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

[AgnesIO]

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

What if it includes yours?

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[Kardan]

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.

In hindsight, if we weren't in the war, we would have ended up the same way as France did during the war, would we not? Surely if we didn't take part in WWII there is a good chance that most of us wouldn't be speaking English right now? And surely not even being British would slightly impact the British Empire?

[-:Undertaker:-]

In hindsight, if we weren't in the war, we would have ended up the same way as France did during the war, would we not? Surely if we didn't take part in WWII there is a good chance that most of us wouldn't be speaking English right now? And surely not even being British would slightly impact the British Empire?

I'm not arguing that war wouldn't come eventually - although there's strong suggestions that Hitler never had ambitions on Britain and her Empire, rather he wanted to create a Empire of his own in a world which had already more or less been taken up by other colonial powers.

But let's assume that war would eventually come between the British Empire and Third Reich: we were in no position on the eve of war to fight such a large battle - having signed the ridiculous Washington Naval Treaty (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Naval_Treaty) - which meant we were much weaker than we should have been in the late 1930s. Secondly, if we were going to eventually have to fight the Third Reich then declaring war over Poland was ridiculous for the reason that as I said earlier, Poland wasn't of our interest and it was fruitless anyway as Poland is located in Eastern Europe and has always been a pawn of either Russia, France or the Prussian states (later Germany).

What we should have done is re-armed and waited until (if ever) an attack was made against us. We then would have had a reasonable objective in fighting the war (the preservation of the Empire against German aggression) and we would have been better prepared.

[Lewis]

No war, war doesnt solve anything.

A war is worth it if the others give us no choice but to be a part.

[Kardan]

I'm not arguing that war wouldn't come eventually - although there's strong suggestions that Hitler never had ambitions on Britain and her Empire, rather he wanted to create a Empire of his own in a world which had already more or less been taken up by other colonial powers.

But let's assume that war would eventually come between the British Empire and Third Reich: we were in no position on the eve of war to fight such a large battle - having signed the ridiculous Washington Naval Treaty (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Naval_Treaty) - which meant we were much weaker than we should have been in the late 1930s. Secondly, if we were going to eventually have to fight the Third Reich then declaring war over Poland was ridiculous for the reason that as I said earlier, Poland wasn't of our interest and it was fruitless anyway as Poland is located in Eastern Europe and has always been a pawn of either Russia, France or the Prussian states (later Germany).

What we should have done is re-armed and waited until (if ever) an attack was made against us. We then would have had a reasonable objective in fighting the war (the preservation of the Empire against German aggression) and we would have been better prepared.

No worries, I wasn't arguing that the initial reason was stupid, just that sooner or later it would have happened and that we should have got involved eventually

[Ardemax]

What we should have done is re-armed and waited until (if ever) an attack was made against us. We then would have had a reasonable objective in fighting the war (the preservation of the Empire against German aggression) and we would have been better prepared.

The Empire was pretty much down the drain (the writing was on the wall) before the war, was it not?

[-:Undertaker:-]

The Empire was pretty much down the drain (the writing was on the wall) before the war, was it not?

Not really. It's true that economically socialism was starting to grip - but that was true throughout the western world - and it's also true that whereas in the 1850s to around 1890 Britain was miles ahead of it's rivals, the inter-war period and after 1900 we had a rapidly rising America and a newly unified Germany as competitors ... along with a stronger Japan in the East. I wouldn't label it as 'decline' .. more as a fact of rivals appearing.

I think without the wars then we'd be talking about a world today where the US, British Empire and Germany would be more or less equal powers with no single power being the top dog - kind of like a world when it was the USA vs USSR as opposed to today where America is unchallenged as the world power.

But hey, the annoying thing is that we'll never know.

[oli]

What if it includes yours?

Sent from my HTC One X

Still doesn't matter on the grand scheme of things.

[peteyt]

I'm not arguing that war wouldn't come eventually - although there's strong suggestions that Hitler never had ambitions on Britain and her Empire, rather he wanted to create a Empire of his own in a world which had already more or less been taken up by other colonial powers.

But let's assume that war would eventually come between the British Empire and Third Reich: we were in no position on the eve of war to fight such a large battle - having signed the ridiculous Washington Naval Treaty (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Naval_Treaty) - which meant we were much weaker than we should have been in the late 1930s. Secondly, if we were going to eventually have to fight the Third Reich then declaring war over Poland was ridiculous for the reason that as I said earlier, Poland wasn't of our interest and it was fruitless anyway as Poland is located in Eastern Europe and has always been a pawn of either Russia, France or the Prussian states (later Germany).

What we should have done is re-armed and waited until (if ever) an attack was made against us. We then would have had a reasonable objective in fighting the war (the preservation of the Empire against German aggression) and we would have been better prepared.

The problem with waiting though is sometimes it can be too late. What's to say that if we waited instead of fighting, we wouldn't have been ready and then easily defeated.

While we might have went to war with Germany for the wrong reasons I do feel it was the right thing to do in the end and I do believe we made a difference.

[AgnesIO]

Still doesn't matter on the grand scheme of things.

I don't believe you have so little value for your own life. Realistically, if you were going to be killed I am sure you would want someone to come and save you.

First they came for the communists,and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.
Then they came for the socialists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for me,

and there was no one left to speak for me.