Why Great Britain had to go to War in 1939

There was no other option for Great Britain, but to go to war in 1939. If they hadn't gone to war in 1939, I believe the war would have been over within a few months. After joining the war, Great Britain along with France were surrounded early in the war and had to evacuate at Dunkirk in early June 1940. By the 22^nd of June 1940 France had surrendered to Germany. If Britain wasn't involved in the war by 1940, I believe it would have most likely ended soon after France's surrender. However, because the British were involved in the war, Hitler had to still concentrate most of his forces on the Western Front and Britain. Without Britain in the war, the Germans could have concentrated on the East, attacking Russia much earlier then they did on June 22^nd 1941. This would have been devastating because there is no way the Russians would have been prepared to defend their country in 1940. Germany would have most likely annihilated the Russians if they would have been able to attack a year earlier. Without the British involvement, the war would have most likely ended quickly. However, even though the British involvement in the war most likely helped the allies win; there were still several pros and cons to entering the war in 1939. I determined the British would have joined the war in 1943 because that is when the war saw the first American soldiers in Europe. I am sure that once the British saw the Americans were joining the war, if they decided to stay out of the war, they would have entered when the Americans entered the war too.

One pro was the British supplied the allies with a superior navy in both size and experience. In September 1939, the British Royal Navy included 15 battleships and battle cruisers, 7 aircraft carriers, 66 cruisers, 184 destroyers, 60 submarines, 45 escort and patrol vehicles, along with 200,000 officers and shipmen (www.naval-history.net). The royal navy helped defend the seas from the German U-boats and the navy from attacking civilian ships and cargo ships. They also would eventually blockade the German ports. They also played a vital role in the saving of thousands of lives during the war. The Royal Navy helped evacuate soldiers at Dunkirk and Crete. Without the Royal Navy to help support it, the allies would have been severely set back. It wasn't necessarily that the Germans navy was the second most powerful navy and only the Royal Navy could stop it (in fact, the German navy was small in size when compared to the navies of the allies), but the Royal Navy's support was a tremendous help to the allies.

Another pro, the British also supplied the allies with skilled soldiers to fight the war on land. While the other nations that made up the allies had large armies, most were drafted, unskilled soldiers. The British army was filled, in the beginning of the war, with soldiers that had fought before, and were very skilled when compared to other nations. The British army fought basically throughout the whole war. When France was occupied by the Germans, it was the British soldiers that came in and helped to knock back the German forces. When Erwin Rommel and the Germans launched an offensive in North Africa, it was the British army that was sent to fight. The only two fronts that the British army didn't fight on was the Eastern front.

The rise of the Britain's economy was another positive thing that came out of Britain joining the war in 1939. The great depression in England had just ended eight years earlier, in 1931. There is no better way to boost an economy then to go to war. When countries go to war, they have to produce war products. Ammunitions, tanks, airplanes and a multitude of other products have to be made to help support the soldiers during a war. With a new demand for war products, unemployment falls because more jobs open in factories. Another reason unemployment will fall during war is, when soldiers go to war they leave their jobs at home. Those jobs have to be filled by someone. During war those jobs are filled by women, younger boys and older men. I couldn't really say that without Britain joining the war in 1939 that they would have never recovered from the depression, but the war defiantly helped the British people recover from the depression.

However, the biggest pro of the British involvement in the war was the eventual victory by the allies. During one point of the war the British were fighting the axis power all by themselves. After the fall of France in June 1940, the British were alone in the war. The Americans had not yet joined, and Hitler had not yet ordered the Germans to attack the Russians. Without the British involvement in the war, it would have ended rather quickly. Hitler would have turned his forces on Russia sooner, most likely pulverizing the unprepared Russian army and its people. The British kept the Germans preoccupied and eventually helped retake France from the Germans.

Still, with all the pros of the British joining the war in 1939, there were also multiple cons of joining the war in 1939. Some cons included the extra number of deaths that occurred because of the extra 2 years in the war. The biggest amount of deaths was civilian during those two years. Another con was the bombings the British had to endure during the Night Blitz. The Night Blitz lasted from September 1940 to July 1941. One more con from entering the war an extra two years earlier was the extra money they had to spend on those two years.

The Night Blitz had a big impact on the British and their citizens. During the ten months of the Night Blitz, 41,987 civilians died in British bombings (John Ray). Night after night, the British people had to withstand tons of bombs being dropped on their cities. 18,291 tonnages of He bombs were dropped on London alone (John Ray). 30,098 tonnages of He bombs were dropped on over sixteen British cities (John Ray). London alone had to somehow survive 71 major attacks from German bombers (John Ray). Some British cities were almost completely destroyed because of the German bombs. These bombings could have been avoided provided the British never entered the war in 1939. If the British would have entered the war later, they could have avoided the almost 42,000 civilians that died. Another benefit of the British joining the war in 1943 was the extra amount of technology they would have had in 1943 when compared to 1940. In 1940 the number of British airplanes in the Royal Air Force was much smaller then it was in 1943. The British had a small number of anti-aircraft guns in 1940 (John Ray). According to John Ray, in the mid-1940 the suggested figures of weapons needed for home defense were 3,744 heavy guns and 4,410 light guns, yet on September 11 the whole Command could call on only 1,313 heavy guns,(John Ray). The British Hurricane and Spitfire airplanes were also designed and perfected by 1943 (John Ray). The British also perfected the radar and were learned how to use it while flying in the daytime and nighttime by 1943 (John Ray). Had the British joined the war in 1943, and the German bombers attacked them, they would have been much more prepared. They could have prevented their cities from being almost destroyed. The British could have missed out on the Night Blitz altogether if only they would have gone to the war in 1941. The Night Blitz was defiantly the worst effect that came from the British joining the war in 1939. The Night Blitz left effects throughout Britain that could be felt for years to follow. It cost millions to rebuild the cities that were destroyed and there was no way to recuperate the lives that were lost as a result of the bombs that fell on British cities.

