samneanderthal
Active member
Churchill was a lone voice in the desert, clamoring for enforcing Versailles and for military spending as soon as Hitler and Stalin started spending very heavily in armament. He was ridiculed for insisting so much for so long on these points. Only when Hitler invaded Poland, did everybody realize how right he had been all along and did Chamberlain put him back in charge of the navy. As you can see in my timeline, I regard Churchill as a terrible strategist, but one must recognize his foresight and tenacity in this regard.
The figures for military spending show a ridiculous 812.8 million pounds in the 4 critical years from 1936 to 1939, which is why the huge empire was poorly defended and America had to bail Britain out with 31,000 million dollars worth of equipment, fuel, raw materials, etc,, payable in 60 years at low interest. Plus the 11,600 million given to the USSR and the huge sums spent in equipment used by the US fighting Germany and Japan, all of which benefitted Britain enormously and free of charge.
Instead of employing the inexpensive labor in India and using its resources to produce armament, greatly contributing to the production in the UK, the British empire sank in deep depression.
It is interesting that in great part Britain was saved by the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine used in the Hurricane, Spitfire, Lancaster, Mosquito, etc, and this engine owes its existence in great measure to an aristocratic, patriotic lady who gathered funds to sponsor its development for a plane that won the Schneider cup. So much for military spending.
The figures for military spending show a ridiculous 812.8 million pounds in the 4 critical years from 1936 to 1939, which is why the huge empire was poorly defended and America had to bail Britain out with 31,000 million dollars worth of equipment, fuel, raw materials, etc,, payable in 60 years at low interest. Plus the 11,600 million given to the USSR and the huge sums spent in equipment used by the US fighting Germany and Japan, all of which benefitted Britain enormously and free of charge.
Instead of employing the inexpensive labor in India and using its resources to produce armament, greatly contributing to the production in the UK, the British empire sank in deep depression.
It is interesting that in great part Britain was saved by the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine used in the Hurricane, Spitfire, Lancaster, Mosquito, etc, and this engine owes its existence in great measure to an aristocratic, patriotic lady who gathered funds to sponsor its development for a plane that won the Schneider cup. So much for military spending.
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