Great Britain World War 2 and Cold War Essay

Great Britain involvement in WW2 was an immediate response to Germany’s expansionist ideas. Great Britain one of the wealthiest countries in that time, looked at Germany as a country scared of another war and a weak one also, Great Britain let Germany not to follow what the treaty of Versailles said. They also under estimated the German state, some examples of this:

• Germany increased their army
• They militarized the Rhineland
• Annexation of Austria
• Annexation of the Sudetenland

On September 29, 1938 Germany, Italy, Great Britain, and France sign the Munich agreement which forces the Czechoslovak Republic to cede the Sudetenland, this with the promise that they would stop their expansionism and Germany agreed. Only one year needed to pass and Germany broke the promise given to the English state and invaded Poland. Two days after this the British and the French declared war on the Germans. Not a single year passed and the Germans where controlling almost all of central Europe.

Great Britain supported the French who had almost lost all of their territory by June of 1940. On September of the same year the Germans launched an attack against the Germans, it consisted on bombing London and England’s most important cities. The German failed but they made serious damage in Great Britain.
The British where also fighting against the Italians on northern Africa, this wars where tough and they got even harder when the Germans got there and helped the Italians.

In 1941, the U.S.A started giving support to the Great Britain with arms and ammunition because of the Lend-Lease Act, also in this year after the Pearl-Harbor incident USA enters declaring war to Germany. In 1942, Roosevelt and Churchill establish a combined chiefs staff and defeat Germany's first priority. This year also Gral. Bernard Montgomery takes command of Eighth Army in North Africa.
In 1943, the Casablanca conference was made up by W. Churchill and J. Roosevelt, during the conference Roosevelt announces that war can end only with the surrender of Germany. At the ends of this years Winston, John, and Joseph had a conference at Teheran.
On June 6 of 1944, American, British and Canadian forces invaded Normandy in one of the biggest invasions ever. This was called the D-day. Later that same year, in June 12 and also on September 8, the Germans started a missile attack against the British. This didn’t stop them and later they invade Greece. It won’t be until march 27 that the missile attack of Germans, called the v-2, ends. The war started ending on April when Mussolini was executed and Hitler die but it won’t be until the VE-day that japan surrender that the war will be officially over.

Great Britain, as well as many European countries suffered from the destruction of World War 2. This being in the country itself and economically. A new government was introduced, the Attlee government. With thoughts of peace and some socialist ideas it led for a short period of time. As the country was facing bankrupt, there were some food shortages. Potatoes, which was one of the foods that was granted for sure also suffered from shortages, which led to it being rationed as well as most of the food. This led to Great Britain receiving aid from the Marshall Plan. The USA gave funds to European countries to reconstruct.

The new government which had some socialist ideas, but were not extremist as in other countries; came up with some state benefits for its people, including aid for the sickness, unemployment, people with old age who could not work anymore, and med care. The government nationalized the National Bank and coalmines as well, which was accepted by the people without problems.

At the end of the war, the USA, France, Great Britain and the USSR divided Germany. This was to prevent another outbreak of the war, but little did they know that this would bring another world conflict between capitalism and communism. This had outbreaks in other countries, which had Great Britain involve. The Malayan conflict in 1948 broke. In this conflict Communist guerillas wanted to get rid of the British in their territories. A 12-year struggle continued, with Great Britain being victorious.

Great Britain joined NATO in 1949 along with many other countries to be protected against communism. Another conflict in which Great Britain was involved was the Korean War. Korea was independent after the war, but the conflict arose when the North Koreans invaded 90% of the South Koreans. These actions made the UN condemn North Korea and asked for countries to avoid giving any aid to them, instead they helped South Korea. Great Britain was not as involved as the US was. The US sent a whole army, while the British only sent a division.

Having these conflicts, as well as the problem in Germany, with the problems with communism and capitalism forced Britain to put a conscription in the population at the age of 18. Conscription is an obligatory time in military service. This was made to have manpower to be successful in the conflicts that came, as well as have the territory in Germany protected. There were some territorial changes in the British territory, as some countries like India, Pakistan, Burma and Sri Lanka became independent.

Having issues like these, and men going to the army Britain needed more labor workers. They sent invitations to Jamaica. With this invitations, people in Jamaica could go to work and have an opportunity in life in Great Britain, with a cheap fee so that they could be transported. This way, the British would not have any more labor problems and the industry could work faster.

This was the beginning of the Cold War, few of the conflicts were just arising. Even though Great Britain was not a big participant in the Cold War as the US and USSR were; it still had its conflicts to solve, and some more would arise later on.

Bibliography:

"Malaya 1." Britains Small Wars. Web. 14 Apr. 2011. .

"World War II in Britain." World War II History Library. Web. 15 Apr. 2011. .

"HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN (from 1707)." HistoryWorld - History and Timelines. Web. 14 Apr. 2011. .

"Korean War 1950-1953 - MyFundi." Main Page - MyFundi. Web. 14 Apr. 2011. .