highbrandon202

Jul 30, 20201 min

Some more thoughts on 'Britain winning the war.'

I was just listening to the presenter on BBC Radio 3 introducting a performance of William Walton's 'Spitfire Prelude and Fugue'. She referred, in passing, to 'Britain winning the war'. That's rather curious. My quarrel with this statement is not a matter of interpretation, but of fact. The millions of dead in the Soviet Union ; the sacrifices of thousands in the resistance movements ; the contribution of many more from all parts of the British Empire and Commonwealth ; the industrial might of the United States, 'the arsenal of democracy' : all these won the war. It is a factually correct statement to assert that 'the Allies won the war'. It does not ignore the courage and sacrifice of snyone to assert that ;Britain won the war' is a factually incorrect statement. History, like any other discipline, is there to be studied, not abused. However much it is abused, facts are stubborn things. They remain facts, even if you don't respect them, even in these oh-so-sophisticated and ironic 'postmodern' times.

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