Name: Britain's war machine
ISBN: 9780141026107

Britain's war machine

"The familiar image of the British in the Second World War is that of the plucky underdog taking on German might. David Edgerton's bold, compelling new history shows the conflict in a new light, with Britain as a very wealthy country, formidable in arms, ruthless in pursuit of its interests, and in command of a global production system. Rather than belittled by a Nazi behemoth, Britain arguably had the world's most advanced mechanized forces. It had not only a great empire, but allies large and small. Edgerton shows that Britain fought on many fronts and its many home fronts kept it exceptionally well supplied with weapons, food and oil, allowing it to mobilize to an extraordinary extent. It created and deployed a vast empire of machines, from the humble tramp steamer to the battleship, from the rifle to the tank, made in colossal factories the world over. Scientists and engineers invented new weapons, encouraged by a government and prime minister enthusiastic about the latest technologies. The British, indeed Churchillian, vision of war and modernity was challenged by repeated defeat at the hands of less well-equipped enemies. Yet the end result was a vindication of this vision. Like the United States, a powerful Britain won a cheap victory, while others paid a great price.

What Hacker News says

geriksonAug 2021

It doesn't really matter how they had acquired it, they could draw on resources and manpower - Indian regiments, Malayan rubber, Indonesian oil (via the Dutch government in exile)...

I'm convinced by reading "Britain's War Machine" by David Edgerton that Britain's darkest hour was not Dunkirk but Japan's entry into the war and its lightning capture of most of SE Asia.

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lostloginJan 2021

> The UK needed France

If the war started early, perhaps. But later on, not really. Britain and the dominion had one hell of a lot of resources.

There is a good book on this topic by David Edgerton titled ‘Britain’s War Machine’. It’s largely debunking the idea of the plucky underdog and shows the great strength of Britain relatively to Germany. It was more a question of how long it would take Germany to fall, rather than anything else. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13647996

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lostloginNov 2017

Your bit about Germany isn't correct and is a common misconception. Britain was more powerful than Germany, had a considerably larger GDP, had a vast empire which could be asked (and told) what to do in ways its own population couldn't. The population of the empire is what mattered, not Britain’s. By this measure it was roughly 60 million versus somewhere north of 450 million. Britain had a colosal and distributed industrial base at the start of the war and both countries had a very similar level of mechanisation early on. Britain only fell behind in armoured vehicle numbers around the time of the fall of France. This loss was very swiftly made up and Britain had roughly 25% more armoured vehicles in service by 1941. In no war year did Germany produce more aircraft than Britain.

Attacking Britain was suicidal and the myth of Britain, alone and standing firm is quite intentional, but untrue. The force multiplier wasn’t the tools, it was how they were used, and it took the allies a while to get the hang of things. The most surprising part is how far Germany got with such a weak position.

Britain’s War Machine by David Edgerton covers this well and somehow avoids it being a dry pile of charts.

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lostloginJun 2016

I recommend "Britain's War Machine" by David Edgerton. Prior to hostilities Britain had an inferior military in many regards (but many superior tanks, ships and planes) but her manufacturing and resources available from Empire far exceeded those of Germany. It didn't take that long to get war production going, and by most measures of armament production Britain had overtaken Germany by 1941. It's a while since I read the book but it was quite eye opening to me too see the stats on how powerful Britain was when going into the Second World War. The story of the plucky underdog is a myth.

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eruNov 2015

I found David Edgerton's "Britain's War Machine) (http://www.amazon.com/Britains-War-Machine-David-Edgerton/dp...) quit interesting.

He highlights that the Germans---far from the technical wizards they are often portrayed as these days---won in the beginning despite inferior material. The British and their allies always had material and technological superiority. (Lots of their gadgets just didn't work very well at the beginning.)

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eruNov 2015

Britain's War Machine by David Edgerton argues similarly. (http://www.amazon.com/Britains-War-Machine-David-Edgerton/dp...)

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