After the exhausting efforts required in WWI the United States and Great Britain were war weary. This war weariness affected the political climate and manifested through extreme budget reductions in military expenditures. Military institutions of both countries continued training and sought to prepare for the Second World War. The contrast between the preparation of the navies of the United States and Great Britain represent a remarkable dichotomy of the interwar period; with the US a model of innovation and Great Britain remarkably complacent. The reasons why can be explained in how the two countries saw the threat after World War One, their assessment where the potential naval conflict would arise and what capabilities their own navy would need to be successful in the next war. During the Interwar period between WWI and WWII Britain and US took separate paths to prepare their navies for future conflicts. The British were complacent and the US was keen to prepare. Initial causes came from how the two countries evaluated the threat after World War One. Great Britain saw no single nation’s navy as their rival in contrast to the United States who assessed that Japan would be their foe in the next war. At the end of WWI Germany had scuttled its active ships. The Treaty of Versailles had further restricted Germany’s ability to build more ships and man them to such an extent the characterization at the time was that Germany had been destroyed as a sea power. British Naval planners saw the threat posed by the Germany Navy to be relegated to a coastal defense navy, which would not be able to challenge the supremacy of British Navy on the high seas. The Treaty of Versailles and later the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 gave Great Britai... ... middle of paper ... ...d serves as an example of what not to do and what to do. The British seemed to rest on their laurels of being the best navy at the end of world war one. Without an assessed adversary, an understanding of where the next naval conflict would take place and what capabilities the navy would need to be successful, innovation languished and the navy was unprepared when war began again in 1939. The United States however was able to identify who the possible threat was, were the navy would have to fight and was able to develop the capabilities to engage and defeat the threat. Works Cited Kuehn, John T. Perspectives from Great Britain, Japan, and Germany H204RA Millett, Allan R. “Patterns of Military Innovation.” Military Innovation in the Interwar Period Murray, Williamson R. (1998-08-13). Military Innovation in the Interwar Period (p. 242). Cambridge University Press
Admiral Stark’s strategic assessment and recommendations in the “Plan Dog” memorandum set the stage for Allied Coalition military strategy in Europe. He did this by presenting an operational assessment between conducting war alone or with allies. In his memorandum, he presented four courses of action for entry into the war and one reclama that predominantly supports Great Britain without entry into WWII. He also identifies different uses of national power instruments to maintain United States interest in the western hemisphere and discusses how United States strategy includes efforts to prevent the disruption of the British Empire.
The Trident Submarine houses twenty-four nuclear warheads with each having a range of 4,600 miles over land. If a nuclear war were to break out between the Soviet Union and the United States, virtually every major city could be destroyed in a matter of hours. The origin of these major players in modern day warfare lies in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars.
Weigley, Russel F. History of the United States Army. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1st Edition, 1984.
One of the main causes of the war was Great Britains's continued practice of impressment. The ocean was a common and affective way to transport good in order to trade with other nations. Every country has the right to use the ocean; but because Britain was causing America's rights to be restricted by capturing American ships and enslaving their seamen, it caused many problems between the two countries. Document 1 is a congressional report that describes Britain's violations of our right " to use the ocean, which is the common and scknowledged highway of nations, for the purposes of transporting, in their own vessels , the products of their own soil and the acquisitions of their own industry." The report calls Britain's impressment and seizure of ships is a
Cameron, R. S. (2003). The army vision: The 4th AD in world war II. Military Review, 83(6), 59-68
As time passed, however, Britain’s standing a Great Power quickly diminished. Despite this, British possession of nuclear weapons, United Nations Security Council membership, access to political an...
O'Neill, William L. World War II: A Student Companion. New York: Oxford UP, 1999. Print.
"Science & Technology in World War I." Shmoop: Study Guides & Teacher Resources. Web. 04 Feb. 2010. .
Rather he focuses on the logistics of warfare through the innovations in gunfire, cannon manufacturing and operation, and defensive warfare. Moreover, Parker does not attempt to use his position and research to criticise other scholars position on the military revolution. He simply agrees with Michael Roberts definition and attempts to contribute his principles of innovation as a means to strengthen Roberts
Field, Frank. British and French Operations of the First World War. Cambridge (England); New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
Warfare was in a state of transition. Older commanders and generals in the French and British militaries were very cavalry and infantry focused. These commanders believed that cavalry, infantry, and artillery would assure victory in any circumstance, against any foe. They clung to the static tactics of the bygone World War I era. World War I had been fought primarily on French soil, and the military as well as the government never wanted that to happen again, therefore they wanted to reinforce their main border against any future German. Little did they know that only twenty two years later they would be bested by German forces in a way that would shock the world. This research will be analyzing many important assumptions, oversights,...
Britain had to preserve its lines of commerce and supply in the Atlantic Ocean in order to survive the war. Germany recognized that disrupting Britain’s lifeline of ship convoys would provide an immediate and distinct advantage in the war. In just the first three months of 1941, Hitler’s surface naval fleet sunk or captured 37 British ships totaling 187,662 tons. The German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau together sunk twenty-two ships and 115,622 tons of ships and cargo while operating in the Atlantic. These numbers proved the effectiveness of the German strategy and led the British to disperse their battle fleet. In order to completely cripple Britain and achieve dominance in the Atlantic, Germany employed the one of the largest and deadliest battleship in history, the Bismarck. It was 823 feet in length, over 50,000 tons in weight, and could travel at a speed of 30.8 knots. Great engineering went into her underwater protectio...
WWII has a ripple effect across the globe causing changes both internationally and domestically. Internationally, The sun finally began to set over the British Empire with the majority of her majesties colonial possessions gaining independence in the years following the war. Britain’s stage left exit from its hegemonic role resulted in the start of a new “Great Game” between two burgeoning superpowers. A new world order began to take shape with the United States and USSR vying to establish their own hegemony.
The supreme present of militarism, "a policy of aggressive military preparedness" , in this period of time gave all countries great reason to feel the heavy weight of an oncoming war. Great Britain's naval policy (to always be twice as big as the next two largest navies put together), along with the predominate feeling of war provided countries with a strong reason to try and create an incredibly strong military force. This led to an arms race, which made the impending war seem inevitable. The military planning in some countries also caused an increased fear of war. Since military machines were being developed, each country was appointing a general staff of experts. The greatest problem with this was that there was a fear that "some chief of staff, in order to maintain the schedule on his 'timetable', might force an order of mobilization and thus precipitate war." These two factors also led, in part, to the alliance system. If two or more countries are allied with each other then they have a better chance of defeating their common enemy if war is declared.
Leigh-Pippard, H. (1995) Congress and US Military Aid to Britain: Interdependence and Dependence, 1949-56. 1st Edition. Basingstoke: Macmillan.