Explain Why British Civilians Were Affected By World War
...children. There were five main reasons why civilians were affected; this was due to economic impact, responsibility to protect civilians, government preparation plans, the improvement and increase in war technology and the changing tactics of Hitler. World War II was different from World War I; it was a total war. Britain had gone to war because Hitler invaded Poland. Britain had made a treaty to Poland saying that she would protect her if she was ever invaded. Hitler had wanted the 3 million Germans living in Poland, to be united with Germany because he believed that Poland was persecuting the Germans who were living there. Also the Allies had realised that Hitler wouldn’t stop until he got all of Europe and they were afraid of his rising power. It was estimated that 67,800 civilians were either killed or missing, injured or in hospital.
One of the reasons that affected civilians was the changing tactics of Hitler. This affected civilians because they were the target now. In July 1940, after defeating France, Belgium and the Netherlands, Hitler planned for an invasion of Britain, called Operation Sealion. He sent the Luftwaffe to destroy Britain's Royal Air Force this later became known as the Battle of Britain. It was essential for Hitler to control the sky because this was the only way he could make a successful invasion of Britain. Hitler first tried to defeat the military army however, this didn’t seem to work so he decided to attack the civilians instead, he hoped that these damages to the population would weaken the morale and lead to the British publics demand for surrender. Hitler had before attacked in the daylight however the RAF, who controlled the skies during the daylight, put a good fight and this forced Hitler to change his tactics and start bombing at night. London, amongst Portsmouth, Coventry, Bristol, Manchester and Southampton, were being...
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