Evacuation Of British Children During World War 2 Essay

Evaluation of the Success of the Evacuation of British Children During World War II

Source Based

In this essay I will evaluate a number of sources and compare them with my own knowledge. This will help me answer the question, do you agree or disagree with the interpretation, 'Evacuation was a great success.' Evacuation started at the beginning of World War Two and involved children that lived in cities that were under threat from the Luftwaffe. The aim of the government was to save as many children as possible from the Nazi bombs. Whilst answering the question I must take this into account.

Firstly, I will evaluate sources that show Evacuation to be a failure. Firstly I will look at source A an

The source was written by a teacher at the time of evacuation which makes it primary. It is an account of her experiences at the time of the event but as it is a write up of an interview almost fifty years after evacuation she may well have forgotten parts. This makes the source less reliable. As it is an interview, it is informative, the source will probably have a wide audience. I don't see any reason for her to be bias. The source agrees with what I have learnt as I know children were afraid at the beginning of the evacuation process partly because they left their mothers behind which is also stated in the source. It doesn't tell us what the children were thinking or what they wore but apart from that it is a very useful source . I think this because it tells us many things, however, it was written a long time after the event. All the things it says agree with what I have learnt making it accurate there is no reason for it to be bias. To conclude, the source shows evacuation to be a failure because

Also the source leaves out or contradicts important facts about evacuation that I have learnt which doesn't make the extract accurate or useful. Much like source D, the source shows evacuation to be a success as the children were in a happy environment. The source however cannot be trusted in giving us evidence about evacuation.

Overall, I think all the sources tell me something about evacuation. The sources that show evacuation to be a success are mostly unreliable so we cannot trust them. The sources that show evacuation to be a failure are mostly reliable. From the evidence I have looked at, I would have to come to the conclusion that evacuation was a failure. However, I said at the beginning of the essay that the main aims of the government were to save as many children as possible. Although many children or carers were unhappy, the sources do show that children were evacuated and kept safe which was what the government aimed to do. From what I have learnt, there were many successful parts of the evacuation, many children enjoyed their experiences. Many children didn't enjoy their experiences though and found it hard