Rebuilding military capacity required very large spending before September 1939. Britain had already begun accumulating American loans, even though those early sums were smaller than the debts and obligations produced by the war itself. The need for hard currency in dollar form connected industrial purchases to Britain's external financial position. Lend-Lease addressed a financial problem that predated the shooting war.
Notable Point · 22:42-23:37
Britain's wartime dollar problem began before September 1939
Rearmament had already forced Britain to seek American credit and dollar-denominated hard currency before the war began.