Interwar optimism became a readiness risk

Between the wars Scapa Flow became an occasional exercise base while its First World War defences collapsed through lack of maintenance. British fortified positions elsewhere around the empire were allowed to decay during the same period. The neglect is linked to confidence that the war to end wars had removed the need for future preparation, a mood compared with optimism after the Cold War. Permanent peace remained a worthy aspiration, but it was a poor planning assumption when ambition and refusal to back down could still turn disputes into war. Basic readiness therefore had to survive periods when the threat appeared remote.