When did Britain send such a large number of troops to Europe prior WW2?

Question

I mean with respect to Dunkirk evacuation.

Answer 1

Generally, the British way of war had always been to try to keep large numbers of British troops off of the Continent, instead relying on their strong navy ('wooden walls') and Continental allies, which they often subsidized. For much of the 17th and 18th centuries, this meant paying the Prussians and sometimes Austrians to do their fighting for them.

The British obviously had a lot of troops fighting in modern France during the Hundred Years' War, but at that time the king of England was also duke of Normandy and ruler of Aquitaine and other areas and actually had more subjects in France than in England, nominally at least, and spoke French at court, so that's not really a foreign war.

They sent a large part of their still small army to the Continent to fight Napoleon, though they were still subsidizing the Prussians, Austrians, and Russians as well. Remember the Peninsular Campaign (in Portugal and Spain), and later Waterloo?

But the one great example of British troops in Europe before WWII was during the First World War, when nearly five million British troops had entered service, almost one in four of the males of any age in Britain and nearly all the males of military age who could carry a rifle. The vast majority of them served in France. They lost nearly 1 million dead (including civilians), and another 1.66 million wounded, many grievously.

Answer 2

They didn't. The UK had no troops stationed in Europe prior ro WW2. However, when Great Britain declared war on Germany in September 1939 following the invasion of Poland, the BEF was immediately sent. The months following that invasion until early 1940 was known as 'the phoney war' as little happened. The Dunkirk evacuation in June 1940 did not mark the outbreak of the war, but merely the culmination of Germany's invasion of Western Europe.

Answer 3

Setember 10 1939.

In France... The first major units of BEF begin to land. Field Marshal Lord Gort is in command. Small advance parties have been arriving since September 4th. In the first month 160,000 men, 24,000 vehicles and 140,000 tons of supplies are sent to France.

Answer 4

I would have thought that the number of troops in France in the first world war would have been at least as many as the BEF in WWII

Answer 5

When WWII started.
I mean germany invaded poland in 1939, and france later, there was years of war before the US threw its hat in the ring.