Britain's War Machine Weapons, Resources, and Experts in the Second World War

by Edgerton, David

• ISBN13: 9780199832675
• ISBN10: 0199832676
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-09-09
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The familiar image of Britain in the Second World War is that of the plucky underdog taking on German might. Edgerton's new interpretation shows the conflict in a new light: he reveals a Britain that was a first class power, confident in its capacity to wage a devastating war of machines. It had resources to spare, was wealthy enough to make mistakes, and could fight as it chose to rather than had to. It is a story of a great power which thought of war not in martial but in material terms, as befitted an industrial giant which remained at the heart of the world's trade. Britain emerged as an extremely powerful warfare state, brimming with powerful new war machines, whose use was now mastered as never before. The British-indeed, Churchillian-vision of war and modernity was challenged by repeated defeat by less well-equipped enemies. Yet the end result was a vindication of this vision. By placing lesser-known resources, machines and experts at the heart of a global rather than merely imperial story, Britain's War Machine challenges some of the most cherished myths about wartime Britain and offers an original picture of a great power in action.

Author Biography

David Edgerton is the Hans Rausing Professor at Imperial College, London, where he was the founding director of the Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine. He is the author of the iconoclastic and brilliant The Shock of the Old: Technology and Global History since 1900 (OUP, 2007).