Cable's criticism of Britain's prewar allocation of resources

James Cable argues that the later arrival of powerful allies obscured weaknesses in Britain's original strategy for the Second World War. The expeditionary army and long-range bombers had failed to achieve their initial purposes of deterring Germany and preventing its conquest of Europe. In his assessment, resources devoted to those commitments left too few suitable ships and aircraft to defend Britain and its sea routes. He considers an earlier maritime strategy intended to secure Britain until circumstances offered a better prospect of defeating Germany. He cannot prove the outcome of that alternative, or that maritime defence and the adopted commitments were necessarily mutually exclusive. His criticism concerns the risks and opportunity costs of Britain's strategic choices.