The Verdict of Peace

Correlli Barnett's 'Pride and Fall' sequence on the decline of British power and influence in the twentieth century concludes with this majestic, controversial study. Between the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950 and the Suez debacle of 1956, Barnett argues, Britain squandered every chance to re-invent itself as an industrial nation. While Japan and Germany progressed and innovated, Britain stagnated, leaving other countries to dominate market share in new technologies.

'Barnett's demolition both of British nuclear pretensions and the Suez fiasco is devastating ... His argument that 'global overstretch' depleted British resources after 1945 would meet with widespread agreement ... Some of his best pages are on the weakness of education ... Barnett's analysis of our failure to modernise industries like cars and shipbuilding, develop (British-invented) computers or promote long-term public investment would be endorsed by every motorist or rail commuter.' Kenneth O. Morgan, Independent