Explain the different reactions of people in Britain to the policy of evacuation.

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Kate Gordon        Page         08/05/2007

History GCSE Assignment – Question Two –

Explain the different reactions of people in Britain to the policy of evacuation.

Not all peoples reactions and opinions were the same when the policy of evacuation came to light in the second world war. Some people thought of evacuation as pointless and a waste of time and money. Many people thought that German Bombers could get you were ever you went, whether you stayed in the town, or moved into safety in the country. On the other hand, some people thought evacuation was a good idea. It meant that their children stayed safe and that the children would be given a better chance of survival out in the country.

At the start of world war two, children were evacuated into the countryside. The government made sure evacuation happened as soon as possible because they expected that Germany would send its bombers over straight away. The government had been expecting heavy bombing from day one. A the start of the war, the government evacuated over one million children. Once they had been evacuated the government had to wait for the bombs to be dropped. The bombs never came.  Because bombs were not dropped the children that had been evacuated were sent back to their homes. This period of time was known as the Phoney War, it was known as the phoney war because no bombs were dropped on Britain.

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The phoney war severely knocked evacuations reputation. It made people think that the government were exaggerating and the war wasn’t going to be as bad as people made out. They began to think that evacuation was a farce, that evacuation was just the government’s way of showing the people that they were at war and that it was serious.

Soon after the phoney war the blitz occurred so children were evacuated again. Some parents chose not to evacuate their children. They were thinking along the lines of the quote Stanley Baldwin made.

Stanley Baldwin had quoted before the ...

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