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The Opposition of the Continental Commitments in the 1920’s Essay

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The Opposition of the Continental Commitments in the 1920’s In the aftermath of WW1, the focal issue facing Britain was without a doubt the question of recovery and recuperation. The war had been an economic and social disaster for Britain due to the collapse of the world export trade which resulted in considerable debt and hence financial instability. This meant that Britain would have to concentrate all of its efforts and resources into achieving social and economic revitalization. It was subsequently felt that committing to any continental agreements would undermine this goal. A continental commitment can be described as a commitment to maintaining the peace of the continent by greater …show more content…

The empire, by the late 1920’s received two-thirds of overseas British investments and fifty percent of trade. British interests were truly global, and meant that the empire was almost impossible to adequately defend without sufficient military or economic strength. The simple fact alone of Britain’s utter incapacity to guard its own land gave strong reason for Britain to oppose any continental commitments that would only further diminish British resources in a time where they needed them more for recovery than to ensure no future wars ensued. Since Britain had become a debtor nation following the end of the war it was clear that the only way to cope in the face of the economic reality was to cut military expenditure. Less than one tenth of the army remained by 1920, which was largely responsible by the eradication of conscription. Seventy five percent of the mere 300,000 remaining army was devoted to the empire. The army was reduced to a small force obligated to the maintaining of home security and to policing the newly formed empire. Military spending was reduced from £692 million to £115 million within 2 years and did not rise again until 1935. Retrenchment meant that military commitments were simply too costly to consider. Retrenchment was justified by the employment of the Ten-Year rule

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