Dunkirk was a great deliverance and a great disaster. (A.J.P Taylor) Is there sufficient evidence in sources D to I to support this interpretation?

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“Dunkirk was a great deliverance and a great disaster.” (A.J.P Taylor) Is there sufficient evidence in sources D to I to support this interpretation?

In order to tell whether there is enough evidence in sources D to I to support the interpretation I need to look at each sources reliability and value. I also need to decide whether Dunkirk was a success and a disaster at the same time.

Source D shows a contemporary painting of the time. This could imply that it is reliable because it is of the time. However, the artist was most definitely employed by the government to make Dunkirk look like a great victory. This means that it would be biased in making everything look good. I also do not know where the artist got the information from. It is very unlikely that he was there at the time so no probably got it from other sources. These sources are going to be modified by the government. The painting shows a lot of boats there for the rescue and it also shows a lot of troops there to be rescued. I know that a lot of troops waited to be rescued and lots of boats cane for the rescue. The painting suggests a great deliverance because everybody back in Britain helped to get the troops off the beaches. It also suggests a great disaster because it shows defeat; all the troops are retreating.

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Sources E and F are both photographs of troops at the beaches from the time. This means that they are primary sources which suggest that they are reliable. They also both corroborate with my own knowledge because I know that troops lined up waiting to be rescued. I also know that the troops had to defend themselves against German planes and Source F also corroborates with Source C. However, there are only snapshots of one place of the battle. In another place, all the British troops may be getting killed and the boats bombed. Also, I do not know ...

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