After Dunkirk Britain was the only European power still capable of resisting Germany. The German leadership was well aware that, in order to implement their plans for the complete domination of Europe, which involved an attack on the Soviet Union, Britain must either be convinced to negotiate a peace settlement or be defeated militarily so as to eliminate the possibility of Germany being forced into a two front war. As there was little or no desire on the part of the British government to sue for peace with
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Germany the only remaining option was for the Germans to invade and thus eliminate the threat Britain posed to German war aims. To accomplish this, however, it would be necessary to defeat the Royal Air Force in order to establish air superiority over the English Channel as this was required to ensure the safety of the German invasion fleet. With this goal in mind the Germans launched the offensive which became known as the Battle of Britain and the defence of their island against this attack was to become the most important accomplishment in a long line of accomplishments throughout British history.
Having placed the Battle of Britain in its historical context attention must now be turned to the course of the battle itself. At the outset of the battle the Royal Air Force faced what appeared to be insurmountable odds as the Germans possessed approximately 900 bombers, 250 dive-bombers, 190 twin-engined fighter aircraft, and 630 single-seat fighter aircraft. To defend against this armada the Royal Air Force could employ only about 600 single-seat fighters. The Germans also enjoyed the advantage of being able to determine both when, and where, they would launch their attacks. The Royal Air Force, however, enjoyed two distinct advantages over the Germans. The first of these was radar. An elaborate network had been constructed throughout Britain which gave advanced warning of impending attacks. As a result the British were able to marshal their forces to meet the greatest threats while not committing their limited resources to feints designed
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to draw them into battle in advance of the main attack. In addition, the British were fighting over their own soil and this enabled them to rescue downed pilots who could quickly return to the fray. The Germans enjoyed no such advantage and their pilots, when shot down over British territory, were lost for the duration of the war.
The Battle of Britain took place in distinct stages. The first of these, which began 10 July 1940, was characterised by attacks on shipping in the English Channel which were designed to draw the Royal Air Force into battle. This goal was not accomplished as Air Chief Marshall Sir Hugh Dowding was unwilling to commit his forces under such unfavourable conditions. The Germans, however, soon began to intensify their attacks on convoys in the Channel as well as against English ports and Dowding had little choice but to respond. The fighting which took place at this time was intense but worse was yet to come.
The next stage of the battle began on 15 August 1940 and involved attacks against aircraft factories, radar installations, and fighter bases which were designed to destroy both the aircraft, as well as the infrastructure, of the Royal Air Force. On the first day of this phase the Luftwaffe employed over a thousand aircraft of which the Royal Air Force shot down 180. In the first ten days of this stage of the battle, the Royal Air Force lost 153 aircraft. The German Luftwaffe, on the other hand, lost 697 during the same period. The Germans intensified their attacks and, unbeknownst to them, came close to destroying the Royal Air Force’s ability to fight back. Then, however, came a turning
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point in history. In response to these repeated attacks Winston Churchill had ordered that the Royal Air Force should launch raids against military targets within Germany. It was Britain’s only method of fighting back, and was employed out of desperation, yet these attacks had the unanticipated effect of enraging Hitler to the extent that he issued orders declaring that the Luftwaffe was to turn its attention to the bombing of British cities. The lull caused by this change in tactics allowed the Royal Air Force time to regroup. In addition, the attacks on British cities, particularly London and Coventry, served only to enrage the British public thus entrenching their resolve to withstand whatever devastation the Germans chose to unleash. Casualties sustained during the Blitz caused the Germans to rethink their tactics yet again and they determined that night attacks would better serve their cause. At the same time they decided to postpone Operation Sealion indefinitely. Despite the fact that the battle was to continue for several weeks it was at this point, although it was not apparent at the time, that the Germans lost the Battle of Britain and, thus, the Second World War.
This examination of both the historical context, as well as the course of the battle itself, clearly demonstrates that, by defeating the Luftwaffe, the Royal Air Force and, by extension, the British people had accomplished an epic feat of arms but what sets this victory apart as the most important moment in British history? Surely the Magna Carta, the defeat of the Spanish Armada, or the Bill of Rights must rank higher on the scale of British accomplishments than the successes of 1940? While a valid case can be made that any of these events might constitute a greater achievement than victory in the Battle of Britain the fact of the matter is that this is simply not the case. Each of these events is
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highly significant but none of them ensured, as did victory in 1940, the survival of western civilization. Examining counter-factuals is highly problematic for historians as they are meant to deal in facts rather than conjecture. Despite this it is safe to surmise what might have happened had the Royal Air Force failed to defeat the Luftwaffe in 1940. If this had occurred it is extremely unlikely that Britain would have sued for peace with Germany. The only alternative, then, would have been a German invasion of Britain. If this had come to pass Germany would not have been forced to fight a two front war after launching Operation Barbarossa and it is entirely possible that they would have managed to defeat the Russians as they would have been able to devote more forces to the Eastern Front than was actually the case.
