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Britain during the Second World War. England (United Kingdom of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland) losses

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The results of Britain's participation in World War II were mixed. The country retained its independence and made a significant contribution to the victory over fascism, at the same time it lost its role as a world leader and came close to losing its colonial status.

Political games

Historians believe that Britain had high hopes for diplomacy, with the help of which it hoped to rebuild the Versailles system in crisis, although already in 1938 many politicians warned the peacemakers: “concessions to Germany will only embolden the aggressor!”

Returning to London on the plane, Chamberlain said: “I brought peace to our generation.” To which Winston Churchill, then a parliamentarian, prophetically remarked: “England was offered a choice between war and dishonor. She chose dishonor and will get war.”

"Strange War"

By mid-October, the British transported four divisions to the continent and took up positions along the Franco-Belgian border. However, the section between the cities of Mold and Bayel, which is a continuation of the Maginot Line, was far from the epicenter of hostilities. Here the Allies created more than 40 airfields, but instead of bombing German positions, British aviation began scattering propaganda leaflets appealing to the morality of the Germans.

In the following months, six more British divisions arrived in France, but neither the British nor the French were in a hurry to take active action. This is how the “strange war” was waged. Chief of the British General Staff Edmund Ironside described the situation as follows: “passive waiting with all the worries and anxieties that follow from this.”

French writer Roland Dorgeles recalled how the Allies calmly watched the movement of German ammunition trains: “obviously the main concern of the high command was not to disturb the enemy.”

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Historians have no doubt that the “Phantom War” is explained by the wait-and-see attitude of the Allies. Both Great Britain and France had to understand where German aggression would turn after the capture of Poland. It is possible that if the Wehrmacht immediately launched an invasion of the USSR after the Polish campaign, the Allies could support Hitler.

Miracle at Dunkirk

Military experts had little faith in the success of the operation under the sonorous name “Dynamo”. The advance detachment of Guderian's 19th Panzer Corps was located a few kilometers from Dunkirk and, if desired, could easily defeat the demoralized allies. But a miracle happened: 337,131 soldiers, most of whom were British, reached the opposite bank almost without interference.

Hitler unexpectedly stopped the advance of the German troops. Guderian called this decision purely political. Historians differ in their assessment of the controversial episode of the war. Some believe that the Fuhrer wanted to save his strength, but others are confident in a secret agreement between the British and German governments.

One way or another, after the Dunkirk disaster, Britain remained the only country that avoided complete defeat and was able to resist the seemingly invincible German machine. On June 10, 1940, England's position became threatening when fascist Italy entered the war on the side of Nazi Germany.

Battle of Britain

On August 24, German aircraft carried out their first bombing attack on central London. According to some, it is wrong. The retaliatory attack was not long in coming. A day later, 81 RAF bombers flew to Berlin. No more than a dozen reached the target, but this was enough to infuriate Hitler. At a meeting of the German command in Holland, it was decided to unleash the full power of the Luftwaffe on the British Isles.

Within weeks, the skies over British cities turned into a boiling cauldron. Birmingham, Liverpool, Bristol, Cardiff, Coventry, Belfast got it. During the whole of August, at least 1,000 British citizens died. However, from mid-September the intensity of the bombing began to decrease, due to the effective counteraction of British fighter aircraft.

The Battle of Britain is better characterized by numbers. In total, 2,913 British Air Force aircraft and 4,549 Luftwaffe aircraft were involved in air battles. Historians estimate the losses of both sides at 1,547 Royal Air Force fighters and 1,887 German aircraft shot down.

Lady of the Seas

Military experts were confident that the British ground army was no stronger than the broken armed forces of France, and Germany had every chance of overpowering the United Kingdom's forces in a ground operation. The English military historian Liddell Hart noted that England managed to hold out only due to the water barrier.

In Berlin they realized that the German fleet was noticeably inferior to the English. For example, by the beginning of the war, the British Navy had seven operational aircraft carriers and six more on the slipway, while Germany was never able to equip at least one of its aircraft carriers. In the open seas, the presence of carrier-based aircraft could predetermine the outcome of any battle.

The German submarine fleet was only able to inflict serious damage on British merchant ships. However, having sunk 783 German submarines with US support, the British Navy won the Battle of the Atlantic. Until February 1942, the Fuhrer hoped to conquer England from the sea, until the commander of the Kriegsmarine, Admiral Erich Raeder, finally convinced him to abandon this idea.

Colonial interests

At the beginning of 1939, the British Chiefs of Staff Committee recognized the defense of Egypt with its Suez Canal as one of its strategically most important tasks. Hence the special attention of the Kingdom's armed forces to the Mediterranean theater of operations.

Unfortunately, the British had to fight not at sea, but in the desert. May-June 1942 turned out for England, according to historians, as a “shameful defeat” at Tobruk from Erwin Rommel’s Afrika Korps. And this despite the British having twice the superiority in strength and technology!

The British were able to turn the tide of the North African campaign only in October 1942 at the Battle of El Alamein. Again having a significant advantage (for example, in aviation 1200:120), the British Expeditionary Force of General Montgomery managed to defeat a group of 4 German and 8 Italian divisions under the command of the already familiar Rommel.

Churchill remarked about this battle: “Before El Alamein we did not win a single victory. We haven't suffered a single defeat since El Alamein." By May 1943, British and American troops forced the 250,000-strong Italian-German group in Tunisia to capitulate, which opened the way for the Allies to Italy. In North Africa, the British lost about 220 thousand soldiers and officers.

