| 50 Years Ago |
- 50 years ago the huge British Empire was finally about to die. So had it lasted about the same time as the Roman Empire? No, only about 200 years compared with the Roman empire of 500 years or more.
- 50 years ago the British Empire stretched from British Columbia in the West of Canada right round the world to Australia and New Zealand in the East. World War Two
- 50 years ago this Empire was simultaneously attacked by Germany who tried to invade the centre of the empire, England it’s self and then by Japan in the East of the empire notably in Burma and Malaya for our rubber plantations and Singapore for our Naval base.
- 50 years ago the Germans exterminated 5 million Jews. (They were safe in England)
- 50 years ago aeroplanes which had only invented 40 years previously (1912) had been developed into formidable fighting machines. Aeroplanes at this time were not jets but were driven by powerful car engines (petrol).
- 50 years ago tanks also only invented 40 years previously had been developed into powerful fighting machines by the English and the Germans. (The French were still relying on the horse!)
- 50 years ago the Atomic Bomb was invented (1946 by the Americans) which was so powerful that one bomb could destroy a whole city and worse no humans could live in that city for many years due to lethal radiation pollution.
- 50 years ago the horse, which for the previous 3000 years had been the main transporter of man was finally outmoded as a means of serious transport other than for recreational purposes. Replaced by planes, cars, trains and trucks. All these new methods of transport produce nasty polluting gasses. (Green house gasses and worse and thence global warming)
- 50 years ago the majority of trains were still powered by steam heated by a coal fire.
- 50 years ago was the (so called) Battle of Britain where the English with only a small Air Force but with brilliant fighter planes (Spitfires and Hurricanes) shot the massive German air force (Luftwaffe) out of the sky. (“This was our finest hour”)
- 50 years ago the Americans had grown to be the most powerful nation in the world taking over from England and after a lot of talking were persuaded to help England to fight the Germans in the West and the Japanese in the East. Their decision was helped by the Japanese making a really stupid mistake when they bombed the American Naval fleet which happened to be at anchor in mid-Pacific (Pearl Harbour, Hawaii) within range of the Japanese Aircraft carriers. This was almost like a wasp stinging an elephant.
- 50 years ago the Germans, with the help of their U boats, (Submarines) came close to starving the English into submission by sinking the majority of the English supply ships in the Atlantic. (One of the reasons for the European Common Agricultural Policy was the develop domestic food production so that individual member states could support themselves) Fortunately Britisher Sir Robert Alexander Watson Watt developed Radar and the German U boats, which had to attack on the surface as they were too slow submerged, could be spotted with the newly developed Radar and blown out of the sea with on-ship guns.
- 50 years ago the English, with the help of the Americans and men from the British Empire, finally beat the Germans (1945) and with the help of the Americans and their atomic bomb beat the Japanese (1946). The Atomic bomb which is now produced by many countries has never again been used in battle as everybody knows the world destruction would be incalculable. Perhaps this would be similar in destructive power to the catastrophe which caused the death of all Dinosaurs some 70 million years ago.
TechnologyThis period also saw the start of so many new products and ideas partly fuelled by the huge efforts in America, England, Germany and Japan to build ultimate war weapons.
Jets
The jet engine was invented in England. (Frank Whittle 1941). Now, the skies are full of jets not propeller-driven planes. 50 years ago however more people were travelling to the US by ship than by plane.
Nuclear Power
Nuclear Fission and Nuclear Fusion the basis of city eliminating bombs and Nuclear energy for power stations and submarines. Scientist are still trying to develop Nuclear fusion into the basis of a non polluting energy source for the future.
Computer chips
The transistor and its cousin the silicon chip was invented in America (Bell labs NY 1952). This made the following possible; The computer (PC etc) , the cell phone, the play station and many more.
Man made textiles
50 years ago women were fighting for the new fashion item “Nylons” (Nylon stockings) one of the first items of clothing not created from natural materials like animal firs, cotton or wool but new materials invented by man mainly as a by-product of oil. Men cease to dominate Women
At the same time (the sixties) the life of women was revolutionised by the invention of the "Pill". Which taken daily would allow women to control when they had children. Up to this time women found it difficult to have both a paid working career and bring up young children. Women were seen by their employees and husbands alike as the little woman back home who looks after the kids and prepares the evening meal for the man when he comes home. Now women and men have equal status and earning potential in the work place. Men have not got used to this even now. In England the benefits to the wealth of the nation by doubling the potential work force came faster than in some countries where religion still preaches that women should not work and indeed should not even have access to the Pill. (EG the Roman Catholic Irish and the Islamic Arabs and Asians.) What purpose the Empire? Defence and trade alliances.
50 years ago after the defeat of the Germans and the Japanese, the members of the British Empire (like India, Australia and Canada) began to ask themselves what was the value of being in this British club? After all it was now clear that the English could not defend their Empire with out the help of the Americans. So why not just build an alliance with the US? The best example of this is Australia. 50 years ago the similar thinking was going through the minds of the English. Should England develop even closer ties with old friend America or become more closely tied with old enemy Europe and the new developing “European Kingdom” or "United States of Europe"? The concept of a European political union was promoted after the second world war by General De Gaulle of France as the vehicle for eliminating future debilitating wars between European countries.
This is still both the main political and economic question of the day.
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