Britain's war machine
by David Edgerton · first published 2011
8mentions
3recommended by
3HN commenters
2014–2021first – last mentioned
100% recommend
"The familiar image of the British in the Second World War is that of the plucky underdog taking on German might. David Edgerton's bold, compelling new history shows the conflict in a new light, with Britain as a very wealthy country, formidable in arms, ruthless in pursuit of its interests, and in command of a global production system. Rather than belittled by a Nazi behemoth, Britain arguably had the world's most advanced mechanized forces. It had not only a great empire, but allies large and small. Edgerton shows that Britain fought on many fronts and its many home fronts kept it exception
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…The force multiplier wasn’t the tools, it was how they were used, and it took the allies a while to get the hang of things. The most surprising part is how far Germany got with such a weak position. Britain’s War Machine by David Edgerton covers this well and somehow avoids it being a dry pile of charts.
on “A Pentagon-funded contest spawned many of today’s self-driving startups” ↗…UK needed France If the war started early, perhaps. But later on, not really. Britain and the dominion had one hell of a lot of resources. There is a good book on this topic by David Edgerton titled ‘Britain’s War Machine’. It’s largely debunking the idea of the plucky underdog and shows the great strength of Britain relatively to Germany. It was more a question of how long it would take Germany to fall, rather than anything…
on “1938 vs. 1940 (2018)” ↗…doesn't really matter how they had acquired it, they could draw on resources and manpower - Indian regiments, Malayan rubber, Indonesian oil (via the Dutch government in exile)... I'm convinced by reading "Britain's War Machine" by David Edgerton that Britain's darkest hour was not Dunkirk but Japan's entry into the war and its lightning capture of most of SE Asia.
on “The Begum's Fortune” ↗I found David Edgerton's "Britain's War Machine) (http://www.amazon.com/Britains-War-Machine-David-Edgerton/dp...) quit interesting. He highlights that the Germans---far from the technical wizards they are often portrayed as these days---won in the…
on “A lot of what we think we know about WWII is wrong” ↗Britain's War Machine by David Edgerton argues similarly. (http://www.amazon.com/Britains-War-Machine-David-Edgerton/dp...)
on “A lot of what we think we know about WWII is wrong” ↗I recommend "Britain's War Machine" by David Edgerton. Prior to hostilities Britain had an inferior military in many regards (but many superior tanks, ships and planes) but her manufacturing and resources available from Empire far exceeded…
on “Charlie Brown and Franz Stigler Incident” ↗Britain's War Machine, a book by David Edgerton, set me off on some fairly disturbing reading when he stated that the British army's total losses for the second work war were less than those suffered by the USSR in the campaign…
on “Warsaw, August 1947” ↗Thanks, I will check it out. I am currently reading a book called and about Britain's War Machine, that argues that Britain had much more material (especially tanks) and advanced technology than Germany in WWII. That the Germans got so far was mostly because of superior soldiering and that the new…
on “Lost Franklin expedition ship found in the Arctic” ↗