Source A is a painting by Charles Cundall, who was sent by the British Government to make an official painting of the events at Dunkirk. The painting shows the troops being rescued from the Dunkirk beaches and we can see that there are thousands of men and many boats and ships of different sizes. The source also shows us that there is a Blitzkrieg attack being carried out by the German Luftwaffe. We can also see that the men waiting on the beaches are lined up in queues. What the source doesn’t show, however, is any emotion. We cannot see the soldiers' faces so we can't even guess what they are feeling nor can we see exact numbers or facts. The artist of this painting was given an artistic license, which means he didn’t have to produce an accurate painting. The fact that he is British means he would have probably produced a painting the aim of which would have been to keep the morale of the British population high. Another reason that Source A cannot be relied upon is that the source is secondary: the artist wasn’t there at the time. This source agrees with the quote “Dunkirk was a great deliverance and a great disaster” as it shows both men being rescued, the Blitzkrieg attack and boats that have capsized.
Source B is a photograph of the Dunkirk beaches. It clearly shows the troops waiting in queues to be rescued. This source is reliable, but not so useful. The fact that it is a photograph means it cannot be biased and is showing an aspect of what really happened. It almost certainly wouldn’t have been staged, as the photographer wouldn’t make the troops do this in a situation like this. The only thing significant thing we can see from this photograph, however, is that the men are in queues. It doesn’t show the water, so we can’t see any boats. The source doesn’t show the soldiers’ feelings and it doesn’t give a big enough picture to provide sufficient enough evidence to either agree or disagree with the quote. However, it does agree with Source A in the way that they both show men lined in queues. It is possible that the artist of Source A used this photograph as evidence to study.
Source C is also a photograph; it shows British troops at Dunkirk firing on German planes. It can be relied on because it is a photograph and depicts what actually appeared and would not have been staged. The photograph, however, shows us very little. We can only see a very small number of men firing at German planes and we cannot see any boats or men waiting to be rescued. The evidence this photograph provides is reliable, yet it is nowhere near sufficient enough to come to an agreement with the statement in the quote.
Source D comes from a speech made by Anthony Eden, who was the British Minister of War at that time. This speech was made in 1940. The source is secondary in that the speech was made after the events of Dunkirk, although it was not so long afterwards. The fact that the speech was made by a British Minister of War means it will most certainly be biased. It mentions that there were great losses in equipment and describes the BEF as “a body of seasoned veterans.” This speech will most likely have been some form of propaganda to keep the morale of the British people high. This source shows Dunkirk to be a victory for the British Army. The except does not mention the thousands that were killed at Dunkirk, those taken prisoner nor any other negatives. The evidence in this source isn’t sufficient enough to agree or disagree with the interpretation that “Dunkirk was a great deliverance and a great disaster.” Dunkirk, from the evidence of this source alone, could be seen only as 'a great deliverance'.
Source E is a British newspaper report on Dunkirk. The source does provide quite a lot of information. Quoting “tens of thousands safely home already” and “An armada of ships - all sizes, all shapes - were used for crossing the channel”. I know from my own knowledge that many men were rescued and Source A shows that there were ships of different sizes. The source doesn’t mention many negative things but the positive things that are mentioned are probably true. The source is primary, it was written at the time by an eye witness of the arrival of men from Dunkirk. Just because the source comes from a British newspaper, we shouldn’t assume it is biased but it does only give a British opinion and does appear to exaggerate the heroism of the British troops. The view is one sided and the writer of this report was probably keeping in mind the morale of the British and their troops, with the intention of keeping it high. This source, however, is quite useful because it gives a lot of information, but is still not sufficient enough to agree with the interpretation of Dunkirk found in the quote.
Source F comes from ‘English History, 1914-45’, which was written by A.J.P Taylor, a British historian who is giving his retrospective view of the Dunkirk operation. The book was published in 1965, making it a secondary source. In spite of the fact that the writer is British, the book wasn’t written until a long time afterwards so it is likely that the writer's intention is to record the facts as accurately as possible and not to keep the British happy. A.J.P Taylor was the writer of the quote that “Dunkirk was a great deliverance and a great disaster” and he provides evidence to support this interpretation within the source. He says, “Almost the entire BEF was saved” but he also says, “It had lost virtually all its guns, tanks and other heavy equipment.” The source is a balanced view of Dunkirk. It mentions both the negative and positive aspects. Although the writer was the one who made the quote and provides evidence to support it, there is too much evidence providing different information for it to prove the quote right.
Although we were given many sources of evidence to study, the fact that they disagree in many ways, some are biased and some don’t give a big enough picture means we do not have sufficient enough evidence to agree with the interpretation that “Dunkirk was a great deliverance and a great disaster”. Most of the sources only give one view or opinion and many of the contemporary written sources and Source A, the painting, were produced as a form of propaganda to keep the morale of the British high. So the evidence provided is too unreliable overall for us to either agree or disagree with the interpretation “Dunkirk was a great deliverance and a great disaster”.
