The rise of great powers: starting from military industry

"We will hold on!"

In the Prime Minister's residence at 10 Downing Street in London, Mrs. Thatcher, known as the "Iron Lady", said the end of this sentence very sonorously to the live camera in front of her.

The British people who were watching TV were all stunned.

Originally, they thought that Mrs. Thatcher's emergency live broadcast was to tell everyone that the British Expeditionary Force had won a great victory and that Britain was still the powerful empire.

But no one expected that Mrs. Thatcher's live broadcast told them that the British Royal Navy suffered a great defeat in Argentina.

The battleships that were familiar to the British and regarded as proud by the British were sunk.

Even the most powerful and advanced aircraft carrier "Invincible" in Britain was sunk.

You know, since the "Invincible" aircraft carrier was put into service, it has been the pride of the British. The British boasted to foreigners that the "Invincible" aircraft carrier was the most advanced aircraft carrier in the world, and even the American aircraft carriers could not compare.

But now, the Invincible aircraft carrier was sunk by the Argentines.

The Exocet anti-ship missile, like Satan from hell, cast a shadow over all the British.

Before, the Sheffield destroyer was sunk by the Exocet anti-ship missile, and all the British hated the Exocet anti-ship missile.

And now, the Exocet anti-ship missile has once again become the nightmare of the British.

All the British watched the live broadcast on TV or listened to the radio, and at this moment they were all in disbelief, and then they burst into tears.

Even the strongest British could not help shedding tears at this time.

They never thought that this war where adults spanked children would have such a huge loss.

This loss is simply unacceptable.

And the families in this task force were like the sky falling, they were afraid that their children, their husbands, and their relatives would be injured or even killed in the battle.

Heartache, pain, regret. Anger!

Everything is intertwined together to form an undercurrent, which is surging.

The turbulent undercurrents are rising and falling.

10 Downing Street, the Prime Minister's residence, is the center of British power.

Mrs. Thatcher, who had just finished her TV speech, collapsed on the sofa.

The British Expeditionary Force suffered an unprecedented defeat. The news came back to Britain, which made Mrs. Thatcher face the most serious crisis of confidence since she came to power.

For the Falklands War, Britain was actually prepared for war.

Because for Mrs. Thatcher, this war was also an opportunity.

On May 3, 1979, the Conservative Party won the general election, and Mrs. Thatcher became prime minister, becoming the first female prime minister in British history.

However, the two world wars shattered Britain, the world's largest maritime power. When it came to her, she could only maintain the characteristic national symbol of the Commonwealth. And after she came to power, she had to face the strong replacement of the US dollar for the British pound in the financial sector.

The situation in Britain was a mess.

In 1975, the inflation rate in Britain reached an astonishing 27%. Trains were often late, pay phone booths were always broken, and everything was broken.

The worst thing is the frequent strikes, including strikes by coal miners, dock workers, printers, garbage collectors, and even gravediggers.

When Mrs. Thatcher came to power, she was facing such a bad Britain that Britain had no way out.

So Mrs. Thatcher used a tough hand to drastically cut welfare and launched a series of drastic reform measures to revolutionize the social order and economic structure of Britain.

But her reform measures also made many people dissatisfied.

Just as Gary Tierre wanted to use the Falklands War to divert the domestic conflicts in Argentina, Mrs. Thatcher also hoped to use the Falklands War to divert the domestic conflicts, so as to gain bargaining chips for next year's general election and get a second term.

From the beginning, Mrs. Thatcher positioned this war as a limited local war, rather than a full-scale war with Argentina, as long as Argentina surrendered.

It is precisely because of this that she received the support of the opposition Labour Party.

Now, facing the huge losses of the expeditionary force, the Labour Party is ready to move again and is ready to launch a motion of no confidence in the government. And other forces are also preparing to erupt in the turbulent undercurrent.

From receiving the news to taking immediate action, Mrs. Thatcher was in a state of panic. After a series of political maneuvers and proper measures, she temporarily calmed the undercurrent.

But this was only temporary. Once the turbulent undercurrent broke out again, she would be powerless.

Mrs. Thatcher rubbed her aching temples feebly.

This position was simply a powder keg.

"We will definitely persevere! Victory will eventually belong to Great Britain!" Mrs. Thatcher said to herself, as if she was talking to others, as if she was talking to herself, and encouraging herself.

Mrs. Thatcher knew very well that Britain could not afford to lose this war!

Once the war was lost, her political life would end, and she would never have a place in politics again. Similarly, her Conservative Party would also be hit hard. I am afraid that it would not be able to win the election for ten or twenty years, and would become a long-term opposition party.

And the Labour Party would govern Britain for a long time.

These are all minor matters. What is more terrifying is that Britain will become a third-rate country and a marginal country in the world, and will no longer have the right to speak.

This is undoubtedly unacceptable to Britain, which was once the "Empire on which the Sun Never Sets" and the world hegemon.

At this moment, a secretary came over quickly, whispered a few words to her, and then handed over a confidential document that had just been received. Mrs. Thatcher took the document, glanced at it, and straightened up her limp body, and then urgently ordered: "I want to see the head of MI6 immediately, immediately, immediately!"

The secretary left quickly.

"I originally thought that the French had agreed to not sell the "Exocet" anti-ship missile to Argentina, but secretly made small moves to deceive my British Empire. I didn't expect that the anti-ship missile was not the French "Exocet" anti-ship missile." Mrs. Thatcher looked at the document, "Anti-ship missile from the East?"

Mrs. Thatcher's face was uncertain.

After receiving the report sent back by the expeditionary force, Mrs. Thatcher and others' first reaction was that they were deceived by the French.

The grievances and hatreds between Britain and France over the past few hundred years are so numerous that even ten books cannot describe them all.

Back then, Britain and France were the world's largest powers, with the world's largest navy, while France was the world's second largest power, with the world's largest army and the world's second largest navy. The two sides competed for the position of world hegemony.

It was with the help of the French that the United States gained independence and broke away from the British colonies.

Even the Statue of Liberty in the United States was a gift from France to the United States as a symbol of friendship between France and the United States.

Of course, Britain and France have competed and joined forces, such as in the First World War and the Second World War, when the two sides were allies.

It's just that France has always regarded itself as the boss of Europe, and it is always unhappy with Britain, and Britain can't just sit back and watch France really become the boss of Europe, so it naturally has to act as a troublemaker.

Otherwise, if Europe is really unified, Britain can only play on the island by itself.