British National Debt in 20th century

[Novosedoff]

Hello there,

As Britain has just stepped into the area where its national public debt exceeds its GDP, I thought it might be interesting to discuss. I've been contemplating the attached picture that shows the British national debt since the beginning of 18th century. But my curiosity mainly relates to the time between 1919 and 1923, which is the time after WW1 was over and before the Genoa Conference of 1922 was held (the conference set the amount of German reparations). The attached picture denotes the points of the time scale by 2 and 3.

I feel more comfortable in explaining the hikes and slopes that follow point 3 by recalling the events of the world Great depression and of Lausanne Conference of 1932. However when it comes to trying to explain what could have triggered the British national debt to rise by 50% between 1919 and 1923, I feel like I stumble and the below wiki article provides very vague coverage of this period too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_British_national_debt

Is anybody around here knowledgeable enough to enlighten me on that?  

Thanks in advance.

 

[Novosedoff]

From below article I see a few wars in which the UK was involved in the period 1919-1923:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_the_United_Kingdom

Can we somehow range them in terms of their contribution to the final bill paid by the UK? Was it mostly impacted by the intervention in Russia? 

Edited November 1, 2021 by Novosedoff

[caldrail]

Interesting that you ask that. Intervention in the Russian Civil War wasn't especially extensive as far as I know, very few British people even know it happened.

We were involved in Estonian Independence, Latvian Independence, Turkish War of Independence, Third Anglo Afghan War, Kuwait-Najd War, Irish War of Independence, Somaliland Campaign, Great Iraqi Revolution, Burao Tax Revolt, and the Adwan Rebellion. We were also involved in occupation duties in Adriatic. Wow. Some of those I haven't heard of either.

Add to that the usual woes after a major conflict, the knackered and under maintained railway system that was subject to a major rationalisation program called the "The Grouping" in 1923.

I guess we had a lot to pay for back then. - oh, and before I forget, Gandhi was pursuing Indian Independence and British troops got a little heavy handed. out there.

Edited November 5, 2021 by caldrail

[Novosedoff]

9 hours ago, caldrail said:

Interesting that you ask that.

Well, I just spotted from the above figure that over the course of WW1 the British national debt rose from about 25% of GDP to 130%. The end of WW1 is obviously marked by sudden drop in the amount of debt from 130% to 120%, and then something miraculous happens as the debt rises again from 120% to 180%. Let's stop for a second and think over it again: the whole WW1 contributed to 105% increase in the amount of debt, and then basically over a half of that amount is added on top after 1919 because of I dunno what, but something happened 🙂 So I've decided to do some reverse reconstruction of the historical events to see what it was all about.

Apparently I've glanced over the list of wars you've mentioned. Two things are noteworthy. Firstly, the number of conflicts Britain was involved since 1919 was high enough. I dunno how this number aligns with the number of conflicts Britain had been involved in any other time periods before 1919, but the geography of the conflicts seems a bit overstretched to me. Secondly, Britain actually came out as a loser from many (if not the majority) conflicts of that period between 1919 and 1923. 

I ain't that sure as to how British investments in railways and other fixed assets could have contributed to that amount. I have this screenshot (see attached) that shows that British capital spending used to be much higher than it is now, although the picture covers only the last 45 years, but at least we can see the trend.