Evacuation of Children in World War I

Evacuation of Children in World War I

There are many reasons why children in the First World War were

evacuated. One of the main reasons was the fear of bomb and gas

attacks. This was a big problem because the advancement in technology

since the First World War the government knew and expected that cities

would be bombed, and thought that gas would be used.

Early on it was made clear that an invasion was imminent and that when

the war started there would be devastating air raids. there was

however a new fear the fear of gas from the air. So early posters

showed women and children against a backdrop of devastation. It was

feared that there would be many casualties and lots of them would be

children. After Dunkirk in 1940 Britain was close to invasion. So

pressure was put on parents to send the children to the safety of the

countryside.

The government knew that if they called off the evacuation and let the

children stay in the cities when the air raids started there would be

lots of deaths because of collapsing buildings. also the damaged

buildings would not be safe. Because children would play on them and

this could cause more deaths. This will also make lots of panic around

the cities and people will not know what to do. So if the parents sent

their kids away they would not have to worry about them. Because they

would know that they would be far away from the air raids and not in

any danger at all. So there would not be as much panic.

Mothers didn't want their kids to go away. They said surely if a war

came it would be better for families to stick together and not go

breaking up their homes. But the government new that if they let the

children stay in the city's with their mothers then they couldn't

release mothers for war work. Which would mean there would not be

enough workers to help the war.

Also if there was lots of damage to city's and there was lots of