WWII and the British Home Front

Paper Summary:

On the home front, Britain was affected in a multitude of ways by the Second World War. First, the paper discusses how the war permeated people's daily lives through rationing, blackouts, air raids, the destruction of homes, limited transportation, and the interruption of education, and how all this failed to lower morale. Secondly, the paper examines the rise of war work and the entry of women into traditionally male jobs. Finally, the paper discusses the social effects of the war: the effects of women's re-entry into the workforce, the evacuation of children, the wartime attitude of egalitarianism, the many ways in which civilians came into contact with people whom they would otherwise never meet, and the effect of war on the arts. The paper concludes that the war affected every aspect of civilian life. Many of these effects positively expanded a citizen's experience, while others were hardships surprisingly well-endured. Some of these effects of the war would have lasting consequences into peace time.

From the Paper:

"Many children, especially those of the working class, were sent away to less vulnerable locations for the duration of the war. Angus Calder claims "Evacuation failed," but this is an exaggeration. Beginning on 1 September 1939, "1,473,500 people left the cities for rural billets under the official aegis" in the "phoney" war. Bombs did not fall for another eleven months, but this was an excellent test run. The Second Evacuation began August 1940 and the third in 1944. Mothers and children evacuated, along with "homeless persons, expectant mothers, children in nurseries, camps and hostels, old people, the crippled, the blind, civil defence personnel and emergency medical staff." Churchill thought this was defeatism, but it was not viewed as unpatriotic by the populace. The evacuation scheme became primarily "a receiver of social casualties" by 1941, and not a means of taking children to safety."

More papers on WWII and the British Home Front:

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• Analytical Essay # 131466 : "Separation of Powers and the British Constituiton"
• Essay # 60046 : "Operation Cornflakes"

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