Text/Lonely Red Wine
Britain is a powerful empire in the world's modern history, which has dominated the world for more than two hundred years. At its peak, Britain controlled a quarter of the world's land and population, and it can be said that it was walking sideways in the world, and no one dared to provoke him, and everything that called him was basically taken over by him. Russia, Germany, France, and even the United States, Japan, and Italy have all suffered from Britain's losses. Before World War II, however, Britain's power was in severe decline, and its hegemony was already crumbling.
In fact, long before the First World War, Britain was already showing signs of decline. To be precise, Britain's decline began at the end of the 19th century, marked by the Second Boer War (11 October 1899 – 31 May 1902). In the Second Boer War, the British suffered heavy losses, with tens of thousands of casualties, more than 20,000 dead alone, and consuming up to 250 million pounds of military expenditure. The war not only hollowed out Britain's treasury, but also dealt a heavy blow to Britain's international prestige. In the eyes of the people, the invincible Britain has since stepped down from the altar, not only the colonial governments have begun to centrifuge, but other countries have begun to move, and began to challenge the hegemony of the British, the most active of which was Germany, and the Germans directly jumped out and called out the British, which triggered the First World War.
After World War I, britain, as the world's financial center and world hegemon, suffered about 800,000 casualties in the war, spent nearly 10 billion pounds on military expenditure, lost 1/3 of national wealth, and exports fell sharply, only half of the import value. The huge trade deficit forced Britain to sell 1/4 of its overseas investment, or £1 billion, to compensate for the huge trade deficit. Britain began to decline. By the time of World War II, Britain's industrial power had slipped to the fourth place in the world, Britain's total economic output was less than half that of the United States, and colonies such as Australia and Canada had become Dominions and had effectively gained independence.
Affected by the world economic crisis of 1933, the British economy continued to be sluggish and industrial development stagnated. The naval power is superficially tied with the United States for the first place in the world, but in fact most of them are old warships. Britain's decline is already very pronounced. With the decline of Britain's comprehensive national strength and the popularity of independent thought movements, the colonies turned away from Germany. Compared with its rival Germany, Japan, and ally the United States, Britain's performance was inefficient government, corrupt officials, war-weary population, vulnerable army, outdated weapons, and backward tactical thinking. It can be said that on the eve of the outbreak of World War II, Britain was actually a foreign power.
Due to the decline of British power, Germany, Japan, Italy and other countries began to challenge the hegemony of the British, and the Soviets also began to take advantage of the opportunity. The Americans, on the other hand, kept digging holes for the British. The decline of power, internal crises and external challenges left the British in a mess. In fact, Britain was no longer able to maintain its colonial hegemony, and the British Empire was crumbling. The British Empire is like a broken house about to collapse, and it only takes one foot in the door to collapse. This was also the main reason why the British Empire would implement a policy of appeasement and tolerate the Germans at every turn. Of course, the British appeasement eventually turned europe upside down. In order to maintain its dignity, the British Empire eventually suffered a great deal of strength in the war with the Germans, and eventually ceded its hegemony to the United States.
References: History of World War II, Britain in World War II, Prosperity from Competition