Ten Year Rule
The Ten Year Rule was a British government guideline, first adopted in August 1919, that the armed forces should draft their estimates "on the assumption that the British Empire would not be engaged in any great war during the next ten years".[1]
The suggestion for the rule came from
Former Prime Minister Arthur Balfour rejected the proposal but unsuccessfully argued to the Committee of Imperial Defence, which adopted the rule, that "nobody could say that from any one moment war was an impossibility for the next ten years ... we could not rest in a state of unpreparedness on such an assumption by anybody. To suggest that we could be nine and a half years away from preparedness would be a most dangerous suggestion."[3]
In 1928 Churchill, as
There were very large cuts in defence spending as a result of this rule, with defence spending going down from £766 million in 1919–20, to £189 million in 1921–22, to £102 million in 1932.
The Ten Year Rule was abandoned by the Cabinet on 23 March 1932, but this decision was countered with: "this must not be taken to justify an expanding expenditure by the Defence Services without regard to the very serious financial and economic situation" which the country was in due to the Great Depression.[7][8]
Recent reference
In 2010, the Royal Navy decided to retire HMS Ark Royal, Britain's only aircraft carrier, in 2011. This was five years earlier than previously planned and up to ten years before the planned entry into service of the new Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers. A group of retired admirals criticized the decision, calling it a new "10-year rule".[9]
See also
- British re-armament
- Prime Minister's Review: Reduction in Armaments, House of Commons Debate, 18 August 1919 (rtrvd Oct 22)
Notes
- ^ Paul Kennedy, The Rise and Fall of British Naval Mastery. Penguin, 2004. p. 273.
- ^ Prime Minister’s Review: Reduction in Armaments, of Commons Debate, 18 August 1919 (rtrvd Oct 22)
- ^ Correlli Barnett, The Collapse of British Power. Pan, 2002. p. 278.
- ^ Kennedy, Rise and Fall, p. 296.
- ^ Paul Kennedy, The Realities behind Diplomacy. Fontana, 1981. p. 231.
- ^ Barnett, The Collapse of British Power, p. 297.
- ^ Kennedy, Rise and Fall, p. 285.
- ^ Barnett, p. 301.
- ^ "Admirals attack Harrier scrapping." Archived 2011-07-09 at the Wayback Machine PSCA International Ltd, 10 November 2010