In Mein Kampf Adolph Hitler had proclaimed that the National Socialist movement and, by extension, the German people must, “. . . strive to eliminate the disproportion between our population and our area—viewing this latter as a source of food as well as a basis for power politics . . .” This quest for lebensraum formed the basis of National Socialist foreign policy and, thus, Germany’s war aims. By defeating Britain and then Russia Germany would not only have succeeded in its quest for lebensraum but would also have seized control of all of Europe. Had this occurred the course of history would have been unimaginably altered as the Nazis would then have had a free hand throughout Europe. With nobody to challenge them the Nazis would likely have succeeded in their quest to exterminate the Jews of Europe. The Holocaust
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was an act of brutality unequalled in human history and the possibility of the Nazis being able to complete this genocide is, therefore, unthinkable. Based upon this alone Britain’s victory in 1940 ranks as the most important accomplishment in its long and storied history. The significance of their victory does not end there, however, as a German invasion of Britain would have assured that Europe did not emerge stronger, either socially or economically, from World War II. Had this happened North America’s economy might never have expanded as it did thus ensuring that neither Americans nor Canadians were able to enjoy the standard of living they achieved in the years after the war.
German domination of Europe would not have guaranteed that the Cold War did not occur for it surely would have albeit in a slightly different form. A German victory would have entrenched them, rather than the Soviet Union, as America’s opponent during the Cold War and it is entirely possible, given the other atrocities committed by the Nazis, that Germany would have resorted to the use of a nuclear bomb, which they would surely have developed, if they ever felt sufficiently threatened during the post war period. The heightened possibility of a nuclear confrontation which would have resulted from a German victory in 1940 is almost as terrifying as the reality of the Holocaust.
For these reasons, then, Britain’s victory in the Battle of Britain must surely be regarded as the most significant event in the nation’s history. This is not to take away from the significance of accomplishments such as the Magna Carta, the defeat of the Spanish Armada, or the Bill of Rights for these were certainly great accomplishments for both Britain as a nation and mankind as a whole but none of these, nor any of the other
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momentous events of British history, can be said to have ensured the survival of civilization as we know it in the same way as did victory in the Battle of Britain. This victory in the summer and fall of 1940, as well as the possible consequences it prevented, demonstrate the accuracy of Winston Churchill’s statement that “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”
Bibliography
Churchill, Randolph S. Into Battle: Speeches by the Right Honourable Winston S. Churchill. London: Cassell and Company, 1941.
Commanger, Henry Steele. The Story of the Second World War. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1945.
Eubank, Keith. World War II: Roots and Causes. New York: D.C. Heath and Company, 1992.
Hoyle, Martha Byrd. A World In Flames: A History of World War II. New York: Atheneum, 1970.
Miller, Francis Trevelyan. History of World War II. Toronto: Dominion Book and Bible House, 1945.
Parker, R.A.C. The Second World War: A Short History. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989.
Young, Brigadier Peter. World War 1939-1945: A Short History. London: Arthur Barker Limited, 1966.
Blitzkrieg or Lightning War.
The so-called ‘Pact of Steel’.
Codenamed ‘Operation Barbarossa’.
The proposed invasion was codenamed ‘Operation Sealion’ and was scheduled to begin 15 September,
1940.
R.A.C. Parker, The Second World War: A Short History (Oxford, 1989), p. 48.
Despite the elaborate nature of this network a gap did exist on the west coast of England but the Germans
never became aware of this and were, therefore, unable to exploit it.
Martha Byrd Hoyle, A World In Flames: A History of World War II (New York, 1970), p. 52.
Francis Trevelyan Miller, History of World War II (Toronto, 1945), p. 225.
Brigadier Peter Young, World War 1939-1945: A Short History (London, 1966), p. 74.
Henry Steele Commanger, The Story of the Second World War (Boston, 1945), p. 88.
The practice of attempting to answer the ‘What ifs?’ of history.
Adolph Hitler, “Mein Kampf”, as quoted in: Keith Eubank World War II: Roots and Causes (New York,
1992), p. 37.
Winston S. Churchill, in a speech delivered to the House of Commons, 20 August 1940. As quoted in
Randolph S. Churchill, Into Battle: Speeches by the Right Honourable Winston S. Churchill (London,
1941), p. 259.