Liverpool in the Second World War
In thus essay I will explain the way people organised, modified and
managed in the war years of 1939 to 1945. The battle affected all of
Merseyside. It was a time of friendship and community spirit but also
of sadness and devastation.
The Port of Liverpool played an important role in the Second World
War, staying open to provide a very important supply route for the
UK's continual survival. It was a clear aim for German bombers. As a
result more than 4000 people died, 10,000 homes were smashed and
70,000 people made homeless during air raids which peaked with the May
blitz of 1941.
In the late 1930s, war with Germany became more and more likely.
Liverpool was such an important port that its people knew that they
would be targeted. They arranged to protect against bombs and gas and
to evacuate their children. Many dread that in the coming war poison
gas would be used against citizens. Britain, similar to Germany and
France, used gas as a weapon during the First World War. The Italians
used it against Ethiopians in 1936. There were two major types of
poison gas: phosgene attacked the lungs and mustard gas attacked the
skin. In 1938 the government distributed gas mask and told people how
to make their homes gas tight by taping up the windows. Particular
masks for young children and babies were issued in 1939. Every person
had to carry his or her mask at all times. People's terror of gas was
overstated. However, by safeguarding everyone, the government made it
less likely that the Germans would use it.
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In the coming war ...
... middle of paper ...
... laid off workers once existing contracts had been completed.
Liverpool was still a thriving port but the city and the country as a
whole were crippled by the cost of the war.
Germany surrendered on 8 May 1945, when the Allied forces closed in on
Germany from the east and west. The government declared VE day for
Victory in Europe. People planned street parties for the children and
shared rations to make cakes and jellies. They decorated the streets
with flags and bunting.
In July, there was a general election. Churchill was beaten and Labour
won by a landslide. Japan surrendered on 2 September after the Allies
dropped two atomic bombs on Japanese cities. VJ Day marked the end of
the war. After years of anxiety, hardship and sacrifice people knew
that they were finally safe. Service men and women began to come home.
World War One took a toll on everyone between 1914 and 1918. What were some of the main causes and effects of World War One?
Sister Claire Evelyn Trestrail was the eldest of five being born on the 10th of December, 1877 in Clare, South Australia. Trestrail served in the First World War as a nurse following in her mother’s footsteps who was a trained nurse, Acting Matron of King Edward Hospital in Perth and also had involvement within the Red Cross and the Saint John’s Ambulance Services. Trestrail’s younger siblings also had involvement within the First World War with her two younger brothers; John Henry and Amarald Glen, serving in the royal Flying Corps and respectively, 1 Machine Battalion. Amarald was also presented with a Military Medal for Gallantry at Villaret. Sister Ella also served as a nurse, got married, but tragically returned as an amputee. It was only her youngest sister Amy who did not serve during the war.
Outside of those two flaws, with the length of the book not being a problem,
The British Army and World War I In October 1915 the Derby Scheme was introduced; all men had to register and they were put into categories of age, marital status and occupation, under this scheme the young, unmarried and unskilled men were enlisted. In 1916 conscription was properly introduced in Britain to increase the size of the army. (b) During the course of the First World War, Britain was geared towards the aim of winning the war. Women of all social classes were involved in the war effort.
During W.W.I the Austrian wore the pike gray 1909 pattern tunic and trousers. They have three white stars on the collar which indicate Sergeants rank. Some have leather gaiters worn by mountain troops; others wore the ordinary trousers with the integral gaiter which fastened around the ankle with two buttons. Men and women wore tunics made of khaki serge flannel or cord. Most men, and some women, also wore leather cartridge pouches and a slouched hat. Women were seen wearing long, more fuller skirts. Blouses usually had a high neck line and the sleeves were full length. Women also wore their hair longer but usually pulled it back into a bun or pony tail. Fashions were very conservative. On the Eastern Front, German infantry wore white coats with fur on the inside. They did this for warmth and camouflage. They wore the field gray cap with black/white and red at the top, and state blockade on the band. The band was red for infantry, black for rifles and artillery, and brown for machine gun battalions. The German Army uniform began to change in 1915. They went from buttoned cuffs to a simple turned back cuff. During W.W.I. tobacco was not frequently used, but drinking tea and whisky was used more for entertainment and relaxation. During W.W.II. materials were scarce. Skirt hems were much shorter and skirts were more form fitting. The clothes could not have any cuff, ruffles or flap pockets. Pants could be no more than 19 inches wide. There were also shortages of fabric such as silk, rayon and nylon. American women were starting to become fashionable by wearing military hats, men's pants, and patches. Women also stopped wearing large jewelry such as bangles and beads. Short haircuts were considered much safer at work and less trouble. The short hairstyles became popular during the war. Men's suits were rationed and each man was only allowed one suit per year. Men were allowed to only have four cigarettes per day. The styles during W.W.I were not as conservative as the styles during W.W.II. The styles during W.W.II. indicate a shortage of products which mandated the fashion industry during that era for both men and women. The changing of the fashions from W.W.I. to W.W.II. show that men and women were becoming more in tune with fashion. Styles were not as conservative as they used to be.
