Transcript What was the Blitz?

In war, how do you know who your
enemy is? What do they look like?
How did war change during the early
1900’s?
Origins of WW I
• The causes of WW I are still controversial.
• Some origins of the war can be seen as far back
as the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71), and the
resulting Unification of Germany.
• Two rival sets of powers had a variety of conflicts:
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Political
Territorial
Economic
Militaristic
The U.K. in WW I, 1914-1918
The Allied Powers:
Britain, France, Russia, Italy, United States, and a
few others
Fought against the Central Powers:
Germany
Austria-Hungary
Ottoman Empire
Bulgaria
Regions
where
fighting
took place
in World
War I
1
13
2
3
1 Western European
Front
2 Eastern European
Front
3 Italian Front
4 Balkan Front
5 Palestine/Syria
6 Iraq
7 Arabia
8 German Togoland
9 German Cameroons
10 German East Africa
11 German Southwest
Africa
12 German Pacific Islands
13 Qingdao 1914
12
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5
6
7
8
9
10
11
The U.K. in WW I, 1914-1918
The creation of the Royal Air Force
Forced conscription1 introduced in Jan. 1916
Largest volunteer army in history  2+ million
Outbreak of war was a socially unifying event
The pubic supported the government
More women joined workforce for the 1st time
1Conscription
– required enlistment in the armed services
The U.K. in WW I, 1914-1918
Winning the right to vote:
1918 – all men over 21 years of age
women over 30 (with property)
1928 – all women over 21 years of age
WW I Statistics
A. 17+ million people killed
1. 11 million military personnel
a. 6+ million Allies
b. 4+ million Central Powers
c.
2/3 in battle, 1/3 disease & while prisoners
2. 7 million civilians
B. 20+ million people wounded
WW I Statistics
Country
Total
Mobilized
Forces
Killed
Wounded
Prisoners
and
Missing
Total
Casualties
As % of
Forces
Russia
12,000,000
1,700,000
4,950,000
2,500,000
9,150,000
76.3
British
Empire
8,904,467
908,371
2,090,212
191,652
3,190,235
35.8
France
8,410,000
1,357,800
4,266,000
537,000
6,160,800
73.3
Italy
5,615,000
650,000
947,000
600,000
2,197,000
39.1
United
States
4,355,000
116,516
204,002
4500
323,018
7.1
Japan
800,000
300
907
3
1210
0.2
The U.K. in WW II, 1939-1945
The Allied Powers:
Australia, Canada, China, France, India, New
Zealand, Poland, United Kingdom, United
States, USSR, and many others
Fought against the Axis Powers:
Germany
Italy
Japan
and a few others
Why did World War II start ?
• Same conditions as those preceding WW I
• Italian Fascism in the 1920’s
• Japanese invasions of China in the 1930’s
• Hitler & Nazis take over Germany in 1933
Why did World War II start ?
Britain & France declared war
on Germany after it invaded
Poland in Sept 1939
Germany wanted an Empire (it
used to be a lot bigger), but
Britain & France said that it
was wrong to invade another
country.
How did World War II change British
peoples’ lives?
• The Blitz
• Regularly lost family and friends
• Lost security – all they knew was gone in
seconds
• Raid shelters – bringing people together
• Civil Defense – volunteers (1.9 million)
working together for a common cause
• Evacuated children – parents and children
separated for long periods of time
Air Raid (Bomb) Shelters
What was the Blitz?
From German Blitzkrieg, “Lightning War”
Sustained strategic bombing of the United
Kingdom by Nazi Germany during WW II
On 7 September 1940, the first big air raid hit
London.
London and 15 other British cities were bombed
night after night.
What was the Blitz?
London was attacked 71 times.
The Blitz lasted for almost 37 weeks.
The Blitz did not end until May 1941.
• By that time, 1,400,000 people were made
homeless in London.
• Across the UK, 43,000 people were killed.
A Family’s Experience
’’ When morning came we left the public
shelter and made our way home. There
was no home. All that was left was a
pile of bricks. We had nowhere to live
except the public air raid shelter, and
that was to be our house for 6 months.’’
This happened to
thousands of
people.
The Blitz
• The Germans thought
that if they made
British people suffer,
they would ask their
government to
surrender.
Chronicles of Narnia Clip
What does the ‘Spirit of the Blitz’ mean?
The real Spirit of the Blitz was when the people came
together and helped each other. Civil Defense Forces
would help find people in bombed out houses, people
would take a homeless family in to live with them, and
strangers would help clean up around the city. The
CDF would dig for days in bombed out buildings if
there was any chance of a person being buried alive.
People didn’t give up. Everybody helped each other,
which gave them a determination to survive.
What does the ‘Spirit of the Blitz’ mean?
What do these pictures tell us about how people
dealt with the air raids?
Manchester Cathedral, bombed
on Christmas Eve, 1940
Service at Manchester
Cathedral, Christmas Day 1940
Children Evacuated
• 827,000 left their homes
• Went to the countryside
• Separated from parents
• Children stood in line and
locals picked them out
• Sometimes large houses had
many children living
together
A real letter
written by a child
who was evacuated
to the countryside
during the Blitz
Propaganda
The War Effort at Home in Britain
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Women worked in factories & other “men’s jobs”
Women worked on farms (Women’s Land Army)
Children collected metal to be melted
Clothes and food were rationed
People grew their own food in gardens
Civil Defense – watched for enemy planes or fires
Air Raids – Organized rescue efforts with firefighters
and ambulance teams.
• Women’s Volunteer Service – Provided food & tea for
workers
WW II Statistics
• World War II was the deadliest military conflict
in history in absolute numbers of total dead.
• Over 60 million people were killed, about 3%
of the 1940 world population (est. 2.3 billion)
• Total military dead: 21 to 25 million, including
deaths in captivity of about 5 million prisoners
of war.
Country
China
Military Deaths
Total Deaths
3,000,000 to
3,750,000
15,000,000 to
20,000,000
Germany
4,440,000 to
5,318,000
6,900,000 to
7,400,000
Japan
2,100,000 to
2,560,000
2,500,000 to
3,238,000
Poland
240,000
5,900,000 to
6,000,000
United Kingdom
383,700
450,900
United States
407,300
419,400
USSR
8,668,000 to
10,922,000
27,000,000
Final Exam
Week 16
Wednesday, December 21
6:30 to 8:00 PM
Building G, Room 101