Some instance, I come across something like “If not for ww1 and ww2 caused by Germany” Briton would be the power of the world today!
Did two world wars caused Britons failure to be power of the world today? If there was no ww1 and ww2,would Briton be bigger and stronger than the United States of America Today?
Thanks in advance.
Prior to WW1, the UK OWNED a very substantial proportion of the United States. All the railroads for a start.
It seems clear that Britain lost a substantial amount of men (manpower) and wealth as a result of the two world wars. 900,000 men in WWI, 400,000 in WWII (compare to about 400,000 Americans but the US had a population 3 times the size).
I’ve heard figures in the past about how much wealth Britain lost in WWII. I don’t recall, but it may have been as much as a third of the entire net worth of Britain was lost in WWII, mostly to the US.
Boatloads of gold sent over the Atlantic to purchase tanks/equipment food fuel etc. Britain mortgaged her future in order to survive. A good trade I would say.
But other countries lost even more men and wealth, yet seemed to bounce back more quickly.
The UK suffered as a result of leftist goverments and policies; but geopolitics are complex. I think the decline of the British Empite started before WWI, and many factors sped the decline. The two wars were certainly two of the more significant.
If the wars had not happened, I do not think Britian would be more powerful then the US today. The US was poised to become a great power, wars or not. The wars sped US growth, as they did the British decline.
Although Britain is not the superpower it used to be, it remains one of the seven wealthiest countries in the world, and is one of about 8 or 9 nations (out of 200) with nuclear weapons.
My grandfather told me how his school books marked British lands in red. The red was around the globe. The largest empire the world has seen.
However, the sun has now set on the British Empire.
In 1997. I was rather disappointed that they didn’t televise it.
It’s industrial decline started in the late 19th c. when Germany’s output started to overtake Britain. Too much emphasis in education on the Humanities (especially Classics) and not enough on technical education for the professions (especially engineering) plus a belief that degree level education was quite unnecessary for management.
Having a degree does not make you a good manager and many would have experience to validate that.
It is a resent fad that has been imported, what would be of more use would be good management training. I have know many who have degrees in subject that are totally different to the role they have.
It is also a bad assumption to think that since the British engineers of the time were not university educated they didn’t have any formal training. There was a very well developed apprenticeship system operating at all levels - so training appropriate to even very technical, senior engineers was provided. That avoids the current situation where, to quote a rather crusty old RAF guy talking about me, I could tell you the square root of a jar of pickled eggs but couldn’t take the f***ing lid off.
Ok Smartie, what is the square root of the attached jar of Pickled Eggs!??:mrgreen:
And for fu**'s sake, keep the lid ON!!
pdf27 knows that.
He doesn’t know how to get the lid off.
Should we give him clues, related to the picture? 
The answer is clearly Cod and Chips Twice.
And just because I can’t get the lid off doesn’t mean I don’t know someone who can.
Oh crap! Watch out guys, he knows someone who can open it!