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Max2147 · 06-24-09, 02:26 PM

I think Britain's "fall" actually had more to do with factors outside of her control.

I could explain it all myself, but instead I'll just direct everybody to one of the greatest books I've ever read: Dreadnought by Robert K. Massie. It's superbly written, and it contains a lot of interesting naval history as well. It's the story of Anglo-German relations from the birth of Queen Victoria to the start of World War I, but it also sheds a lot of light on how Britain's world domination through "Splendid Isolation" crumbled.

The question with the US in the future is how well we react to changing economic needs. When the world switched from wood to coal and steel, Britain lost her huge superiority but was able to stay as a leading global power. When the world switched from coal and steel to oil, Britain couldn't hold on anymore because she didn't have oil at home. Today the world is switching from oil to who knows what, whether we like it or not. The key question for the US is how it copes with that transition.

But getting back to Britian, I have to wonder if she's really fallen. Sure she isn't a superpower anymore, but what does that really count for? Britain still enjoys a remarkably high standard of living. By most standards, Britons' lives aren't demonstrably worse than Americans' lives, and your average Brit is certainly better off than your average Russian, even though the US and Russia are both far more powerful on a global stage than Britain.

My point is that the health of a country and that country's power are not one and the same. For any country power ought not to be an ends in itself - the ultimate goal of any government must be to provide prosperity for its people. Sometimes global power can be a means to achieve that ultimate ends, but it's not the only means. Some nations have power but not prosperity (USSR was a good example), and some nations can have prosperity but not power (New Zealand in today's world). But ultimately you want to make your country a nice place to live, and I'd rather live in New Zealand today than in the USSR at any time in its history.

06-24-09, 02:26 PM	#13
Max2147 Seasoned Skipper Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 714 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	I think Britain's "fall" actually had more to do with factors outside of her control. I could explain it all myself, but instead I'll just direct everybody to one of the greatest books I've ever read: Dreadnought by Robert K. Massie. It's superbly written, and it contains a lot of interesting naval history as well. It's the story of Anglo-German relations from the birth of Queen Victoria to the start of World War I, but it also sheds a lot of light on how Britain's world domination through "Splendid Isolation" crumbled. The question with the US in the future is how well we react to changing economic needs. When the world switched from wood to coal and steel, Britain lost her huge superiority but was able to stay as a leading global power. When the world switched from coal and steel to oil, Britain couldn't hold on anymore because she didn't have oil at home. Today the world is switching from oil to who knows what, whether we like it or not. The key question for the US is how it copes with that transition. But getting back to Britian, I have to wonder if she's really fallen. Sure she isn't a superpower anymore, but what does that really count for? Britain still enjoys a remarkably high standard of living. By most standards, Britons' lives aren't demonstrably worse than Americans' lives, and your average Brit is certainly better off than your average Russian, even though the US and Russia are both far more powerful on a global stage than Britain. My point is that the health of a country and that country's power are not one and the same. For any country power ought not to be an ends in itself - the ultimate goal of any government must be to provide prosperity for its people. Sometimes global power can be a means to achieve that ultimate ends, but it's not the only means. Some nations have power but not prosperity (USSR was a good example), and some nations can have prosperity but not power (New Zealand in today's world). But ultimately you want to make your country a nice place to live, and I'd rather live in New Zealand today than in the USSR at any time in its history.