2017 Issue №3

The article deals with the development of the Canadian military industry in 1939-1945. The effectiveness, organisation and scale of production of aircraft, ships, armored vehicles, artillery and small arms are analyzed. The author reveals the influence of geographic, economic, home and foreign policy factors on the type of weapons produced and the volume of their production. Using official Canadian documents and statistical publications, the author concludes that the military-industrial complex of Canada showed good performance indicators during WWII. However, having an impressive economic growth and rapid development of new industries, Canada, for several reasons, still failed to make the most of its economic, natural and human resources. As a result, Canada was only a junior partner of great powers in military production. Based on the structure of the Canadian military industry, the author draws a conclusion about the initial stage of globalization of the Canadian economy in the period under study.

Analyzing the military and political consequences of the Great War it is essential to study the process of decision-making. Along with objective factors, various subjective factors were also important. Later subjective factors turned to be hidden from the researcher’s eye, being ignored by propaganda. However, it neither diminishes their significance, nor proves their non-existence. Basing on a few examples this author makes an attempt to reconstruct the motives and fears of several key figures of the German Eighth Army that influenced the course of action and the result of the Battle of Tannenberg.

Using the works of the most prominent British political intellectuals, the  author examines the correlation of theory and practice in Victorian politics.  The analysis shows the suspicious attitude of British politicians toward ideologies.  The core role of morality and religion in Victorian politics is highlighted.  The author reconstructs the concept of conservative progress, which was  used to solve tactical party objectives on the basis of three most significant  sources of Edward Derby’s political ideas. The link between Derby’s ideas and  subsequent generations of British conservatives has been defined.