And again Europe

Events unfolded in a different vein in December 1944 near the Ardennes, when a German armored group literally pushed through the lines of American troops. In the Ardennes meat grinder, the US Army lost over 19 thousand soldiers, the British no more than two hundred.

This ratio of losses led to disagreements in the Allied camp. American generals Bradley and Patton threatened to resign if Montgomery did not leave leadership of the army. Montgomery's self-confident statement at a press conference on January 7, 1945, that it was British troops who saved the Americans from the prospect of encirclement, jeopardized the further joint operation. Only thanks to the intervention of the commander in chief of the allied forces, Dwight Eisenhower, was the conflict resolved.

By the end of 1944, the Soviet Union had liberated large parts of the Balkan Peninsula, which caused serious concern in Britain. Churchill, who did not want to lose control over the important Mediterranean region, proposed to Stalin a division of the sphere of influence, as a result of which Moscow got Romania, London - Greece.

In fact, with the tacit consent of the USSR and the USA, Great Britain suppressed the resistance of the Greek communist forces and on January 11, 1945, established complete control over Attica. It was then that a new enemy clearly loomed on the horizon of British foreign policy. “In my eyes, the Soviet threat had already replaced the Nazi enemy,” Churchill recalled in his memoirs.

According to the 12-volume History of the Second World War, Britain and its colonies lost 450,000 people in World War II. Britain's expenses for waging the war amounted to more than half of foreign capital investments; the Kingdom's external debt reached 3 billion pounds sterling by the end of the war. Britain paid off all debts only by 2006.

Great Britain was not occupied by Germany during the Second World War, but this did not save the country from destruction, loss of population and resources. The aviation and navy of the Third Reich regularly attacked the cities of the British Isles, sank ships and submarines, and ground military equipment. The British also died on the fronts of World War II, as the country's government sent its soldiers to the Middle and Far East, Japan, Asia, the Balkan and Apennine Peninsulas, the Atlantic, Scandinavia, India, and North Africa. The British took part in the invasion of Germany in the last months of the war, the capture and occupation of Berlin. Therefore, the consequences, outcomes and results of the Second World War were difficult for Great Britain in economic, social and political terms. The country's government declared war on Hitler and Germany on September 3, 1939, immediately after the capture of Poland, and until September 2, Britain was at war with the Third Reich. Only after the surrender of Japan was the war over for the British state and its population.

Economic and political conditions in the late 1930s.

Before entering the war, Great Britain plunged into a protracted crisis that paralyzed the economy, foreign markets, trade, and the work of enterprises. As a result, workers constantly took to the streets with demonstrations, refused to go to work, enterprises stood still, and British products did not reach the markets. Because of this, capitalists lost huge sums and positions in the global economy every day.

The government was headed by N. Chamberlain, who sought to create a strong country capable of competing with Germany, as well as cooperating with it. This foreign policy course was supported by monopolists who had their enterprises in many English colonies. Plans to get closer to Germany are evidenced by the fact that already at the beginning of 1930, representatives of the political forces of England and major industrialists regularly gathered in the house of the Astor family (British millionaires) to develop a plan for cooperation with Hitler. The secret society was called the Cleveland Circle, the existence of which was known only to a select few. The country's citizens did not support the government's plans, so rapprochement with Germany should have become a fait accompli for them.

In the 1930s England, like its ally France, tried to adhere to the policy of “appeasement,” essentially turning a blind eye to Hitler’s actions in Central Europe. By signing the Munich Agreement in 1938, N. Chamberlain, like E. Daladier, hoped that Germany would continue to seize the East of Europe.

After this, declarations of non-aggression were signed and commitments were made that England would support Germany in the event of war.

Chamberlain, under pressure from British society, was forced to begin anti-German negotiations with the Soviet Union and France. Representatives of the political circles of England, France and the USA gathered separately. Such actions did not end with anything concrete, which is why Hitler launched the invasion of Poland.

Britain at War: The Initial Period

Having declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939, Chamberlain tried to keep the country from direct participation in hostilities. Until May 1940, a “strange war” was fought, which ended with the capture of Belgium, Holland and France. After this, Chamberlain's government began to prepare for war. To prevent Hitler from using the French fleet to attack Britain, the British attacked first. The target was the harbor of Mers el-Kebir, located in Algeria. Having destroyed a huge number of ships, England captured many ships that were stationed in British ports. In addition, there was a complete blockade of the French fleet in the port of Alexandria (Egypt).

At this time, Hitler began to concentrate troops on the banks of the English Channel, preparing for the invasion of the British Isles. The first blow was delivered not from the sea, but from the air. In August 1940, German aircraft carried out a series of attacks on military factories, enterprises, and airfields in Great Britain. Large cities were also affected. The raids were carried out mainly at night, which led to the death of a significant number of civilians. The targets of the bombing were streets, residential buildings, cathedrals, churches, stadiums, and factories.

British air power, supported by Canada and the United States, carried out retaliatory strikes. As a result, in September 1940, both Germany and Britain were exhausted by constant raids, many people died, equipment was damaged, which made the planned German invasion of the British Isles impossible. Hitler's carefully planned Operation Sea Lion was shelved because there were not enough aircraft to break the resistance of Britain, which was fighting the Third Reich alone. The United States did not provide military assistance, but only provided combat ships from which British planes took off.

