The popular myth of the battle of Britain quickly emerged during the early part of the war. However, not all later interpritations fully follow it. Why?

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The popular myth of the battle of Britain quickly emerged during the early part of the war.  However, not all later interpritations fully follow it.  Why?

Once France surrendered on the 17th of june, and britain rejected the negotiated surrender put forward by Hitler in july 1940, it was clear that Hitler would try to invade Britain, and that air superiority would be the key to this.  Without air superiority Hitler could not safely transport his troops across the channel, but if Britain retained air superiority they could easily prevent the German Blitskreig land attack from taking place.  Hitler set the date for 'operationsealion' on the 15th of september, and the Battle of Britain began.                Hitler gathered together a huge fleet of ships and special barges to transport the army across the channel as well as gigantic gliders to airlift his paratroops.  His airforce, the luftwaffe,consisted of  1,100 effective fighters, mostly messerschmitt 109s and 110s.  The 109s were second only to the British spitfires.  He also commanded 1,600 bombers, mostly derniers ad heinkels.  The Britsh RAF had about 850 fighters made up of spitfires and hurricanes.  The spitfire was the best fighter of all, the hurricanes were the third best.

        The popular myth of the Battle of Britain was first developed at the time of the battle and during the later stages of world war two.  Most interpritations which were created during the war reflect the popular myth.  Thepopular myth consists mainly of two facts; The Battle of Britainwas important, and was britains salvation and her "finest hour", it was also a great contributor to making sure the right side won the war.  the second point it enforces is that the victory was due mostly to the efforts of the pilots who took part, they were "the few".  This myth was widely accepted as the truth by most people and is still held strongly today.  The myth was established quickly in the early part of the war, it was used to unite people in the war effort and to raise morale. the government popularised this view through propoganda, it was a reflection of the popular mood at the time which the government put to use for its own purposes.  the popular myth is shown by a great variety of credible sources.

        An example of the influence of the popular myth is the speeches given by churchill on the events of the Battle of Britain at the time of the war.  Churchil gave this famous speeech to the house of commons on the 18th of june 1940, and remade the speech on the radio later that evening.  Most people today are familiar with the words "their finest hour" which were said by churchill in this speech.  These speeches were made to not only show the importance of Britains survival in saving the rest of the world from Nazi conquest, but it also shows that this victory rested on the efforts of "the few".  These speeches are good examples of wartime propoganda as they describe to the people the great strenght of their own nation and assurre them that the war will be won.  This piece is also important as it shows how the British people were trying to appeal for American support.  The way in which Churchill says that if they fail the world will "sink into the abyss of a dark new age", and makes specific reference to America "including the United States" as though to remind them of their involvement in the war, even if they were far away.  this interpritation is very baised as its main agendaseems to be the rallying of American support and the strenghtening of morale.  The time at which these speeches were made, was too soo to the war to be able to give an accurate overview and so would not be accurate in a larger context.  It also seems that Churchill gives more importance to the Battle of Britain than is necesary and omits many facts such as the casualties that Britain suffered as a result of the Battle of Britain, and the other factors which helped Britain to win the battle.  Although this is a piece of propoganda, it is first hand , and was written by the prime minister which gives it a fair amount of credibility.  The Prime minister would have been very well informed and he is known to be very good at capturing the mood of the people at wartime.  he is also very popular and this means that he is relating what the public either believes or wants to hear.

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        The third interpritation is an extract from The last Enemy by Richard Hillaryin 1942.  The extract was written about two years after the Battle of Britain, and the main point seems to be to emphasize the role of the pilots in triumphing over the evil of the nazis.  This is a first hand account of the bob, and he captures the mood of the time very well.  This autobiography is obviously very baised and is a personal view of the events.  He concentrates only on the pilostand mentions no other contributing factors.  This book was a bestseller and is regarded ...

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