The First World War A stalemate developed on the Western Front for four main reasons, one being that the Schlieffen plan failed, another reason was that the French were unable to defeat the Germans completely at the Battle of the Marne, another reasons was the "race to the Channel" and the last reason was that defending positions was far easier than attacking. The Schlieffen Plan failed for a number of reasons, one being that Moltke, the German commander, had altered the balance of the forces so that the right wing had only three times as many troops as the left wing and since the right wing was smaller it advanced more slowly than had been planned. Another reason was that there was more resistance from the Belgian army and then from British and French forces than had been expected and this slowed down the right wing and allowed the British and French forces to retreat and then counter-attack.
The U.S. in 1910 was a society where racial segregation was the norm. The Jim Crow laws of segregation were enacted between 1876 and 1965 in America segregating many if not all, public places for whites and blacks. African Americans were treated inferiorly and with no respect. World War I erupted in 1914, sending millions of soldiers from America to Europe. African Americans were sent along side Caucasians to fight in World War I due to there not being enough white soldiers in the military. Many African Americans felt as if they needed to prove their loyalty, respect and earn equality in America by battling in this war. African American soldiers being sent to the war wanted to prove their worthy of citizenship to America. WWI allowed a unique and significant opportunity for African Americans.
America’s involvement in World War II has often been equated to the Japanese waking the “sleeping giant”, and is often thought of as an invincible superpower. The reality is that the United States’ invincibility has never been really tested. The United States’ is separated from the rest of the Western world by an ocean on either side of its borders and has therefore only had two attacks on native soil. While America’s invincibility is not easily tested, and therefore not easily discredited, whether or not the Japanese awoke the “sleeping giant” by bombing Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, is, however, debatable. The American public before the attack on Pearl Harbor were isolationists, they may have felt sympathy for the victims of Hitler, Franco, and Mussolini, but did not in fact care enough to get involved in another war. The congressmen they elected into office from the late 1930’s to the early 1940’s respected the wishes of their constituents and therefore did everything in their power to prevent U.S involvement in World War II even after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. In fact one of the only Americans to appear at all concerned with the horrific events occurring across the ocean was President Franklin Roosevelt, however, despite pleas from the heads of the allied forces, even President Roosevelt could not entirely commit to the need for U.S involvement and remained a wishy-washy figure up until the late 1930’s. It was not until 1940, that President Roosevelt was able to take a stand and begin the attempts to talk the American people into actively supporting the allied forces against Nazi forces. The Japanese may get the credit for waking the “sleeping giant”, however, it is in fact President Roosevelt and a small portion of t...
Many historical events took place in the 20th century that will be remembered forever, but the one occurrence that everyone knows of and will forever be remembered was World War Two. World War Two, the greatest tragedy that has ever happened on the face of the earth, the genocide of Jewish people, a complete nightmare. When people think of WW2, many of the time the image of “those poor Jewish people” comes to mind. Many ask themselves how this could have happened. It just doesn’t make sense to them. Did people around the world at the time of WW2 have these kinds of deliberations? If they did have this kind of reflection then how did six million people perish? During the time leading up to the outbreak of World War II, the Western Press consistently carried numerous reports of the German's anti-Jewish policies and their purposeful victimization of the Jews living in Nazi Germany as well as the annexed territories. The general public cannot claim that they did not know what was going on, that they were uninformed. Whether or not they chose to believe it however, is a completely different story. The public were indeed outraged in many of the cases but the governments of the major European democracies felt that it was not for them to intervene for they felt that the Jewish problem classified as an internal affair within a sovereign state. The attempt to discover what exactly the people around the world did to save the Jewish race is not going to be an easy task but it is going to be a worthwhile one which should uncover a lot of unknown facts to many people.