British Army Forces

The basis of Great Britain's power was the fleet, which was one of the strongest in Europe. In 1939, the number of military personnel of various ranks in the army was about 900 thousand people, and another 350-360 thousand soldiers were stationed in the colonies. The main forces of the state were concentrated in the British Isles - regular divisions and brigades - territorial, infantry, cavalry, tank. In reserve there were seven regular divisions and many separate brigades formed on the basis of the British and Indians.

Before the war, the number of aircraft units that were transferred to the army's balance increased sharply. Aviation was reinforced with bombers, and the navy with battleships and aircraft-carrying ships.

Events of 1941-1944

Hitler's attention was diverted from Britain in the summer of 1941 due to the attack on the Soviet Union. Germany's situation became significantly more complicated after the United States entered World War II. Hitler could not conduct military operations on two fronts, so he threw all his efforts into the fight against the USSR and the resistance movements that arose in the occupied territories. While Germany was capturing the USSR and establishing its own rules there, Britain and the USA agreed to cooperate, as a result of which secret German documents and radio communications were intercepted, and supplies of food and raw materials were established to the British Isles.

British troops lost several battles on the Asian front in 1941; only the British colonies in India survived. The British also suffered losses in North Africa, but the strengthening of the army by the Americans made it possible in 1942 to turn the situation in favor of the Allies. Hitler withdrew troops from Africa in 1943. Next, the Italian islands were gradually recaptured, including Sicily, Salerno, and Anzio, which forced Mussolini to capitulate.

In November 1943, it opened with the work of the first anti-Hitler coalition, which was carried out in Tehran. It was attended by Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt, who agreed on the liberation of France and the opening of a second front. In June 1944, the allied forces began to gradually liberate Belgium and France, displacing the Germans from the occupied territories. The Third Reich lost battle after battle. The situation was worsened by the offensive of Soviet troops on the war fronts.

Surrender of Germany

In 1945, Anglo-American troops began to advance towards Germany. German cities and enterprises turned into ruins as bombers constantly attacked various objects, many of which were unique monuments of history, culture and architecture. Civilians also became numerous victims of the strikes.

At the end of winter - beginning of March 1945, British troops, as part of the Allied forces, helped push German troops beyond the Rhine. The offensive took place in all directions:

In April, the German army located in Italy surrendered;
In early May, fighting intensified on the northern flank of the Allied front, which contributed to the liberation of Denmark, Mecklenburg, and Schleswig-Holstein;
On May 7, the act of surrender of Germany was signed in Reims, signed by General A. Jodl.

The Soviet side opposed such actions, since the document was drawn up unilaterally at the American headquarters of D. Eisenhower. Therefore, the next day, all the allies - the Soviet Union, Britain, the USA and France - were gathered on the outskirts of Berlin, and the act of surrender was re-signed. At the end of May 1945, the British, under pressure from the USA and the USSR, arrested the German generals who commanded in the British zone of occupation.

In 1945, the British army took an active part in military operations in Southeast Asia, liberating Burma from Japanese troops. The British did not ignore the Far East, where the offensive was carried out by the Pacific Fleet, formed by Britain in the fall of 1944.

Thus, the British Army took an active part in all important operations of the final period of the Second World War, supporting the actions of the Allies and individual states.

Results and consequences of the war for Britain

Historians assess the results of World War II for England ambiguously. Some believe that the country lost, while others believe that it emerged victorious. The main results of the conflict for the British Isles include:

Loss of superpower status;
She found herself in the camp of the winners, although at the beginning of the war she was on the verge of occupation by the Third Reich;
It retained its independence, avoiding occupation, like many European states. The economy was in ruins, the country was in ruins, but the internal situation was strikingly different from Poland, France, Denmark, Holland;
Almost all trade markets were lost;
The colonies of the former British Empire began to gain independence, but most of them continued to maintain economic, trade and cultural relations with London. This became the core of the formation of the future Commonwealth of Nations;
Production fell several times, which was returned to pre-war levels only in the late 1940s. The same applied to the economic situation. The crisis was overcome gradually, only in 1953 was the card system finally abolished in Britain;
The size of sown areas and agricultural land has been halved, so in the British Isles almost one and a half million hectares of land have not been cultivated for several years;
The payment deficit of the British state budget has increased several times.

In World War II, England lost, according to various estimates, from 245 thousand to 300 thousand killed, and about 280 thousand maimed and wounded. The size of the merchant fleet was reduced by one third, causing Britain to lose 30% of foreign investment. At the same time, the military industry was actively developing in the country, which was due to the need to ensure mass production of tanks, aircraft, weapons and weapons for the needs of the army, as well as the significant influence of technological progress.

Given the current situation, Britain was forced to continue to use the Lend-Lease program. Equipment, food, and weapons were imported into the country from the United States. For this, the States gained full control of trade markets in the Southeast Asian region and the Middle East.

This internal and external situation in Britain caused concern among the population and government. Therefore, political circles headed for strict regulation of the economy, which included the creation of a mixed economic system. It was built on two components - private property and state entrepreneurship.

Nationalization of enterprises, banks, important industries - gas, metallurgy, coal mining, aviation, etc. – allowed already in 1948 to reach pre-war production levels. The old industries were never able to occupy key positions as they had before the war. Instead, new directions and sectors began to emerge in the economy, industry and production. This made it possible to begin solving the food problem, attract investment to Britain, and create jobs.

