Which wars, if any, should Britain have been involved with in the 20th century?

[Ardemax]

Going for something different and if this flops then yeah, blame me

Which wars do you think were genuinely in our national interest and which weren't yet we still ended up getting involved with anyway?

Would you go as far as to say we should have stayed out of WW2 (was that in our national interest?) or should we have gotten involved in more conflicts?

Would be interested to hear your views (Obviously if you want to extend the time period to include Iraq/Afghanistan, feel free)

[oli]

okay I'd go as far to say that WW2 wasn't in our national interest but it was a necessary war to take part in, the only problem for us was that we didn't join soon enough. who knows maybe we'd still be the british empire if we joined in earlier.

another war would be the cold war, even though it was publicized as usa vs russia it was pretty much all western countries vs russia I think it was all of NATO not sure though. well the cold war was stupid and impractical even though it led to amazing technological advancements it led to much tension and a relentless amount of fear for everyone globally, should have stayed out!

gulf war another war we were pulled into because of the usa and us having our noses shoved firmly up their arse was unnecessary and in my opinion was only to strengthen bonds with the oil rich saudi arabia. i mean it was bush.........................

"Operation Desert Fox" was another one which was stupid considering it was purely to cripple the already crippled iraq and led to much hate and tension between the western world and iraq and possibly one of the main factors of the "war on terror".

[-:Undertaker:-]

In terms of modern post-imperial history, only the Falklands war in my eyes has been justified.

In terms of WWI and WWII when we were an imperial power - both were a disaster and failed in their objectives, indeed it was due to us getting involved in these wars that led to the demise of our Empire and us being overtaken as the world power by the United States.

[AgnesIO]

In terms of modern post-imperial history, only the Falklands war in my eyes has been justified.

In terms of WWI and WWII when we were an imperial power - both were a disaster and failed in their objectives, indeed it was due to us getting involved in these wars that led to the demise of our Empire and us being overtaken as the world power by the United States.

Well, yeah, I guess we could have just sat and watched as Germany demolished the entire worlds population of Jewish, disabled, black and whatever other sort of people they decided they didn't like lol

[peteyt]

While I'm no expert I feel the world wars where different as it could have directly affected us even if we hadn't done anything so you could argue that it was better to get involved earlier rather than when it was too late and you where doomed. Just think what the world would be like right now if we hadn't helped and the germans had won.

[lucaskf390]

No war, war doesnt solve anything.

[oli]

No war, war doesnt solve anything.

Of course they do, what a silly statement.

Most of all they usually solve the population issue.

[lucaskf390]

Of course they do, what a silly statement.

Most of all they usually solve the population issue.

How much a life worth?

[-:Undertaker:-]

Well, yeah, I guess we could have just sat and watched as Germany demolished the entire worlds population of Jewish, disabled, black and whatever other sort of people they decided they didn't like lol

We didn't enter those wars for those reasons, those reasons have only been applied afterwards. Take WWII for example. We declared war on Germany (and thus entered WWII) because Poland was invaded by the Reich - that was our war aim, the liberation of Poland due to an alliance.

Now clearly although we won the war, this aim was completely pointless: because Poland would then remain under Soviet domination for another 50+ years. Indeed it's a puzzle why we entered the war for Poland as the status of Poland was pretty much not of British foreign policy interest.

[oli]

How much a life worth?

On the grand scheme of things, a billion lives isn't worth anything.