Five Years That Shaped The British Military

This is actually about defence cuts to the British military at various points since WW2, but since the title is a tad ambiguous I felt compelled to point that out-

"There's currently controversy over the prospect of spending cuts for the British military. But there have been many years after World War Two in which big cuts have been made.

During World War Two the UK defence budget reached a peak of £86bn a year [in real terms - see note at bottom for methodology] in 1944. In the final year of the war, the defence budgets fell by 48% to about £44bn. When the war ended, Britain had to rapidly change gear for a peacetime economy. At this point the British Army numbered 3.12 million soldiers. Add in the Navy, Royal Air Force and other parts of the military and demobilisation involved five million servicemen and women.
Britain had won the war but it owed huge sums to the US. At the same time, Clement Attlee's government began building the welfare state. Austerity set in and the defence budget dropped - in 1946 falling by 56% to £19.5bn. There was a steep rise in 1947 before it fell back in 1948 and 1949 with cuts of 18% and 4% respectively."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-31750929

 

With Britain's military history it beggers beleif that they continually place themselves in vulnerable situations...The airforce at least should be a priority...

 

Realistically while independently the forces do seem to be weak and weakening for what it needs to defense along with the allies and friendly nations around them it is actually more then adequate. They dont have a global empire to protect any more, Mainly just the UK with small scattered islands and territories around the world near nations that have no real intention to claim them (excluding the Falklands). The Biggest possible enemy the UK faces that has forces capable of being a threat is Russia, And really any war with Russia vs the UK would end up having NATO, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand etc etc all going to war against Russia.

Europe is not the war monger it once was nor are there global empires so the need for massive military's is a little out dated to an extent.

Better to make the cut's now when it's safest (Russia is having just as many financial issues) and allow time for the economy to recover before fixing the military then try and keep a strong military and have it continue to drag down the economy into a slow death.

 

This site allows the user to create your own comparisons between the various budgets in UK Public Spending over the decades
http://www.ukpublicspending.co.uk
From 'make charts'
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardwell_Reforms
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Childers_Reforms
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esher_Report
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haldane_Reforms
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Defence_Review

 

That looks bad, until you look at it as a percentage of GDP.