The Second World War

1939–1945

The Second World War began as a classic clash between states. It was unleashed by two authoritarian states - Germany and Japan - for the sake of what Hitler called Lebensraum ( German living space). Most likely in Europe in the 1930s. It was impossible to prevent Hitler's invasion of Poland and Czechoslovakia, since no country on the continent was ready for an open, full-scale military confrontation with Germany, but a repeat of 1914, when the German army advanced both east and west, was difficult to explain. After the conquest of Norway and Denmark began in the spring of 1940 and the scope of Hitler's ambitions became clear, the British political scene cleared. In May 1940, the defeated Chamberlain resigned. He was replaced by the one who spent a whole decade warning how appeasement of Hitler might end. And he turned out to be right. In his first speech to Parliament, the new Prime Minister Churchill said: “I have nothing to offer [the British] except blood, toil, tears and sweat.”

German tank corps moved across Europe with unprecedented speed. On May 19, armored columns swept away French positions and rushed towards Paris. In northern France, the British Expeditionary Force, which had arrived eight months earlier, was ordered to retreat to Dunkirk. They had to be evacuated from the shore by hastily assembled Royal Navy ships. Renowned private “small vessels” also took part in the rescue operation. From May 27 to June 4, 338,000 people were evacuated, including 120,000 French. And only Hitler’s order to “give Dunkirk to the Luftwaffe” averted the catastrophe of mass captivity. The Allies had to abandon almost all their military equipment. The British army was completely defeated. However, as in many other British defeats, including the Crimean War and Gallipoli, the “spirit of Dunkirk” was presented by propaganda as a symbol of the triumph of British courage that could overcome any adversity.

At that time, Great Britain found itself alone. Hitler had already conquered Central Europe, Scandinavia, the Benelux countries and occupied half of France. The collaborationist regime of Marshal Pétain was established in the rest of France. Germany protected its flanks with agreements with the Soviet Union, Mediterranean countries and Spain. In the east, Hitler's ally Japan had already begun to implement its imperial expansionist plans. She soon inflicted a serious humiliation on the British Empire, occupying Hong Kong and Burma and threatening Singapore and India. The era of the indestructible British Empire is over. She was losing everything that Chatham, Pitt and Palmerston had carefully collected and carefully guarded. For the second time in thirty years, the threat of a naval blockade from Germany loomed over the country.

In response, Churchill made several speeches that are considered the greatest in English history. There was no false optimism or tired clichés in his speeches in the House of Commons and on the radio. He operated with facts and realities and called for people to take up arms. On June 4, 1940, after the Dunkirk operation, Churchill vowed: “We will defend our island at any cost. We will fight on our shores too. We will fight wherever the enemy is. We will fight in the fields and in the streets. We will fight in the mountains and on the hills. We will never give up." On 18 June he proclaimed: “Let us, then, gather our courage and do our duty so that even if the British Empire and Commonwealth lasted for another thousand years, people will not stop saying: “This was their best hour.”

As at the beginning of the First World War, the United States, despite Churchill's constant calls, stayed away from European conflicts. Washington stubbornly adhered to the policy of isolationism and appeasement of Germany. Hitler understood that if America entered the war, it would use the territory of Great Britain, his main enemy at that time, as a staging post for the initial deployment of its army. He needed to neutralize a possible American bridgehead. In the summer, German-occupied ports on the North Sea and English Channel coasts filled with troops and landing craft. Preparations were underway for an operation to invade the British Isles, codenamed “Sea Lion”. Contrary to the Joint Chiefs of Staff's fears in 1938, Britain's defenses were formidable. The ground forces numbered two million. Territorial local defense forces, the Home Guard, were created. There was the largest British fleet in the world, which was not yet deployed, based in the harbor of Scapa Flow. Any naval forces that Germany could throw at an invasion would be vulnerable to the might of the British air and naval forces, so the German Luftwaffe needed to disable British air defenses in the southeast.

What Churchill called the Battle of Britain was actually a battle for air supremacy between British fighters and escorted German bombers in July and October. From the ground, the planes circling Sussex and Kent looked like gladiators fighting in the Coliseum. Britain won the battle largely because German pilots fought far from their air bases. At the height of the fighting, for every British plane shot down, Germany paid with five of its own. Can it be argued that the air battle played a decisive role in preventing the invasion of the British Isles? The answer to this question is quite ambiguous, given that the British fleet had not yet been deployed. One way or another, in September, Hitler decided that he could not risk crossing the English Channel, and canceled Operation Sea Lion, just as Napoleon once abandoned the invasion of England after the Battle of Trafalgar. Like the French Emperor, the Führer concentrated his attention in the east, leaving England to his bombers. Paying tribute to the Royal Air Force, Churchill declared: “Never in the history of human wars has so great a number of men owed so much to so few.”

Massive bombing of British civilian targets, the so-called Blitz, began at the end of 1940. Probably, in this way Germany was taking revenge for the previous bombing of civilian targets in Berlin by the British Air Force. The mutual destruction of major European cities led to the creation of one of the most disgusting military strategies, according to which aerial terror against civilians could paralyze the will of the enemy. Britain bombed historic cities such as Lübeck and Rostock to “break the enemy’s morale.” In response, in the spring of 1942, Germany launched so-called "Baedeker" air raids on York, Exeter and Bath - non-military but picturesque cities chosen from Karl Baedeker's Guide to Great Britain. These raids were followed near the end of the war by attacks with V-1 and V-2 missiles, designed primarily to terrorize civilians. The Germans bombarded the south of England with missiles that had low accuracy and appeared suddenly, without announcing an air raid warning. Irreversible losses of cultural monuments, losses of entire cities, not to mention tens of thousands of dead civilians, could be considered insignificant from a military point of view. The concept behind such devastating bombings persisted until the end of the century and even into the early part of the new millennium, when it was revived in 2003 by George W. Bush during Operation Shock and Awe of the US and British invasion of Iraq.

