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 what happened before or after the pictures were taken. The pictures are not likely to be biased because they were taken at the time. The purpose of them was to show everyone what happened. They were not published in any newspapers so they won’t have been censored by the government. The pictures do show a great deliverance because Source F shows one man fighting off German planes which shows great courage. Source E shows all the troops waiting to be rescued. This shows the vastness of the evacuation which suggests a great deliverance. However, because it shows an evacuation it suggests defeat which means a disaster.
Source G was taken from a speech made by the war minister in June 1940. He speaks very highly of the BEF calling them, “... a body of seasoned veterans” that refused to accept defeat. Because of this and his position within the government I have come to a conclusion that this is propaganda. I know that the government covered up what really happened and this is an example of how. The purpose of this speech was to keep the moral of the British public high. If they told them what had really happened the public would lose all hope of victory. This tells me that Dunkirk was a great disaster because the government are trying to cover it up. If everything went according to plan they wouldn’t have to cover anything up. Looking at it from the point of view of the public, Dunkirk was a great deliverance because they refused to accept defeat.
Source H is an extract from a British newspaper at the time. Although it is a primary source it is not reliable because the information is from the government. Because it is a contemporary source, government censorship prevented papers from publishing anything that suggests a defeat. Therefore, it is going to be biased in making the army look like heroes. I can see this because it says “TIRED, DIRTY, HUNGRY, TEHY CAME BACK – UNBEATABLE. I know that they were beaten because they had to be evacuated. This source is likely to be propaganda because it tells everyone that it was a great victory. The purposes of the newspapers were to tell everyone that everything was fine and to keep the morale of the public high. It suggests a great deliverance because the evacuation was a success. However, it doesn’t say anything about why they were being evacuated. Even though it is not very reliable it still tells us that Dunkirk was a great deliverance. However, it was only a great deliverance because of the disaster that happened before the evacuation.
Finally, Source I is a secondary source written in a book published in 1965. This is probably the most reliable source because there were no government restrictions at this time. Also, it is written by a historian whose purpose is to uncover the truth. He has no reason to lie about the truth so it not likely to be biased. It also corroborates with my own knowledge because I know that more than 300000 men were evacuated from Dunkirk. I also know that a lot of the equipment had to be left behind (1st picture, Dunkirk: victory or defeat booklet). However, it was not written at the time so I do not know whether his facts are going to be true. He probably has had access to confidential information so they probably are true. The source is reliable and it has a lot of value towards the question posed. It suggests it is a great deliverance because a large number of troops were saved. It also suggests a great disaster because of all the equipment that was lost. It also states that six destroyers were destroyed and that the RAF lost 474 aeroplanes.
In conclusion, I think there is sufficient evidence to support the interpretation, “Dunkirk was a great deliverance and a great disaster.” Sources D, G and H are less reliable because they have been based on government information. This information is most likely to be biased to keep the moral of the public high. Sources E and F both show me what it was like at Dunkirk. They show great deliverance because of the amount of troops that were evacuated was massive and that the troops were still fighting. It also shows a great disaster because the troops are having to evacuate which suggests defeat. Finally, Source I was written in a book after the time by a historian. It is unlikely to be biased and it is not based on government information. It suggests a great deliverance because of the amount of troops rescued and that citizen boats joined in. It also suggests great disaster because the BEF had lost most of its equipment and that six destroyers were destroyed and 474 aeroplanes were lost. If the government had not covered it up the British publics’ moral would have gone down and they would have lost all chance of victory. The whole of Operation Dynamo was a success however; the British had been pushed right out of France in great defeat.