Rationing of foods and goods, along with all the extra amount of work needed to be done was another con that occurred because the British were involved in World War II in 1939. Rationings began in 1939 with Petrol. Other rationings were as followed: meat (March 1940), jams and margarine (March 1941), biscuits (August 1942), Fish, tea, cereals and cheese (May 1941), eggs (June 1941), milk and tinned tomatoes (February 1942), peas (February 1942), dried fruit (January 1942), Rice (January 1942), Bacon (1940), butter and sugar (1940), clothes (1941), coal (July 1941), soap (February 1942), and chocolate (July 1942) (Amy Nelson). The effects of rationing were eventually seen all over England. People couldn't drive their cars because the gas went to troops in the war. Clothes were rationed down to a small allowance per year, per person. Citizens were allowed one pair of shoes per year, and were told to make do and mend their clothes as much as possible (Amy Nelson). People lost weight and were forced to continue to work more hours a day on a smaller diet. Tuberculosis cases rose all over the country because of the rations (John Pemberton). The effects of the extra hours of work could be seen too. The British government asked its citizens to work more hours in a day, often twelve hours a day (John Ray). They were asked to work on Saturdays too (John Ray). People were forced to work extra hours on the smaller diets they were also forced to deal with. The food rations and hours of work forced on the British could have been less harmful, had they went to war in 1943. Food rations might have been avoided altogether if the British knew they were eventually going to have to join the war, or planned on doing so in 1943. The British government and its citizens could have began to store extra food and goods in 1939 to make sure they had enough for when they went to war in 1943. They could have worked an extra hour or two in 1939, to begin to prepare for war in 1943. The problems that arose from rationings and the extra amount of work could have been less problematic if Britain joined the war in 1943.

Another con of the British joining the war four years earlier in 1939 was the large amount of money the British wasted in military funding. The percentage of government spending on the military rose every year until 1941. In 1939, the percentage of spending on the military was 15% (Sidney Pollard). In 1940, the number rose dramatically to 44% as the war saw actual fighting (Sidney Pollard). 1941 saw the highest percentage or 54% of the government's money went toward the war (Sidney Pollard). In 1942, the percentage dipped a little bit to 52% (Sidney Pollard). Had the British went to war in 1943, they could have spent a lot less on the war. If they knew they would have had to eventually go to war, they could have saved some money and maybe the percentage the government had to spend on the war would have been less because they would have had more saved. Another problem that dealt with the economy because of entering the war earlier was the cost of living rose. In 1939, the cost of living in England was 104 pounds (Sidney Pollard). By 1941 the cost of living had rose 26 pounds to 130 (Sidney Pollard). The war was causing the cost of living to rise in England. Things cost more to produce. Farmers had to raise their prices because it cost more to fuel their machines, buy seeds to grow and produce the products. The cost of almost everything in England rose because of the war. This could have been avoided if Britain had joined the war later then they did in 1939. Products could have been saved up and stock piled to keep prices down when Britain decided they would enter the war.

The last con of the British in war by 1939 was the extra amount of soldier deaths that occurred. Although it is hard to find actual statistics by year for the amount of deaths caused by the war, an average can be created. The final statistic for the number of soldiers that died during the war is 357,116 (World-War-2.info). Actual fighting began in 1940. We can develop an average of 59,519 soldiers died in a given year. That means in 1940, 1941 and 1942 (the three years the British could have not been in the war), a total of 178,558 soldiers could have been saved. That means if the British held out of the war until 1943, they could have saved about 50% of the soldiers that died during the entire war. That is a tremendous amount of lives that could have saved if the British decided to join the war later then they did.

Despite these numbers of cons, I believe it was in Britain's best interest to join the war when it broke out in 1939. I believe the British knew that the war would be lost if they didn't join the war and they were correct. When war was declared in 1939, the Allies consisted of mainly the British, her empire and France along with its empire. The other main component of the war, the Russians, didn't join the Allies in fighting the Axis until June 22^nd 1941. Despite the extra lost of lives, the rations, the Night Blitz and the extra costs of joining the war early, the British had to do it. Without the British's superior navy and its extra soldiers they supplied, the war would have defiantly been a lost cause as soon as it broke out. The French were taken over quickly and without the British supplying help to the French and acting as a distraction the Hitler, the war would have most likely ended by 1941. Because of this, the British had to join the war in 1939. There was no other option. The British saved the war and saved Europe from the destruction of the German forces and Hitler.