Due to the air superiority of the RAF over the Luftwaffe, the Germans limited themselves to night raids. City residents learned to sleep in bomb shelters and subway stations, more than eighty of which were converted into dormitories with beds and primitive toilets. The oppressive atmosphere of these bomb shelters, illuminated by the gloomy light of night lamps, was conveyed in his drawings by Henry Moore. The radio played songs performed by “army sweetheart” Vera Lynn: “The White Cliffs of Dover”, “There’ll Always Be an England”, “A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square” (A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square). And, even if the “spirit of the blitz” that united the British was largely explained by propaganda, at that difficult time they were really united by the misfortunes and suffering that befell them, as well as curses addressed to the Nazis and their own government, and in equal measure. By refusing to leave London, King George and his wife Elizabeth became symbols of courage and resilience. Documentary footage captured the royal couple in bomb-damaged Buckingham Palace. There are also many images of the unbending Churchill, dressed in his signature overalls to confirm his words “London will stand”, working in the command center near Whitehall.

In the spring of 1941, the intensity of the bombing decreased, but this was perhaps the only good news at that time. German troops advanced south and east. In May 1941, they captured Crete, forcing the British garrison to flee to Egypt, where the British 8th Army was retreating under pressure from Rommel's Afrika Korps. The country was gripped by panic, and censorship was almost brought to the point of absurdity. There were posters everywhere warning that “careless conversations cost lives.” German submarines posed a real threat to food supplies, so a rationing system had to be introduced everywhere to distribute not only food, but also coal, clothing, paper and building materials. True, after a lobbying campaign by fish farmers, thanks to which trawlers were allowed to go to sea, there were no restrictions on fish and chips.

Officials desperately tried to take control of everything that fell under the austerity regime. Of course, they exposed themselves to everyone's ridicule. They spread slogans like “Make what you have and fix it,” created recipes using canned fish, carrot pie filling and eggless apple pie, and even tried to dictate the fashion for clothing under the Utility brand ( English practicality). Thus, women's dresses had to have a straight cut, a maximum of two pockets and five buttons. Ruffles on trousers were banned. Ankle-length socks replaced stockings. Now they were imitated by legs smeared with brown sauce, on which lines were drawn at the back with an eyebrow pencil to represent a seam. Men's suits were supposed to be single-breasted, without cuffs on the trousers. About 2,000 “British restaurants” opened, where for just nine pence you could get a full three-course meal. The radio broadcast a humorous program, “Here’s That Guy Again.” Its main satirical character was an official, whose remarks, for example, “I have come up with hundreds of unpleasant prohibitions, and I will impose them on you,” caused loud laughter from listeners. This official was that wartime character who was never demobilized.

In mid-1941, none of the Allied armies had a strong foothold on the continent. It became increasingly clear that Hitler would soon achieve absolute supremacy in continental Europe. Britain's ability to continue the war was in real doubt. In his diaries, Lord Alanbrooke, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, writes about the pressure that was put on him at that time. Heated arguments continued between him and Churchill. They shouted at each other and slammed their fists on the table. Churchill said of Alanbrooke: “He hates me. I see hatred in his eyes." In response, Alanbrook could say: “I hate him? I have no reason to hate him. I love him. But...” But they remained inseparable throughout almost the entire war. Their partnership combined two opposites - the intellectual Alanbrooke, who knew how to express his thoughts clearly and intelligibly, and the eloquent leader Churchill. However, they equally played a key role in the outcome of the war.

Churchill needed US help. He agreed with American President Franklin Roosevelt on Lend-Lease, a program of military supplies on loan terms. However, Congress took a wait-and-see approach and was not in the mood to send another rescue expedition to Europe. He insisted that Britain pay in full for supplies from the United States. But then Hitler made a decision that doomed him to defeat in the war. Seeking to seize the natural resources of Ukraine and the oil fields of Baku and burning with hatred of the communists, he tore up the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and declared war on the Soviet Union.

In June 1941, in accordance with the Barbarossa plan, he launched an invasion of the territory of the USSR. It was the largest military operation in world history. Troops numbering 4.5 million were deployed. By the end of the conflict, Germany had completely exhausted its resources. And in December 1941, Japan made an equally reckless decision, believing that the United States could interfere with its imperial plans to seize Southeast Asia. Intent on getting ahead of a potential rival, Japan bombed the American fleet at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Thus, the two leading powers of the Axis (the military bloc of Germany, Italy, Japan and other states) attacked the only two countries that could defeat them - Russia and the United States. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, one Japanese admiral said: “We won a great victory and because of it we lost the war.” America was furious, and President Roosevelt declared war on Japan, and Germany, in turn, on America. From that moment on, the outcome of the conflict was a foregone conclusion.

Incredibly fierce ground battles took place in northern Africa. Only in November 1942 did the hot-tempered and withdrawn British General Montgomery, having defeated Rommel, finally give Churchill the long-awaited victory. Thanks to massive artillery bombardment, numerical superiority, successful decryption of messages and air support, the British army won the Battle of El Alamein. The threat of losing Egypt was eliminated. In November, with the arrival of American troops in the Mediterranean, the Wehrmacht's Afrika Korps was forced to capitulate. For the first time since Japan captured Singapore and it became clear that the British Empire had lost part of its eastern colonies, Churchill breathed a sigh of relief. Victory in Africa meant “not even the beginning of the end, but perhaps the end of the beginning.” Now the Allies had good reason to think about invading the European continent, but they began to act only in July 1943. Allied forces landed in Sicily, and then fought long but successful battles in the mountains of Italy. By that time, the Soviet Union had defeated Hitler at Stalingrad, stopping the advance of the German army to the east.

