ABSTRACT
Britain ended the Second World War with huge debts and equally huge responsibilities. The immediate cessation of Lend Lease after Japan surrendered on 14 August 1945 made the financial constraints even more serious. Yet unless she abandoned much of war-torn Europe, and much of Asia where post-war responsibilities were shared with the USA, Britain had to maintain large numbers of military personnel in far-flung parts of the world. In Indonesia, for example, obligations to the ruling Dutch, whose exiled government was a wartime ally, necessitated up to 90,000 British troops being used against a colonial revolt.
