British Government's Decision to Evacuate Children from Britain’s Major Cities at the Start of the War

British Government's Decision to Evacuate Children from Britain’s Major Cities at the Start of the War

There were many reasons that during WWII, the British Government

decided to separate children and mothers from their families, but one

of the main reasons is their sudden realisation of the damage that

modern weapons could cause especially to civilians; and after seeing

the devastation that had been caused in the Spanish Civil war, (July

17th 1936 till March 28th 1939) by the German aircrafts. During the

two years and 254 days of the Spanish Civil War, about 1 million

people were killed, 600,000 of which were battle related. The German

bombings added significantly to the death toll. A lot of major

killings were evacuated because they were industrial areas, ports and

airfields, which made them targets for German aircraft bombings.

Evacuation started in September 1939, when around d 1.5 million,

mainly school children, were moved from the main cities to the

countryside. Before the Germans invaded Poland – 1st September 1939,

Britain had told them that if they did, they would declare war on

them, and so, when they did, they left Britain with no choice. After

seeing the civilian killings in WWI, the British decided on

evacuation, and unlike some other European countries, they had the

time to plan it and carry it out before the German bombings

commenced. They used leaflets, radio messages and posters to try and

persuade parents how important evacuation was to the protection of

their children. A lot of people were affected by the policy, around

1.5 million in September alone were evacuated, most of which were in

the first week of the policy.

The Luftwaffe of WWII were a lot different to the Zeppelins of WWI,

as they were a lot more modern and had been developed since the update

in technology. They were faster, quieter and more equipped. The

Spanish Civil War showed people that the Germans meant business. They

had caused such devastation with their bombing raids on civilian