The command of the Allied forces has already opened the account of victories over the Germans in the sky and at sea. The army owed much of its success to the latest advances in science, such as sound echolocator, radar and the electromechanical Bomba machine, which made it possible to crack the German Enigma codes. In the summer of 1944, after the capture of Rome, the Allies were determined to open a western front in France. Southern England turned into a gigantic transshipment base for troops, but due to endless delays and diversionary maneuvers, the landing was postponed. The fact is that it was necessary to disorient Wehrmacht reconnaissance regarding the landing site. Operation Overlord, which went down in history as the “longest day,” began on June 6, 1944. The largest amphibious landing force in military history, including 5,000 ships and 160,000 soldiers, arrived on the shores of Normandy. The Germans fought fierce rearguard battles, but were forced to retreat. They left France and organized a defense on the German border. A counteroffensive in the Belgian Ardennes in December 1945 caught the Allies by surprise and briefly boosted Wehrmacht morale. But Germany lost the Battle of the Bulge. The Allied armies were inexorably approaching Germany.

Soviet troops entered Berlin first. By that time, Hitler had committed suicide. On May 4, 1945, near the village of Wendisch Efern, south of Lüneburg, the surviving German generals surrendered to Montgomery. The war in Europe is over. Four days later, Great Britain was already celebrating Victory in Europe Day. Churches and pubs were crowded. The rationing of fabric consumption for flags has been abolished. The royal family appeared continuously on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, and Churchill appeared in Whitehall to the accompaniment of “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow” performed by the Labor coalition minister Ernest Bevin. Past disagreements were forgotten, and I didn’t even want to think about future ones. Everyone was filled with a feeling of incredible relief.

It took another three months to defeat Japan in the Far East. The British army and British colonial troops recruited from Gurkhas (Nepalese volunteers) had been fighting there for a year already. They tried to drive the Japanese out of the jungles of Burma. But final victory was achieved only after atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9.

By that time, the war had devastated half the planet, claiming the lives of 20 million soldiers and 40 million civilians. This war became the deadliest and most massive in human history. Information was soon made public about German concentration camps where Jews and other minorities were held. The world shook. No less horrified was the revelation of the truth about the Soviet Gulag and the stories of British prisoners in Japanese camps. During this period, some historians, not least Churchill himself, argued that Britain stood alone against Germany's military might. In fact, this was true only in 1941–1942, when there were not so many battles. At the Yalta Conference, which took place in February 1945, the world was already divided by Roosevelt and Stalin. The empires of Germany, France and Italy lay in ruins. The United States was determined to destroy the British Empire as well. This is how ungrateful the child turned out to be towards his parent. America believed that it was European imperialism that was responsible for two of the greatest cataclysms of the 20th century. The time has come for the collapse of empires, or at least the empires of the old formation.

Compared to the total number of victims of the war, it can be said that Great Britain escaped with relatively little blood. It lost 375,000 troops in battle, almost half as many as in the First World War. 60,000 civilians died in air raids. UK losses amounted to 2% of the world total. Compared to the 65% that falls to the Soviet Union, this figure is negligible. Nevertheless, the war caused great damage to the country and caused much suffering. The scale of the bombing was enormous, the war came much closer to the homes of civilians than in 1914. The government received unlimited powers and introduced conscription and a rationing system, from which the entire population suffered. Careers collapsed, families broke up, and the usual way of life fell apart. With the exception of combat, women, equally with men, bore the brunt of the hardships that befell the country.

During the war, the nation united. The word "Britain" finally began to be used much more often than the word "England". The victory came at a high price, and it would take a long time to pay for it. The empire could no longer be defended. The British had to re-win their personal rights and freedoms, wrest them from the hands of zealous servants of the state. The latter, in turn, were absolutely sure that only thanks to them and the order they established, it was possible to win this war. Now the fight was over who would be the winner in peacetime.

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Great Britain took part in the Second World War from September 1, 1939 to September 2, 1945, i.e. practically from the first to the last day. Although the country avoided domestic war and occupation, its involvement in the conflict ultimately deprived it of its superpower status.

After victory in the First World War, the British Empire was in fact the strongest European and world power. Its colonial interests spread throughout the world. To maintain its position, Great Britain alternately helped various continental countries, maintaining their parity among themselves. However, the Nazis' rise to power in Germany destroyed the orderly system of British foreign policy.

In the second half of the 30s of the 20th century, Great Britain actively made concessions to Germany, believing that the Germans could serve as a counterweight to the ever-increasing “Soviet threat” while remaining controlled by the Western allies. The result of this policy was the signing of the Munich Agreement of 1938, which concerned the transfer of the Sudetenland to Germany by Czechoslovakia. However, Hitler was already playing his games and was not limited to the Sudetenland. In March 1939, he divided and captured Czechoslovakia, and in August of the same year, a Non-Aggression Treaty was signed between Germany and the USSR. Great Britain was rapidly losing control of the situation. On September 3, 1939, after the attack on Poland, Great Britain declared war on Germany. In many ways, the declaration of war was made under pressure from the United States, which demanded that Britain fulfill the promised agreements.

