Which finished Britain as a world power: WW2 or Suez Crisis?

Winning WW1 and the spoils thereafter.

It's debt from WW1

ETA:

Britain’s World War I debt was monumental, with national debt soaring from £650 million in 1914 to £7.7 billion by 1919.

To finance the war, Britain borrowed roughly $4 billion from the U.S., and finally paid off the last of its outstanding WWI-era war loan bonds in March 2015.

Key Aspects of WWI Debt:

Total Debt Explosion: The national debt rose from about 30% of GDP before the war to over 90% in the post-war period.

Borrowing from the U.S.: Britain owed approximately $4 billion to the United States for war supplies and equipment.

Default and Repayment: Due to financial strain, Britain suspended repayment on its debt to the U.S. in 1934.

Final Payoff: In 2015, the UK government redeemed the last of its 3.5% War Loan, which included bonds issued in 1932 to refinance earlier, more expensive WWI debt.

Long-term Impact: The immense debt, combined with subsequent economic challenges, contributed to the decline of Britain's financial, global, and economic power

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Extremely progressive politics killed them quicker than anything

It’s funny watching old Top Gear episodes now

Clarkson basically called all this shite 20 years ago

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That's something I've never understood about Clarkson - he has always been hard pro-EU, which is more socialist and dictatorial than anything that has existed in a Western society outside the Warsaw Pact. Maybe the ordeal of Clarkson's Farm has finally fully red-pilled him.

But back to the OP's question, yes WWI debt combined with the dissolution of the Empire that killed their ability to pay down the debt, plus their losses in men. The rest are just the aftershocks.

WWI started it. WW2 finished it.

The Suez Crisis was the final nail in the Empire. That was the moment the English realized the Empire was dead.

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WWI. It crippled all of Europe.

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It really did. Even though GB was on the winning side of WWI, they can out of the war mortally wounded. They entered WWI as the world’s greatest creditor and ended it virtually bankrupt. But what really killed it was a combination of (1) Woodrow Wilson’s emphasis on the self-determination of ethnic groups, even in areas under allied colonial control, and (2) the establishment of the Soviet Union and the subsequent spread of communist influence in what we now call the “third world.” These two factors are away at their empire between the wars. And WWII was the final straw that cost them their empire.

Very interesting question but I suggest you expand on it. It should really be two questions:

Which event ended Britain’s ability to exercise influence and leverage as a world power.

Which event caused Britain to realize that it was no longer a world power.


In my opinion, when Patton crossed over the Rhine, it ended Britain’s ability to exercise and leverage authority as a world power. Britain in specifically Montgomery wanted to be the first to cross the ride. The allies gave Montgomery multiple opportunities, dating back to market garden in September. He couldn’t get it done. He wanted a direct order issued to patent to not cross the rhyme. Then once he crossed it, he demanded that patent be relieved of duties. Churchill realized at that point that Britain was not the big stick it used to be. Immediately thereafter, they lost much of their empire as part of the post World War II fallout. Despite this, it is clear that they did not realize how we emasculated they were until the Suez crisis. Reality finally hit them in the face.

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True but I would argue Suez is what showed how impotent they really were.

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France as well. It was the stake in the ground that proved they couldn't operate independently on a global scale. The US had replaced traditional European power.

Yep and WW II finished it

Allowing themselves to be invaded by muslims.