Although in the early stages of World War II, Britain seemed to have been experiencing setbacks, starting with the German invasion of Poland in 1939 and until early 1942 when Hitler postponed the "Sea Lion Project".
However, these setbacks did not make Britain give up, but strengthened their determination to win.
It was traumatized by war, but why was it among the protagonists of international treaties in the latter part of World War II? The establishment of the post-World War II order was also inseparable from its participation, and Britain became the mainstay of the Allies in World War II.
Next, we will take a look at the history before and after World War II, and explore how Britain, a small country that was once stripped of its land on the European continent by France and retreated to the British Isles, gradually developed into a world power through the last train and colonial plunder of the Age of Discovery.
With the British navy, which combined with pirates and merchants, the British Empire became the world leader after the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain after defeating the Spanish Armada.
Britain led the first industrial revolution and the "Glorious Revolution", becoming a country with an advanced political order and a developed economic system in the world. Subsequently, Britain became the main maker of the world order and the dominant financial system through colonial expansion, and controlled the world for a hundred years by virtue of its status as the world's first industrial nation.
Once the hegemon of the world, Britain enjoyed the reputation of "the empire on which the sun never sets" with its huge overseas colonies and strong military strength. Before World War I, Britain actively pursued a "continental equilibrium policy" to suppress the rise of France and Germany in order to maintain its hegemony in Europe and even the world.
However, in World War I, Britain's actions caused discontent among other powers, especially the United States, Soviet Russia, and Germany. After the war, Britain remained the world hegemon, but its control over other countries had been greatly weakened.
In order to counterbalance France, Britain began to change its strategy and support Germany's reconstruction, a move that not only aroused widespread attention from the international community, but also laid the groundwork for the future world pattern.
Before the outbreak of World War II,"Appeasement"It became the main means of satisfying Hitler's greedy ambitions in exchange for a temporary peace, at the expense of small countries. This behavior gradually pushed Germany out of the Versailles-Washington system, and finally dragged the whole of Europe and the world into the abyss of war.
When Germany attacked Poland with millions of tanks and planes, and World War II really broke out, Britain declared war on Germany, but only verbally condemned it. They sat only behind the Maginot Line, trying to transfer the danger of war to the Soviet Union, leaving both Germany and the Soviet Union defeated.
Indeed, German tanks galloped across Polish soil, eventually crushing the corpses of a million Bolsheviks. But this happened only after Germany had destroyed France and the mainland was subjected to endless bombing.
In the Polish campaign, Britain reluctantly declared war on Germany out of a sense of duty to its allies, but this was only a verbal declaration of war and no substantive action.
While Chancellor Chamberlain's joy at declaring "I have peace" had not yet dissipated, Hitler and Stalin concluded a non-aggression pact. Germany immediately reversed its spearhead and unexpectedly crossed the Maginot Line and headed for Paris, France, and Petain** was forced to surrender to Germany.
The 400,000 Anglo-French troops could not wait to quell the war between Germany and the Soviet Union, but they were trapped on the narrow beaches of Dunkirk, and if they were all destroyed, the whole of Western Europe would fall completely under Hitler's control.
After making every effort to mobilize all rescue resources, the coalition forces were successfully evacuated in three batches that lasted nine days and 3380,000 people. Hitler's think tank then devised a strategy for the bombing of Britain.
Over the next few months, most of the buildings in Britain were destroyed. Despite the fact that the air forces of various countries finally won the final victory after paying a huge price, the war brought the worst damage in the history of Britain.
Britain demonstrated its resilience in World War II after Hitler's plans to force surrender were dashed, leading a global coalition against German fascist aggression. The first was the defeat of the "Desert Fox" Rommel in the North African theater, the destruction of Hitler's plan to acquire an energy and material base, and the first complete victory over Germany was achieved.
Then, the British landed in Normandy, France, and successfully led the largest landing war in history, bringing the Allied forces back to the European continent and fundamentally changing the dynamics of World War II.
Under the attack of the Soviet Red Army on both sides, the Battle of Berlin was victorious, marking the final end of the once empire on which the sun never sets. With its glorious historical achievements and great sacrifices in the war, Britain became the backbone of the world anti-fascist war.
However, with the end of the war, the empire on which the sun never sets gradually went into decline. Although the Second World War brought varying degrees of destruction to the old European capitalist countries, including Britain, Britain's losses may not have been outstanding compared to the great sacrifices of China and Soviet Russia in World War II.
Although the war was ultimately won, the battle had an irreparable historical impact on itself. The pound standard, which had relied on the colonial system, gradually collapsed during the war, and it was burdened with heavy war debts.
The collapse of the Versailles-Washington system after World War I, which had been dominated by Britain, France, and the United States, followed by a new division of the world order between the United States and the Soviet Union. The United States replaced the British colonies and spheres of influence in the Far East, and the colonies in the Americas, Africa, and Asia launched national independence movements.
The former world hegemon, in the rise of the polar bear and the American eagle, became a second-rate country in the world, gradually lost control of the foreign region and influence on the world, and finally became a "British donkey" following the United States.