Why were the major cities of Britain bombed by the Germans in 1940-1?

Why were the major cities of Britain bombed by the Germans in 1940-1? By the end of 1940, the Second World War had fallen into a war of attrition. Both sides were looking to inflict damage to either side with the least effort possible. Britain was in a dismal predicament as the RAF were becoming weaker and weaker as the Luftwaffe continued to bomb the airfields and factories. However, Germany's tactics suddenly changed to attacking the major cities of Britain. Hitler had many reasons to do this. With Britain in a weaker position and public morale lower than ever, it gave Hitler his best opportunity to invade Britain and potentially launch Operation Sealion. This was the crucial thought in Hitler's mind when deciding to attack the towns and cities of Britain. Characteristically, Hitler never wished to go to war with Britain and the Blitz was a technique used to diminish the British morale. Hitler hoped to lower public morale by destroying the citizen's homes and city's. If the public morale lowered enough then the government could be put under public pressure to sign an armistice with Germany. Even if the morale did not suffer enough for surrender, many Britons would be unwilling to fight for a lost cause and thus Britain would have been soften up for an invasion. The invasion plan, which had been planned for Britain, Operation Sealion, could then be finally implemented with

  • Word count: 557
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: History
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Why were the major cities of Britain bombed by the Germans in 1940-1941?

Question 1 Why were the major cities of Britain bombed by the Germans in 1940-1941? There are quite a few reasons as to why the major cities of Britain such as London, Coventry, Plymouth and even Manchester and Glasgow were bombed by the Germans in 1940 to 1941. Although for Britain the Second World War began on the 3rd September 1939 it did not really begin until 1940. Thus from 1939 to 1940 became a period known as the "Phoney War". The bombing of the major cities was known as the Blitz, the German word for lightening, and one of the reasons why Hitler decided to bomb Britain was because he had given up his attempt to invade Britain in September 1940. Before Hitler had decided to bomb the major cities of Britain he had attacked the RAF by using the Luftwaffe. Three German planes were shot down for every one British plane, but by the end of August things were beginning to change. The Luftwaffe were taking control of the skies and were about to defeat the RAF when Hitler began to become impatient. He called off the attacks on fighter command and instead he ordered the bombing of the major British cities. If he had continued to bomb the RAF the Luftwaffe would have won the Battle of Britain and the Blitz would have probably never occurred. Another reason why Hitler turned to bombing the major cities of Britain was because he hoped that he would be able to force the

  • Word count: 843
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: History
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Why Were The Major Cities of Britain Bombed by the Germans in 1940-41?

Why Were The Major Cities of Britain Bombed by the Germans in 1940-41? During the summer of 1940, British civilians were involved for the first time in a full scale war since the English Civil War. Ludendorf's theory of total war saw every civilian opposed to your side as a potential soldier and therefore, a target. This, along with the fact that precision bombs (e.g.:- laser guided smart bombs) hadn't been invented, meant that there was a large amount of civilian casualties on the British home front. By 1940, the German forces had quickly swept through Europe. Within a few months of the start of the war, they dominated Europe. Surely the British would see that they had no chance and would surrender to the Nazis. However, Churchill's speech stating that Britain would never surrender and would fight the Nazis to the last man put paid to any notions Hitler had of making peace. If Britain wouldn't surrender, Hitler had no choice but to try and take Britain by force. He codenamed the invasion of Britain 'Operation Sea Lion'. Previously, Hitler had used his 'Blitzkrieg' (lightning war) tactics to conquer Europe. This involved tanks attacking the enemy, taking care of their fortifications and providing cover for the foot troopers. However, Hitler could not immediately use these tactics against Britain. Britain had the natural defense of being an island and for Hitler's tactics

  • Word count: 1133
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: History
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Why were the major cities of Britain bombed by the Germans in 1940-41?