World War II brought peace and economic prosperity to the Allied nations, which allowed for the fertility rate in North America to increase. This caused an explosion in the population of the U.S. especially, with around 78 million babies born by the end of the 1940s-1960s, according to Colombia Dictionary. Similarly, Canada experienced a surge of 479,000 babies following the 1950s (Henripin, Krotki 1). A large population amounts to a shift in demographics, and subsequently the social system of North America started to change gradually in order to adapt to the new baby boom generation. As a result of a new economic affluence in the continent, North American society became materialistic and consumerism seized a big part of the economy (Owram 309). Children became an important demographic for companies, leading to the toy industry benefitting and expanding (Gillion 5). Technology advanced considerably, too: in the 1950s, the television became a ground-breaking medium that helped people spread ideas, see what was going on in their country and the rest of the world, much like what the printing press did for the Renaissance. Although the post-WWII baby boom only occurred in a few countries, namely the U.S. and Canada, this time period transformed the West and the world immensely—the areas of life that were affected during the baby boom went on to greatly influence later generations and decades due to the change and reform it yielded, which replaced the outdated and unethical traditions of the old West and the world.
By 1917, World War I was the most brutal conflict that had ever been seen on the world stage. It was no longer a war that only involved the European powers, but also countries from all over the world including the United States. During the war, the total number of casualties reached over 37 million and over eight million lives were lost (“WWI Casualty and Death Tables” 1). The extremely high number of casualties was mostly caused by new developments in warfare technology. One of the most well remembered weapons of World War I was mustard gas. Mustard gas caused the soldiers’ skin and internal organs to blister and could be fatal, but could take anywhere from a week to an entire month to claim the lives of its victims from the inside out. Mustard gas has gone down in history as one of the most dreaded elements of the war. This horrific example of chemical weaponry is just one of the numerous amounts of new warfare technology used during the First World War, including other types of chemical weapons, machine guns, bombing techniques, airplanes, submarines and radio.
World War II was one of the most deadly wars we know in history, having as many as sixty million casualties, most of whom were civilians. It impacted a lot of countries, almost all the world, which is why the name is given. This war impacted many countries in the world, and damaged almost all of the countries involved greatly. It also led to the downfall of Western European countries as world powers, leaving it to the Soviet Union, and the United States. The war started in 1939 and ended in 1945, with the invasion of Poland and the Axis surrender, respectively. It changed the economy and the growth of big countries, including Germany, Great Britain, United States, Japan, Russia and France. Aside from this, Jews were greatly influenced too. They were damaged, but then gifted.
" The air was blue with smoke and this plus the tremendous heat from the boilers drew off the oxygen. Everyone suffered from the headaches and men who'd lived outdoors all their lives passed out because they couldn't breathe." (Findley, 58)
Have a seat, and with eyes shut, try to imagine this scenario. Nazis are forcing the Jewish into a “shower” without their consent. The anxiety in everyone is so incredibly notorious that it is almost visible. The innocent people tremble at the horrified shrieks onwards. As a Jew, panic sets in. After stumbling into the shower, a gas starts to fill the room. Everybody in the tightly packed room finds themselves no longer conscious. While gagging on the thick, murky air that brings fire to the throat, gasping for some clean air is everyone’s only desire. Sadly, purer air is a privilege nobody will ever experience again. Unfortunately, this abomination was the last ever to be seen. And if things couldn’t get any worse,
The beds that the prisoners slept on were made of straw. The Jewish Virtual Library clearly states, “ Dampness, leaky roofs, and the fouling of straw and straw mattresses by prisoners suffering from diarrhea made difficult living conditions worse.” The prisoners were never able to have a good rest or a breath of fresh air because of these conditions. There were diseases all around them. There was never any clean water supplied for the prisoners. Most people that drank the water from Auschwitz ended up dead. The barracks that the prisoners slept in had many insects and rats. The prisoners got thin tiny blankets and because it was so cold in the barracks, many prisoners ended up dying because of the harsh weather and the cold. Prisoners were timed to use the bathroom and could usually only use it for ten seconds. Ten prisoners were supposed to sleep on one bed, and they had to sleep sideways in order to fit. Auschwitz two was built on a swamp so the barracks were very wet which also caused diseases to spread faster. The prisoners were never given clean clothes to