Why did the British government decide to evacuate children from Britain's major cities in the early years of the second world war?

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History Coursework

02/11/2003

Why did the British government decide to evacuate children from Britain’s major cities in the early years of the second world war?

During world war 2 children were evacuated in their thousands from London and other major cities to be dispersed to more secluded rural regions, out of range of German bombers flying from occupied France, or less at risk of attack. For many young evacuees, forced to live for years in some cases with strange people and in unfamiliar places, it was often a traumatic displacement. The policy may have saved many children, but it was later looked on as excessive and was reversed as the war progressed. The first mass bombing of civilians took place in 1937, during the Spanish Civil War. German planes destroyed the town of Guernica. The pictures were broadcast internally, and shocked the world.

The destruction of Guernica convinced governments around the world that bombing civilian targets would be a feature of modern warfare. They were convinced that they would not be able to protect their citizens. British government believed its declaration of war would be quickly followed by massive German air attacks on Britain’s population. Which then the costs of casualties would raise, there wouldn’t be enough space and recourses in hospitals, and Britain would have an increased number of deaths.

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In the first few days of September 1939, nearly 3,000,000 people were transported to the countryside, which were mostly children, others including pregnant women and other vulnerable people such as the disabled. Some were also sent overseas to commonwealth countries such as Australia and South Africa, mainly to reduce the number of deaths in the country. They thought that they would be home before Christmas. It was usually the poorer children were not used to travelling. The wealthier family children were not upset on an average compared to the other. This was because they were used to travelling and being ...

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