History Coursework Assignment One Britain in the Age of Total War Question One: Why were the major cities of Britain bombed by the Germans in 1940-41? The Luftwaffe failed to quell the ever resilient R.A.F. in the Battle of Britain, 1940. Then a combination of underestimation of British forces remaining and outrage at a daring raid on Industrial Berlin by the R.A.F. led to Hitler change to a tactic of bombing major British cities, especially London by night. This became known as the Blitz. The raids lasted throughout September, October and November 1940 and restarted in the spring of 1941 until eventually they stopped in summer 1941. But what were his objectives for the new Blitz tactics? The first is to crush the morale of the British people. A great believer in terror tactics, it is doubtful whether Hitler ever truly wished to invade Britain with Operation 'Sealion' as many of his generals were against the idea, and the preparation involved would have been huge and highly complicated. Instead many believe he wished to force the British government to surrender by destroying their citizens' morale and crushing their will to fight. He wished to make them beg their own government to accept defeat. Spurred on by the success of the German air raids in the Spanish Civil War, which destroyed the city of Guernica, Hitler felt the war against Britain could be won without the

  • Word count: 629
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: History
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Why did war break out in 1939?

WHY DID WAR BREAK OUT IN 1939? World War II began when Hitler, Germany's leader invaded Poland. This war involved many countries from around Europe and all blamed Hitler for the start of the war. On the 1st of September Adolf Hitler's Germany invaded Poland taking thousands of troops on horseback and on foot to try and take over the land around Poland and rule what went on. Not knowing Britain and France had a treaty with Poland this brought in the two countries to help defend Poland from Germany. In 1933 the German people voted for Hitler as he promised he would make Germany great again. Hitler realised after the Abyssinian war that if Italy could get away with invading Abyssinia then Germany should be allowed to get away with invading Poland. Hitler thought that Jews were bad strange people, so when he invaded Poland there were lots of Jews and he destroyed them all. Hitler also invaded Poland for more land, especially in the east to expand Germany. If Germany gained more land over 900,000 people would live there! He said "We must turn our gaze to the land in the east. When we speak of new land we mean Russia and her borders". Britain and France had a contract with Poland to defend the country if they suddenly got attacked. So on the 3rd of September Britain and France declared war on Germany and helped defend Poland. Russia also came into the war when it declared war on

  • Word count: 1195
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: History
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Why did Stalin, Rather than Trotsky emerge as leader of the USSR in 1929

Why did Stalin, Rather than Trotsky emerge as leader of the USSR in 1929? Jan 21, 1924 Russian revolutionary Vladimir Ilyich Lenin died at age 53 and a major struggle for power in the Soviet Union began. A triumvirate led by Joseph Stalin succeeded Lenin. By 1928, Stalin had assumed absolute power, ruling as an often brutal dictator until his death in 1953. But how is it that Stalin emerged as the new leader of the Soviet Union. In this essay I am going to explore the reasons to how and why this happened. Stalin held a very powerful and very important position, as the general secretary of the party. He was powerful enough to remove or appoint people to a post. He appointed people who supported him and removed people who were likely to support Trotsky. Older Bolsheviks were not concerned about his moves because they were all worried about Trotsky taking over as dictator. Another big difference between Trotsky and Stalin was their ideas of ruling the USSR, and their politics. Trotsky believed in "Permanent Revolution" where as Stalin believed in "socialism in one country". Trotsky wanted to help communists in other countries to revolution and push forward the revolution in the USSR. But Stalin's idea of helping Russia , was very popular amongst the people as they had just suffered a civil war and were interested in their welfare and economy. Trotsky also wanted to end the

  • Word count: 1468
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: History
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Why Did The Bolsheviks Win The Civil War?

