[Misc] What was Britain’s single greatest achievement of the 20th century?

[Gwylan]

The worldwide web. It's something that's touched pretty much the entire planet

 

[Weststander]

Overcoming the dark armies of the Nazi regime. I think people forget just how close we came to being crushed.







And Calippos. I love Calippos.

This. Standing up the military might of Germany in WW2, which had had 6 or 7 years to secretly construct a colossal war and killing machine.

 

[Hugo Rune]

The Crankies

 

[The Clamp]

This. Standing up the military might of Germany in WW2, which had had 6 or 7 years to secretly construct a colossal war and killing machine.

Exactly. And although we had the Allied Forces we held fast while many nations capitulated or were overrun by the Nazi war machine. Being an Island helped of course but it could also have been our undoing, I doubt many would have come to our aid should a full scale mainland invasion have been successful.

 

[Gwylan]

Tv, internet, engineering in general, we basically still own motorsport as well.

Britain has nothing to do with the internet - that was purely an American project, using technology devised by Kahn and Cerf, both Americans.

 

[whitelion]

Britain did not do it alone, far from it.

The question was "Britain's Greatest Achievement"....I believe I answered that.

 

[El Presidente]

The worldwide web. It's something that's touched pretty much the entire planet

True, unlimited porn for all.

 

[Raleigh Chopper]

If we hadn't survived I doubt if anyone else would have defeated Germany.

If we had gone under the Yanks would have had no interest in getting involved in European affairs.

The whole of the German military would then have gone to work on the USSR without any distraction.

Even if Germany hadn't crushed them via normal warfare they would have done so around 1945/46 via their atomic weapons programme and ballistic missiles.

So yes our main achievement was saving the world from the Nazis. And little thanks did we get for it.

Britain played a major part in winning the war, we especially in our war strategy.
But without the help of many other countries I am not sure the outcome would have been the same.
What also helped was the total uselessness of the Nazis, Hitler was a nutcase who made many mistakes.
Watch rememberence Sunday and see how many countries lay wreathes.

 

[whitelion]

I did not say we had a major part in winning the war, we played a major part, especially in our war strategy.
But without the help of many other countries I am not sure the outcome would have been the same.
What also helped was the total uselessness of the Nazis, Hitler was a nutcase who made many mistakes.
Watch the watch rememberence Sunday and see how many countries lay wreathes.

I don't think anyone's saying we did it alone. But in many theatres N Africa the Atlantic Battle of Britain we stood basically alone and that's the point. Had we have capitulated then the outcome may have been totally different.

 

[Raleigh Chopper]

The question was "Britain's Greatest Achievement"....I believe I answered that.

Yes, true whichever way you look at it, it was still a great achievement, not only the fighting but at home during the blitz, and hardly any food, Britain at its best, but we did have a lot of help to achieve the final outcome.

 

[whitelion]

Yes, true whichever way you look at it, it was still a great achievement, not only the fighting but at home during the blitz, and hardly any food, Britain at its best, but we did have a lot of help to achieve the final outcome.

We had the will to stand up to Nazi Germany.

 

[Weststander]

Britain played a major part in winning the war, we especially in our war strategy.
But without the help of many other countries I am not sure the outcome would have been the same.
What also helped was the total uselessness of the Nazis, Hitler was a nutcase who made many mistakes.
Watch rememberence Sunday and see how many countries lay wreathes.

For a huge period, we were doing it alone whilst a reluctant US (bitten by WW1) dithered.

During that period, already more populous Germany, had the benefit of all of the continent's natural resources such as oil, coal, iron ore, plus as many slave (free) labourers as they wanted. Their army, airforce and hardware numbers were all a multiple of ours, all professionally trained for aggressive war with the experience of campaigns under their belts.

 

[Raleigh Chopper]

For a huge period, we were doing it alone whilst a reluctant US (bitten by WW1) dithered.

During that period, already more populous Germany, had the benefit of all of the continent's natural resources such as oil, coal, iron ore, plus as many slave (free) labourers as they wanted. Their army, airforce and hardware numbers were all a multiple of ours, all professionally trained for aggressive war with the experience of campaigns under their belts.

And we still managed to win even though Godfrey was in the gents most of the time.

 

[Weststander]

And we still managed to win even though Godfrey was in the gents most of the time.

His first aid kit was our secret weopon. Who needs a V1 or V2 when you’ve got Germolene.

 

[Pevenseagull]

Toss up between occasionally standing up against immorality and occasionally being moral.

Be nice if this century we could do both with greater regularity.

Playing catch up.

 

[Raleigh Chopper]

His first aid kit was our secret weopon. Who needs a V1 or V2 when you’ve got Germolene.

I've had a shitty day but it's always good to go to sleep with a smile on your face, chuckling.

 

[Weststander]

I've had a shitty day but it's always good to go to sleep with a smile on your face, chuckling.

I hope tomorrow’s much better for you!

 

[Nottseagull]

Britain has nothing to do with the internet - that was purely an American project, using technology devised by Kahn and Cerf, both Americans.

That has been my understanding too, and I usually cringe when I hear or read about Tim Berners-Lee being the inventor. He did invent the time - saving hyperlink though, I think in callaboration with BT. Didn't Britain have more to do with the WWW, i.e. the actual network of connected computers via inventions like optic fibre?

 

[studio150]

Winning the Battle of Britain or equal voting for men and women

 

[Gwylan]

That has been my understanding too, and I usually cringe when I hear or read about Tim Berners-Lee being the inventor. He did invent the time - saving hyperlink though, I think in callaboration with BT. Didn't Britain have more to do with the WWW, i.e. the actual network of connected computers via inventions like optic fibre?

See post #21

But while TBL was the instigator of the worldwide web, it was achieved while he was working at Swiss laboratory CERN. He didn't invent the hyperlink, that was Ted Nelson's (another septic) doing but TBL did say how it could be deployed within his 'web'.

The British have a much stronger claim to be inventor of the computer. Not just through the work of Babbage and Lovelace in the 19th century, but through Turing's research during wartime - which led directly to the Colossus, developed by Tommy Flowers and his team.

In fact, what's really staggering is that the UK had a lead in computer technology and could have dominated the field but such is the British obsession with secrecy that the Colossus machines were dismantled after the war and Flowers was ordered to destroy all his notes and drawing. Just for good measures, the authorities decided to drive Turing to suicide and any hope of a technological lead had gone.