The British wartime coalition

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Discuss the wartime coalition, May 1940 to May 1945: policies and personalities

Many people in Britain were immensely proud of having ‘won’ the war, though it would be more accurate to say that Britain’s great achievement was to keep the war going long enough for the Russians and Americans to win it. Britain came out of the war with the country badly battered and facing massive debts. Despite this, almost everyone believed the struggle had been worth it. Unlike 1918, the country was not full of a sense of loss and wasted lives. The war had produced a very strong sense of unity and purpose. People mostly accepted government restrictions as right and necessary. Most were ready for wartime planning to continue into the work of post-war reconstruction.

Two questions emerge: How the British government coped with the crisis and management of the national war effort?  How far did the impact of the war change the lives and attitudes of the British people.

From May 1940 until his defeat in the 1945 election, Winston Churchill led a coalition government that was a truly national one, bringing together politicians from all the leading parties. This coalition proved durable and effective, both in military strategy and in domestic affairs. Many of its key personalities established their political reputations during the war and then went on to have great influence in post-war Britain.

Britain was a long way from any thoughts of victory celebrations in May 1940, as the nation faced the treat of invasion and seemed to stand alone in its fight against Nazism. Two interconnected crises were looming. The first was military – following the disastrous failure of the Norway Campaign and the rapid advances of German forced through France. The second crisis was political – because both the politicians and the people had lost faith in the British PM, Neville Chamberlain.

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When the scale of the military crisis became clear in 1940, Chamberlain began to face increasing criticism from groups within his own party, from most of the Labour party and from the press. There were various reasons for this. His policy of appeasement had been popular at first but public opinion began to turn against it after Hitler annexed Czechoslovakia, and moreover invaded Poland in 1939. Chamberlain was also criticized for failing to procure an alliance with Soviet Russia to deter Hitler; and for underestimating Hitler’s aggressive intentions. In April 1940, Chamberlain boasted that ‘Hitler had missed the bus’ ...

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