Britain's power was built on a powerful navy; in wars on the continent, it was accustomed to relying on allies with a land army. By the beginning of the war, British troops numbered about 900 thousand people without taking into account the colonies, or 1260 thousand with colonial troops. In the metropolis there were 9 regular divisions, 16 territorial, 6 infantry, 2 cavalry and 9 tank brigades. The Anglo-Indian army of 7 regular divisions and a large number of separate brigades served as a strategic reserve.

Since 1938, special attention has been paid to the development of aviation, which should solve the problems of defending the island from the air. In just over a year, the number of squadrons was increased to 78. The number of combat aircraft was 1,456 units, of which 536 were bombers. For the most part these were new and modern cars. The basis of the navy was made up of battleships from the First World War, as well as more modern battleships of later designs. However, the new war was shown from the position of the main striking force of the fleet. In addition to battleships, Great Britain had a significant aircraft-carrying fleet.

During World War II, Britain took part in battles on many fronts of the war:

Strange War- indecisive actions of the Anglo-French troops against Nazi Germany during the capture of Poland.
Battle of the Atlantic- protecting its international trade and supporting the import of necessary resources.
Battle for Scandinavia- defeat of the allied forces during the capture of Denmark and Norway by Germany.
- heavy defeat of the Anglo-French forces in 1940 in France.
Battle of Britain- an air battle during the defense of the island, when the British managed to prevent the landing of German troops in Britain.
War in the Middle East- protection of their possessions in Africa and the Mediterranean Sea.
Battle of the Indian Ocean- protection from the Japanese invasion, in this region the British fleet suffered serious losses.
Landing of Anglo-American troops in Italy.
Liberation of France- the long-awaited second front.

Results of World War II for Great Britain turned out to be ambiguous. On the one hand, the independence of the country was preserved and victory over the enemy was actually achieved. On the other hand, Britain lost its status as a superpower in favor of a growing one. The country's economy suffered huge losses due to the loss of trade markets. Most of the colonies gained independence, although many of them retained ties with the Center. It was only in 1948 that production was restored to pre-war levels. A card system was introduced within the country, which remained in place until 1953. However, the development of high-tech production has allowed the country to regain some positions in the world.

British military historiography often likes to remind us that the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 1939 actually gave the German military machine a free hand. At the same time, the Munich Agreement, signed by England together with France, Italy and Germany a year earlier, is being ignored in Foggy Albion. The result of this conspiracy was the division of Czechoslovakia, which, according to many researchers, was the prelude to World War II.
On September 30, 1938, in Munich, Great Britain and Germany signed another agreement - a declaration of mutual non-aggression, which was the culmination of the British “policy of appeasement.” Hitler quite easily managed to convince British Prime Minister Arthur Chamberlain that the Munich agreements would be a guarantee of security in Europe.
Historians believe that Britain had high hopes for diplomacy, with the help of which it hoped to rebuild the Versailles system in crisis, although already in 1938 many politicians warned the peacemakers: “Concessions to Germany will only embolden the aggressor!”
Chamberlain, returning to London, said at the plane's steps: “I brought peace to our generation) to which Winston Churchill, then a parliamentarian, prophetically remarked: “England was offered a choice between war and dishonor. She chose dishonor and will get war.”

"Strange War"

On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. On the same day, Chamberlain's government sent a note of protest to Berlin, and on September 3, Great Britain, as the guarantor of Poland's independence, declared war on Germany. Over the next ten days, the entire British Commonwealth will join it.
By mid-October, the British transported four divisions to the continent and took up positions along the Franco-Belgian border. However, the section between the cities of Mold and Bayel, which is a continuation of the Maginot Line, was located far from the epicenter of hostilities. Here the Allies created more than 40 airfields, but instead of bombing German positions, British aviation began scattering propaganda leaflets appealing to the morality of the Germans.
In the following months, six more British divisions arrived in France, but neither the British nor the French were in a hurry to take active action. This is how the “strange war” was waged. Chief of the British General Staff Edmund Ironside described the situation as follows: “Passive waiting with all the worries and anxieties that follow from this.”
French writer Roland Dorgeles recalled how the Allies calmly watched the movement of German ammunition trains: “Obviously, the main concern of the high command was not to disturb the enemy.”
Historians have no doubt that the “Phantom War” is explained by the wait-and-see attitude of the Allies. Both Great Britain and France had to understand where German aggression would turn after the capture of Poland. It is possible that if the Wehrmacht had immediately launched an invasion of the USSR after the Polish campaign, the Allies could have supported Hitler.

Miracle at Dunkirk

On May 10, 1940, according to Plan Gelb, Germany launched an invasion of Holland, Belgium and France. The political games are over. Churchill, who took office as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, soberly assessed the enemy’s forces. As soon as German troops took control of Boulogne and Calais, he decided to evacuate parts of the British Expeditionary Force that were trapped in the pocket at Dunkirk, and with them the remnants of the French and Belgian divisions. 693 British and about 250 French ships under the command of English Rear Admiral Bertram Ramsay planned to transport about 350,000 coalition troops across the English Channel.
Military experts had little faith in the success of the operation under the sonorous name “Dynamo”. The advance detachment of the 19th Panzer Corps under the command of Colonel General of the German troops Heinz Guderian was located a few kilometers from Dunkirk and, if desired, could easily defeat the demoralized allies. But a miracle happened: 337,131 soldiers, most of whom were British, reached the opposite bank almost without interference. Hitler unexpectedly stopped the advance of the German troops. Guderian called this decision a political one. Historians differ in their assessment of this episode of the war. Some believe that the Fuhrer wanted to save his strength, but others are confident in a secret agreement between the British and German governments.
One way or another, after the Dunkirk disaster, Britain remained the only country that avoided complete defeat and was able to resist the seemingly invincible German machine. On June 10, 1940, England's position became threatening when fascist Italy entered the war on the side of Nazi Germany.

