The idea of evacuation came about following the end of WW1.

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Why did the British Government decide to evacuate children at the start of WW2?

  As soon as the war was declared in 1939, around 1.5 million people, mainly school children, were moved from areas at high risk of bombing: big cities, industrial areas, ports, villages and towns near to airfields. The evacuation had been well organised but was not without flaws.

  The idea of evacuation came about following the end of WW1. The Germans made 103 air raids on Britain during WW1, killing over 1,400 and injuring almost 4000. While civilian losses were relatively small compared to the massacres taking place in the trenches; they had a huge impact on the general public, who found themselves in the front line for the first time.

  After the Spanish Civil war, Britain became anxious. A number of estimates were taken into account, concerning the effects of the war on the country itself.

  Estimates on bombing grew steadily erratic as the war approached. In 1924, it was believed that in the first twenty-four hours of any new war, three hundred tonnes of high explosives would be dropped on Britain, more than had been dropped in the entire WW1. In 1928, the estimate rose to 100 000 tonnes in the first fourteen days. The actual amount dropped on Britain by Germany was 64393 tonnes during WW2.

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  It was estimated that for very tonne of explosives dropped, there would be fifty casualties, a third of which would be fatal. In 1937 the Imperial Defence Committee forecast 1.8 million casualties, 600,000 of which would occur in the first two months. Insanity on a huge scale was also forecast, out-numbering physical casualties 3:1. In actuality, the bombing claimed 60,595 lives during the entire war; making the figure nearer to one than fifty casualties per tonne of explosives dropped.

  Another concern for the government to account would be the effects on civilian morale; the quote below from J.F.C ...

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