Why Did The Bolsheviks Win The Civil War? After the storming of the winter palace in 25th October 1917 in the October revolutions the Bolsheviks seized power in the Government in Russia. After the Bolsheviks seized power in the October Revolution in Petrograd and Moscow, the question was how to secure and increase their gains. The Bolsheviks went on to control the whole of Russia. This was achieved to a great extent, by Trotsky's organisation of the Red Army. Organised under the direction of Trotsky (who became commissar of war in spring 1918) The Red Army consisted of Bolshevik members and those who followed their party. The 'Nucleus' of the Red Army was the Red Guards, they were from the factories and pro-Bolshevik units from the old Army and Fleet. This was also expanded by voluntary recruitment and, from the summer of 1918 selective conscription. The White Army consisted of mainly Bourgeoisie. This included, Aristocracy, Land owners, Tsarist supporters, Military Elites, Social Revolutionary's/Mensheviks, National minorities. Great Briton, France and a few countries surrounding Russia also fought against the Reds, this is known as foreign intervention. There was another Army, which fought as well against the Reds and against the Whites. This army was known as the Green Army, they consisted of peasants who wanted to be independent. The problems facing the Bolsheviks in

  • Word count: 1289
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: History
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Why did the Provisional Government Fail?

Why did the Provisional Government Fail? The provisional government was brought about after the fall of the Tsarist government collapsed. This was done purely because of lack of support for the Tsar and being the only major party. They were in power for 8months and after making five serious errors; they were removed from power by force. Kerensky ran the provisional government and it was his lack of judgement, just like the Tsars stupidity and gullibility that let him down. The first error he made was that he made no attempt to make the provisional government legitimate. It never held a democratic election for fear of losing status. Even though at the start of their reign they could have won the election and become legitimate, Kerensky's lack of judgement made him decide against it. When the soviets issued 'Order No1' he should have taken the chance he got to remove it as it caused him to partially lose control of the army - one of his methods of control of the country. The officers were rendered powerless and the balance of power was clearly seen to shift away from Kerensky. Finally, the Duma (The Provisional Government) represented the upper class of society and seeing as 90% of the population of Russia were peasants this left him in no position to call an election as even if all the people he appealed to voted for him, he still would not win it. Kerensky thought he

  • Word count: 1134
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: History
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Why Was Britain Able To Win The Battle Of Britain?

Why Was Britain Able To Win The Battle Of Britain? There are many reasons that contribute to the victory for the British in the Battle Of Britain. The BEF miraculously escaped the beaches of Dunkirk when they were surrounded within in a pocket at the beaches of Dunkirk. The ignorance of Herman Goering the commander of the Luftwaffe, who assured Hitler that he could eliminate the BEF a not let a single man escape the beaches of Dunkirk without the help of the army was one of the main reasons for this. If this had occurred then Britain would have been without an army and would probably have had to surrender. Now that the troops had been brought home to England people began preparing for an invasion. Hitler knew that he could not invade Britain whilst it had such an efficient air force and navy. Hitler needed to take control of the skies before he could launch his attack, then the German navy would be able to send over troops without being obliterated. Britain had the major advantages when it came to the battle of the skies above England. The first and most important was radar. Radar enabled us to monitor the German aircraft from the moment that they took off from their airfields in France and gave the R.A.F details on the number and size of the planes and the direction, speed and altitude at which they were heading. The R.A.F fighters did not have to take off until the German

  • Word count: 615
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: History
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Why was the league so ineffective in dealing with the Abyssinian Crisis?

Why was the league so ineffective in dealing with the Abyssinian Crisis? Although both Italy and Abyssinia were supposed to do as the league told them to do, if Italy didn't agree with the leagues decision then they weren't going to listen to it as the Italian leader Mussolini was quite prepared to go to war with Abyssinia. The question that the league had to take was what to do with Italy if they took this action. The problem that the league had was that the action they took depended on the actions of the French and the British who were the two great powers in the league and they wanted Italy as a future ally against Germany so they didn't want to be too harsh with Italy in case they then wouldn't help against Germany. In January 1935, the French foreign minister, Laval, met with Mussolini in Rome for a number of secret meetings. In these secret meetings they made some secret agreement some of these involved Abyssinia and yet Abyssinia wasn't even there so one of the major powers was making secret agreements with the country that is almost certainly ready to go to war. The whole idea of the league was to stop aggressors and yet here they were trying to come to some sort of deal with them. Because of these meetings Mussolini thought that both Britain and France wouldn't object at Italy gaining another African colony of its own as both Britain and France had colonies of

  • Word count: 3144
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: History
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