. And so it happened, but with one caveat: a year earlier, he had occupied 70% of French territory and planned to land troops in the UK.
Oh the guilty
The responsibility for starting this war is shifted by countries to each other, and this issue is still relevant. One cannot but take into account that a whole complex of factors played its role. While the West blames the Soviet Union for conspiring with the Germans in 1939 with the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, Russian historians accuse England and France of raising Germany. So, London and Paris tried to appease the Nazi regime, allowing it to satisfy the appetite in Eastern Europe.
But on one fact, the view of historians coincides: the Nazis gained power thanks to events that fundamentally changed the national identity of the German people. The thing is that in German society after the defeat in the First World War, revanchist sentiments grew.
Indeed, in 1919, Germany imposed strong restrictions - it had to pay billions in billions to the victorious countries, and give the coal-rich Alsace-Lorraine of France, and its lands to Poland, and the Saar Region for 15 years to transfer to the League of Nations.
There were restrictions on the number of armed forces in Germany, the navy was lost. All these conditions were enslaving. The main supporter of the brutal sanctions against the defeated country was France, which wanted to get rid of a competitor and a 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 on the forefront of the country.
About lesser evil
In addition, as a result of the Versailles Peace, two major players — Germany and the young Soviets — were eliminated from political games. Thanks to isolation, the two states became closer in the 1920s.
When the Nazi dictatorship was established, relations between them cooled. In 1936, Germany and Japan concluded the Anti-Comintern Pact, which was supposed to counteract the spread of communist ideology.
The growing Soviet Union caused many concerns among Western states. And, contributing to the strengthening of Germany, England, together with France, hoped to contain in this way the "communist threat."
And this fear took advantage of Hitler. In 1938, having received the consent of England and France, he returned Austria and the Sudetenland to Czechoslovakia. In 1939, he began to demand from Poland to return the Polish Corridor. By concluding agreements with France and England, Warsaw counted on their help.
Hitler understood that, having occupied Poland, he would confront France and England, or perhaps the USSR, which sought to regain the eastern Polish territories, selected in 1921.
And then, in the spring of 1939, Berlin began to soften the rhetoric addressed to Moscow. And in the end, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was concluded.
About the fatal pause
The Polish society is dominated by the belief that in 1939 the partition of Poland could be avoided. Then the troops of the French and British would be able to hit western Germany, forcing Hitler to return the troops to the barracks.
And Poland relied on facts: in 1939, the balance of power was in favor of France and England. So, in aviation, the correlation of forces was 3300 aircraft versus 1200, and this is only when comparing France and the Third Reich. And during this period, England also entered the Second World War.
In September 1939, the French crossed German borders, capturing more than 10 settlements. But in 5 days they broke through only 32 km deep into German territories. On September 12, the French canceled the offensive.
The Wehrmacht mined the border stripes before the French invasion. And while the French advanced inland, the Germans launched sudden counterattacks. On September 17, the Reich returned all the lost territories.
England refused to help Poland. And royal forces appeared on German borders only in October 1939, when there were already Nazi troops in Warsaw.
This reluctance of England to "disturb the enemy" surprised many contemporaries. This was called by the press a "strange war." When the French took refuge behind the Maginot line, they watched the reinforcements of the German army with new forces.
Thus, all these facts indicate that the rise of the Hitler regime was the result of shortsightedness in the politics of England and France after the First World War. Their actions fueled the radical mood of German society. A complex of a humiliated nation appeared, which became fertile ground for the socialist party under the leadership of Adolf Hitler.
Conclusion
In short, England after World War II paid its debts only in 2006. Her losses amounted to 450,000 people. The cost of warfare accounted for most of the foreign investment.