The British economy in World War 2

Hello

Does anyone with an interest in World War 2 know just what the British economy was like during this time?

I know I'm probably being way too simplistic about this, but was there much of a running economy at all? Were all efforts simply directed towards the war? How long did it take to get the economy back to its previous movement after the war finally came to an end?

Thanks.

Not sure how much I can help here, as I only really covered it at A-level briefly. It would seem that the 2 years (1939-41) that we fought alone took a massive toll on our economy, as we did indeed have to redirect the majority of our industry to the war cause. The strain was taken off slightly when the USA and USSR joined, but it still took an enormous toll. by 1946, the year after the war ended, we were bankrupt. We were in serious trouble, hence one of the reasons for the establishment of the Marshall Plan in 1948, with the UK getting the lion's share

Based on my "general knowledge" as opposed to any historical knowledge I have, they had a war time economy. Things such as "dig for victory" were established so everything could be put into the war effort.

Of course there was running of the economy, without it, things would've been mayhem.

Again, limited in my knowledge, but rations carried on for years after, I believe until the early 50's? And of course as we've repeatedly heard in the news over the past year, they had a massive budget deficit, and I believe it only got finished being paid in 2007/8?

Branching out from economy, post World War 2 is where we see the gradual decline of Britain as a world power, and the point of focus switch more and more to the USSR and the US. As a result this directly affected Britain's economic standing, and with the collapse of the empire gradually, its ability to trade diminished, and with it it's economic capacity.

I know its vague, but i've never studied the period, this is just from what I know roughly. I've never done domestic British history post 39.

I'd highly recommend Juliet Gardiner's 'Wartime: Britain 1939-1945' for this subject. I'm a keen historian where WW2 is concerned and the things in there really surprised me, things i didn't already know.

Really great read.

Thanks very much TheBeautyofFilm

Great to hear from people like you. I will definitely have a look for that. It is a tragic but also highly informative era to find out more about.

You're very welcome! I love it, I find it an absolutely riveting time in our history. I'm completely obsessed lol!