The British Faced the Blitz with Courage and Unity is a Myth
Use the sources, and your own knowledge. To explain whether you agree
with this statement.
In this question I am asked if I agree or disagree with the statement
'The impression that the British faced the blitz with courage and
unity is a myth' by using the sources and my own knowledge. I disagree
with this statement to a certain extent because there is many useful
sources telling me how well the British people worked together as a
nation against Germany. However there are a few sources that tell me
how the British people were panicking and the government was loosing
control of the people.
The Blitz was on the 7/9/1940 the German air force had bombed the main
places like east London. The main aims of the Blitz were to break the
morale of the British people by destroying their homes and to destroy
transport and industry. The effects of the Blitz were blackouts,
bombings, people dieing, evacuation and gas masks. The blitz was
period of intense bombing of London and other cities that continued
until the following May. For the next consecutive 57 days, London was
bombed either during the day or night. Residents ran to shelters
wherever they could find it and many fled to the Underground stations.
Londoners and the world were introduced to a new weapon of terror and
destruction in the arsenal of twentieth century warfare. The Blitz
ended on May 11, 1941 when Hitler called off the raids in order to
move his bombers east in preparation for Germany's invasion of Russia.
Source A is a book from 'Waiting For The All Clear' to celebrate the
fifth anniversary of the blitz. This...
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...ing and queen were safe in their palace. I can infer that
things must be really bad in autumn 1940 in the East end because the
King and Queen are the last two people they would be expected to boo.
I can also infer that the government at this time might not be liked
or trusted either. However, this source refers to the East End. One of
the worst hit areas and so may not give a full picture.
I have come to the conclusion that the British people had faced the
blitz with courage and unity but with some help from the government by
using propaganda. This was the main weapon for the government to keep
the morale high so that people showed courage and determination in the
blitz. However the British's people did panic once war broke out as
sources E and F support this by telling us people were worried and
were fleeing London.
“The war correspondent is responsible for most of the ideas of battle which the public possesses … I can’t write that it occurred if I know that it did not, even if by painting it that way I can rouse the blood and make the pulse beat faster – and undoubtedly these men here deserve that people’s pulses shall beat for them. But War Correspondents have so habitually exaggerated the heroism of battles that people don’t realise that real actions are heroic.”
Why the Major Cities of Britain were Bombed by the Germans in 1940 and 1941
Five years following the Second World War, the setting of 1950s England is skillfully illustrated, as the nation is no longer much of a powerhouse. The way of life that has fulfilled the de Luce family is waning, as economic realism and modern life approach the under-funded country pile. Bradley captures the distinct era in history, a mixture of post-war adversity and the Empire coming to its end. Flavia is bemused; uninformed of the physiological effects the war had placed...
At the beginning of the war, the preconceptions of each side show exactly why Britain was destined for failure. On the American team,
In this essay I will explain the battle between Germany and Britain, discuss how important winning this battle was, what Britain had that the Germans did not have, and what could have happened if Britain would have lost. It is known cleverly as “the Battle of Britain”.
Why the Major Cities of Britain Were Bombed by the Germans in 1940 - 1941
Shortly after the Battle of Britain Sir Winston Churchill, the prime minister of Great Britain, is quoted as exclaiming, "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few." The few that Churchill was referring to were the brave aircrew that undertook the daunting task of repelling the massive offensive by the dreaded German air corps, the Luftwaffe. In the year 1940 Adolf Hitler ordered an offensive in coordination with an attempted invasion of the isle of Britain. The only way Hitler was going to accomplish this great feat was the assert the power of his Air Force. In November of 1940 after months of constant bombardment of the English coastal cities, the Royal Air Force of Britain was ordered to begin attack on Germany. This rather inexperienced group of rookie pilots was successfully able to repel the German attacks and force Hitler into a direct attack upon London. It was this major flaw in the German invasion plan that caused the defeat of Germany just a few years later. The unknown story is that of the pilots that defeated the German squadrons. Of these pilots roughly sixty percent were Canadian born pilots and over seventy-five percent were Canadian trained. Without the contribution of the Canadian Royal Air Force contingent, the British would not have been able to affectively defend England from the attack of the German Luftwaffe.
Christmas Under fire is a World War II propaganda film created by the G.P.O film unit under the instruction of the Ministry of Information. It was released in 1941 in an attempt to get the isolated United States to engage Germany and the Axis powers in World War II. The purpose of the film according to the director Harry Watt was to make Americans feel “Uncomfortable while they celebrated Christmas.”(Sarah Street, 79). The film showed the Christmas of 1940 which occurred at the height of the Blitz of London. The Blitz of London was a period of intense aerial bombing of London and the surrounding area. These attacks happened in night-time raids to instill fear and destroy the morale of the British people. The government used its control over the media to maintain the appearance that life was going on as normal despite the nightly bombings. This is apparent in other propaganda films, such as “London can take it”. Which is the prequel to Christmas under Fire.
To write this book the author, John Toland, had to devote 15 years researching different stories from all sides of the war. He studied war memoirs, interviewed war veterans, and read military documents. While doing this he focused on both the allied and axis forces to truly understand both sides of the story and be able to write such a descriptive and accurate piece of work. This research was used in the book to describe the unlikely victory of the Americans over the Germans during the “Battle of the Bulge”.
Resnick p. 15. However, these events infuriated Hitler who refused to believe that the Germans had been defeated fairly on the battlefield.... ... middle of paper ... ...
the Germans for the first time in the war. The Battle of Britain was a
Peter Weir re-created one of the biggest historical events in New Zealand through the tragic tale of Archy Hamilton, an innocent boy who lost his life in Gallipoli during 1915. The audience is emotionally weaved into the film by use of music, dialogue, tracking shots and close ups to create a climax of a despairing ending to the film Gallipoli. Courage was the main theme communicated by Weir throughout the film. The film exposes an underlying message for teenagers, to be brave in our everyday lives when wanting to achieve your goals
In order to fully comprehend the reasons for Churchill’s speech and the vast response of relief from the population, one must understand the events leading up to its giving. On June 4
Six hours later, France would also declare war on Germany. In May 1940, Britain would get a more aggressive pro-war leader, Winston Churchill, to replace Neville Chamberlain. Later that month, on May 26, 1940, in the face of a large-scale German attack, British soldiers on the home front were forced to perform one of the largest evacuations in history, The Evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk on the Belgian coast. From July through October, the British people suffered during the Battle of Britain, which was a lot of intense German bombings. But, the Royal Air Force successfully defended its homeland from the German Luftwaffe, and the Nazis were unable to crush British morale.
The Second World War marked one of the most important eras in the history of the British Empire. Never before had the British isles faced a threat quite like the Nazi menace across the English Channel. Yet, Britain’s situation could be viewed as even more precarious once one considers the state of Britain’s economy, but more importantly war machine, at the outbreak of the war. Years of austerity during the Great Depression had left her armies in serious decay, while Germany had built arguably the strongest military in the world. Yet, Winston Churchill’s famous “Their Finest Hour” speech illustrates a level of confidence in victory that many Brits carried. And, this was in no small part due to the fact that they knew that they had the rest of the British Empire supporting their cause. Through the empire’s contribution of both materials and