Battle of Britain

Germany's plans to force Great Britain to surrender have not been canceled. In July 1940, British coastal convoys and naval bases were subjected to massive bombing by the German Air Force. In August, the Luftwaffe switched to airfields and aircraft factories.
On August 24, German aircraft carried out their first bombing attack on central London. According to some, this is wrong. The retaliatory attack was not long in coming. A day later, 81 RAF bombers flew to Berlin. No more than a dozen reached the target, but this was enough to infuriate Hitler. At a meeting of the German command in Holland, it was decided to unleash the full power of the Luftwaffe on the British Isles.
Within weeks, the skies over British cities turned into a boiling cauldron. Birmingham, Liverpool, Bristol, Cardiff Coventry, Belfast got it. During the whole of August, at least a thousand British citizens died. However, from mid-September the intensity of the bombing began to decrease due to the effective counteraction of British fighter aircraft.
The Battle of Britain is better characterized by numbers. In total, 2,913 British Air Force aircraft and 4,549 Luftwaffe aircraft were involved in air battles. Historians estimate the losses of both sides at 1,547 Royal Air Force fighters and 1,887 German aircraft shot down.

Lady of the Seas

It is known that after the successful bombing of England, Hitler intended to launch Operation Sea Lion to invade the British Isles. However, the desired air superiority was not achieved. In turn, the Reich military command was skeptical about the landing operation. According to German generals, the strength of the German army lay precisely on land, and not at sea.
Military experts were confident that Britain's ground army was no stronger than the broken armed forces of France, and Germany had every chance of overpowering the United Kingdom's forces in a ground operation. The English military historian Liddell Hart noted that England was able to hold out only due to the water barrier.
In Berlin they realized that the German fleet was noticeably inferior to the English. For example, by the beginning of the war, the British Navy had seven operational aircraft carriers and six more on the slipway, while Germany was unable to equip at least one of its aircraft carriers; in the sea, the presence of carrier-based aircraft could predetermine the outcome of any battle.
The German submarine fleet was only able to inflict serious damage on British merchant ships. However, having sunk 783 German submarines with US support, the British Navy won the Battle of the Atlantic. Until February 1942, the Fuhrer hoped to conquer England from the sea, until the commander of the Kriegsmarine (German Navy), Admiral Erich Raeder, finally convinced him to abandon this idea.

Colonial interests

At the beginning of 1939, the British Chiefs of Staff Committee recognized the defense of Egypt with its Suez Canal as one of the most important strategic tasks. Hence the special attention of the armed forces of the Kingdom to the Mediterranean theater of military operations.
Unfortunately, the British had to fight not at sea, but in the desert. May-June 1942 turned out for England, according to historians, as a “shameful defeat” near Tobruk from Erwin Rommel’s Afrika Korps. And this despite the British having twice the superiority in strength and technology!
The British were able to turn the tide of the North African campaign only in October 1942 at the Battle of El Alamein. Again having a significant advantage (for example, in aviation 1200:120), the British Expeditionary Force of General Montgomery managed to defeat a group of 4 German and 8 Italian divisions under the command of Rommel.
Churchill remarked about this battle: “Before El Alamein we did not win a single victory. We haven't suffered a single defeat since El Alamein." By May 1943, British and American troops forced the 250,000-strong Italian-German force in Tunisia to capitulate, which opened the way for the Allies to Italy. In North Africa, the British lost about 220 thousand soldiers and officers.

And again Europe

On June 6, 1944, with the opening of the Second Front, British troops had the opportunity to rehabilitate themselves for their shameful flight from the continent four years earlier. The overall leadership of the allied ground forces was entrusted to the experienced Montgomery. By the end of August, the total superiority of the Allies had crushed German resistance in France.
Events unfolded in a different vein in December 1944 near the Ardennes, when a German armored group literally pushed through the lines of American troops. In the Ardennes meat grinder, the US Army lost over 19 thousand soldiers, the British - no more than two hundred.
This ratio of losses led to disagreements in the Allied camp. American generals Bradley and Patton threatened to resign if Montgomery did not leave leadership of the army. Montgomery's self-confident statement at a press conference on January 7, 1945, that it was British troops who saved the Americans from the prospect of encirclement, jeopardized the further joint operation. Only thanks to the intervention of the commander in chief of the allied forces, Dwight Eisenhower, was the conflict resolved.
By the end of 1944, the Soviet Union had liberated large parts of the Balkan Peninsula, which caused serious concern in Britain. Churchill, who did not want to lose control over the important Mediterranean region, proposed to Stalin a division of the sphere of influence, as a result of which Moscow got Romania, London - Greece.
In fact, with the tacit consent of the USSR and the USA, Great Britain suppressed the resistance of the Greek communist forces and on January 11, 1945, established complete control over Attica. It was then that a new enemy clearly loomed on the horizon of British foreign policy. “In my eyes, the Soviet threat had already replaced the Nazi enemy,” Churchill recalled in his memoirs.
According to the 12-volume History of the Second World War, Great Britain and its colonies lost 450,000 people in World War II. Britain's expenses for waging the war amounted to more than half of foreign investment, and the Kingdom's external debt reached 3 billion pounds sterling by the end of the war. The UK paid off all its debts only by 2006.

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