British Government's Decision to Evacuate Children During World War II

British Government's Decision to Evacuate Children During World War II

The British government decided to evacuate children from the major

cities to the country side where they would be safe. They did this to

take precautions to protect and serve the civilians from the bombings

and gas attacks. They evacuated children from the major cities as they

are the most venerable members of society and this would break

people's morale if more children were killed. The British government

started to evacuate children before the plans of the outbreak to the

World War Two. They announced the evacuation on the 31st August 1939,

the day before Hitler invaded Poland. The evacuation began on the 1st

September 1939. The reasons for planning to evacuate was firstly the

Spanish Civil War, as it gave the British government great cause of

concern as it was capable of success of Blitzkrieg. The second reason

was The CzechoslovakiaCrisis, as Hitler began speeches in August 1938

suggesting he was going to send the German Army into Czechoslovakia.

This showed Hitler as an aggressor who needed to be stopped and made

war more of a reality. The Third reason is German Rearmament, as the

British government were aware that Hitler was breaking the Treaty of

Versaillesby rearming. The forth reason is The Plans for Evacuation as

the government also had plans for evacuation of all children from

Britain's large cities. The fifth reasons are the Memories of the Firs

World War and the Threat of Invasion, as during the war further waves

of evacuation took place due to the threat of invasion after Hitler

entered France and when he began bombing Britain in the Blitz. The end

then put further action to keep the children safe.

The first reason that gave the British government great cause for

concern and began setting their plans to evacuate women and children

from major British cities was the outbreak of the Spanish Civil war in

1936. General Franco was the fascist leader of Spainand as the views

were close to the ideals of the Nazis he asked Hitler for support in