Britain, Empire and International Relations, 1925 - 29

Apparent International Security

During 1925 to 1929 there seemed to be increased international security. It seemed that the Great War had succeeded in making Britain more secure: Germany was defeated and disarmed, Russia was no longer a world power, and Japan, although no longer an ally, was still friendly. Great armaments were no longer apparently required. War was not expected, and service chiefs were told repeatedly by politicians that there was no prospect of a major war for the next ten years; this instruction was, however, revoked in 1932.

However, Baldwin did revive the committee for imperial defence, which Lloyd George had allowed to subside into an organ for merely writing the history of the war. Curzon was appointed to preside over it, and after his death in 1925, Baldwin became chairman of it. It became the central focus of British defence policy, and was more effective because Lloyd George had instituted a joint chiefs of staff's committee at the time of the Chanak crisis. Yet, there was no Ministry of Defence at this time, and inter-service rivalry prevented one from coming into being.

The Soviet Union was increasingly isolated in Europe during this period. Following the Locarno Treaty, Germany became a member of the League of Nations, and Germany paid reparations regularly in accordance with the Dawes plan. The United States also appeared to be isolated, and a conference in August 1927 on naval disarmament between the United States, Britain and Japan broke down on British insistence that they should be entitled to have 70 cruisers, when in fact they only had 50!

In 1927 every nation in the world was a signatory of the Kellog Pact; in this international agreement they all renounced war as a instrument in foreign policy!

Arms Expenditure and the Services

Armaments expenditure went down steadily between 1922 and 1933 reaching a low of 2.5% of national income; expenditure in 1913 was 3.5% of national income. But the cuts were not even, and the navy was the least affected, and succeeded in maintaining parity with the USA, which, in Taylor's view, was unnecessary. However, Japan posed a threat in the Far East, especially because Britain did not have a suitable dockyard east of Malta for capital ships. There were plans to develop Singapore but this was started and stopped several times up to 1933.

The Royal Air Force became an independent service branch on 1st April 1918, and it received a boost following an incident in 1922, during which the RAF bombed villages in Irak and thus successfully quelled a revolt. The independence of the RAF was confirmed when Sir Samuel Hoare was made secretary of state for air, with a seat in the cabinet.

The chief of staff for the RAF was Trenchard. He was convinced that air power alone could achieve victory in a war, and he prioritised bombers and neglected air defence. However, this worked out well for the British. Changes in aircraft design were rapid, and aircraft quickly became out of date. Consequently, British planes were more up-to-date when the Second World War did break out.

The development of the tank was neglected, and cavalry was regarded as being highly important. The army was run down, and there was an absence of defence in this respect.

The Dominions

There was an Imperial conference in 1926 at which the Canadian prime minister, Mackenzie King, demanded independence for the Dominions. The formula devised by Balfour really simply acknowledged this: Great Britain and the Dominions were called "autonomous communities within the British Empire", which merely confirmed that the British Empire did not include the Dominions anymore! The Crown was the only uniting link between Britain and the Dominions, and the Imperial government was acknowledged to have control only over Great Britain and her remaining colonies. However, it was not until 1931, in the Statute of Westminster, that these provisions became law. In the meantime, a separate state department was established to maintain relations with the Dominions.

India

In India the old Raj continued. In 1927 Sir John Simon was appointed to head a commission to consider India's future. There were protests when the commission visited India, which the government attributed to Soviet provocation. They ordered a raid on the Soviet trading organisation in London, called Arcos, in order to uncover evidence to this effect, and when no evidence was found, decided to break off diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union anyway.