Another source of anxiety for the government would have been that in the event of an invasion dispirited citizens might have just given up and surrendered in despair. Panic was already evident in the East-End as people ran ‘madly for shelters’ and Advice Bureaus were ‘inundated with mothers and young children hysterical’. Hysterical people naturally worried the government because hysterics would inevitably lead to chaos. People would stop taking instructions from the government and order would cease to reign. The government knew they could not face Hitler as a divided nation so were for that reason, also, concerned about morale.
In the year the Source E was written, 1940, the atmosphere in Britain would have been a tense and anxious one. The rest of Europe would have already been taken over by Nazi’s, 1500 people would have died in the first four days of the Blitz, people would be watching the planes that were meant to be defending them being shot down one by one and seen their beloved capital city in never-ending flames. Many would have been petrified and not have believed there was much hope of Britain escaping Germany’s wrath-even NO.10 had been hit! The government would have been up to their neck in trying to prevent dejection spreading over the nation. Source E paints a very grim picture of the situation; the flight of the people from the major cities is likened to that of the Israelites in the book of Exodus in which they run hastily from being slaughtered-one of the government’s greatest fears had begun to occur.
The simple fact that people had to ‘run madly for shelters’ as mentioned in Source E, shows that they no longer trusted the government to provide for them or protect them. This would also have led to the loss of order and control for the government. The government must have feared, after reading Source E that people might begin to take things into their own hands- Which we of course know they did when they forced their way into the underground stations, for protection during the air-raids.
We know that Source E is a very reliable source, as it was sent to the government by Ministry of information employees and volunteers. It contained reports on the effects of the blitz. Source F, is in turn, a reliable source in giving us information on just why the government was concerned about morale. It is a diary of Harold Nicolson who would have had no idea that any one was going to read his diary, and therefore had no reason to lie.
The source mentions the fact that there was ‘much bitterness’. This would have worried the government as it meant that there was ill feeling toward them and that they were perhaps unwanted. Bitterness would also be a factor in making people less inclined to work, which as I previously explained, simply wasn’t an option at that point.
The cause of the bitterness would have also been a worry for the government. If people were bitter it meant they didn’t feel the government was doing enough to provide and protect them. Source G collaborates this view- ‘Londoners escaped to Epping Forest’. People were no longer awaiting assistance from the government but taking matters into their own hands. The government would not want this to happen as it would obviously lead to anarchy. The Bethnal Green stampede was a great example of this. Over 103 people were killed in a mad struggle for shelter.
This should not have come as a great shock as there were many events around this period which hinted that people were not completely satisfied with their current situation; many people felt that the public shelters provided were less than adequate and attempted to take shelter in the railways but were locked out on the instructions of the government until they eventually forced their way through. This mini-revolt would have worried the government as it could easily have led to a full blown one.
Another reason for the people’s lack of trust could have been as a result of the Phoney War. In September 1939 the government evacuated many children, imposed strict blackout and air raid restriction and closed down theatres and cinemas in preparation for the expected war. Things appeared deceivingly normal during this period so people began to come back and carry on with life as normal. When the attacks finally began in full force the government simply weren’t equipped to provide and protect for the amount of people present they hadn’t taken the evacuees who had returned into consideration. As a result there was a shortage of shelters.
10 days before Source G was written, on the 7th of September, the night time attacks on London began. 430 people died in that one night and 1, 600 others were injured. The government would have been worried about morale then because the damage caused by the raids in just one day would have triggered off a lot of fear and the fear might then lead to ill-feeling towards the government as they looked for someone to blame.
The source shows that the lack of morale from the 7th did indeed have a negative effect as we are informed in this source that ‘even the King and Queen were booed’. This is clear evidence that the government were not merely being paranoid but had legitimate reasons for being concerned. It implies that the Royal Family were no longer viewed as figures worthy of respect, by the people. And if this was true then it was only logical that the government would be the next to lose their respect.
This scenario was made even more likely by the fact that a few months before the source was written, the British soldiers had just been driven out of France. Such a blow to the British efforts in the war would not have inspired the confidence in the government that they would have desired. And the loss of France meant that they needed the support of Britain’s working force even more, as the soldiers had left their weapons and supplies behind in France.
Harold Nicolson also mentions that ‘Everyone is worried…’ The ‘everyone’ he speaks of here is in reference to ‘several members of the government’ who he knew well. The higher ranking members of the government would definitely have been worried if they felt the worry and panic was spreading to their colleagues also.
The third source is published after the war, so the author uses hindsight and informs us that ‘many of those who trekked were the same people who continued to turn up for work’ and ‘attendance at work remained surprisingly high.’ We can surmise from this, that the government needn’t have worried so much about morale having an affect on production as the people, were in fact, still prepared to travel to work in spite of the ‘widespread fear during the blitz’ and the ‘ flights of entire communities’ that it led to.
Another cause for anxiety regarding the state of morale in Britain for the government would be the extreme change in lifestyle the people would be facing during the Blitz. They would be facing a lot of stressful changes; evacuation, rationing, air raids, life in shelters. These changes could bring about long term psychological effects on the people and lead to general depression.
