Britain was the Only European Country to Remain Both Undefeated and Opposed to Hitler's Germany Throughout the Period June 1940 to October 1943. How do you Account For the Fact That Britain was Able to Remain Undefeated?

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Britain was the Only European Country to Remain Both Undefeated and Opposed to Hitler’s Germany Throughout the Period June 1940 to October 1943.

How do you Account For the Fact That Britain was Able to Remain Undefeated?

After Hitler’s Blitzkrieg invasion of Poland, Norway, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, France and Holland, Britain was alone in Europe. The Nazi – Soviet Pact of August 1939, stated neither Germany nor Russia would attack each other. The United States of America had no interest in the War, the opinion still of isolationism. Britain was alone in Europe from June 1940 to October 1943, the point where Italy changed sides.

        Britain sent troops from the B.E.F to France, but the almighty power of the German forces had pushed them back to the beaches of Dunkirk, where 1/2 million British and French troops were surrounded. A major fault of Hitler’s actions were that he had not pushed further the last remaining miles to the enemy. His troops had become so exhausted due to the invasion of Europe, they took rest. In this period, Britain sent ships to collect their men. 333,000 were saved. These men were able to fight another day and what could have been a major defeat to Britain was avoided.

        Another main reason was the geography of Britain. Surrounded by water, planes unable to stay over the country for long without having to refuel and logistically and militarily, invasion was always set to be a problem for enemy forces. This was a major reason of how Britain stayed undefeated, principally at the outset of the War when Hitler’s invasion plan was beginning to commence.  

        The Battle of Britain, which lasted from July 1940 to 17 September 1941, was a major turning point in the events of the War. Hitler’s plan, ‘Operation Sealion’ was to defeat Britain by bombing direct military targets and important supply lines. The first objective was to take control of the skies. The Luftwaffe had begun destroying the direct targets, however, the great resistance of the RAF had led Goerring to bomb runways and plane manufacturing areas. The RAF was losing more pilots than they could train and Britain was almost certainly defeated. However, Hitler decided to start bombing London and other highly populated civilian areas, known as the ‘Blitz.’ This highly significant decision meant the RAF could fight more easily, under less pressure, destroying the unarmed bomb carriers. The Spitfires and Hurricanes were exceptionally important in the attacks on German planes due to their superior agility and firing power, minimising the number of German planes available to be deployed.

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Another influential factor was that German bombers could not carry a sufficient number of bombs to cause extensive damage and break the will of the British public. If the bombers had carried heavy amounts, dropping almost continuously for a long period, then Britain may have had to surrender by a public vote and be defeated.

The Battle of the Atlantic was also a major contributory factor to Britain staying undefeated to Germany. After the failure of ‘Operation Sealion,’ Hitler began destroying Merchant ships carrying food, raw materials and War materials from America and the Commonwealth. The continuous attack from ...

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