history coursework question 5 the blitz
5. Study all the sources, and use your own knowledge. The impression that the British faced the Blitz with courage and unity is a myth. Use the sources, and your own knowledge, to explain whether you agree with this statement. (14) I disagree to an extent with the statement that Britain faced the Blitz without courage and unity because Britain did remain generally strong and unified as Britain managed to survive the Blitz and continue working even after the Blitz. However, a large amount of the media shown during the Blitz was propaganda which raises a question about how did the public really feel during the Blitz and whether they actually felt unified. The statement can also be compared to Angus Calder's theory where he believed that the unification of Britain during the Blitz was a myth. During World War II, the government set up the Ministry of Information to firstly, censor all newspapers and radios and secondly, to produce propaganda to help 'boost public morale'. These were shown on the radio, in newsreels in the cinema, on posters, in newspapers and in magazines. Examples of this are shown in Sources B and C. In Source B, the image shows an air raid of a Girls School in the East End near the end of the height of the Blitz in 1943. This image was censored which shows how the government was trying to "hide the truth" in order to keep morale high as the image is very
Why did the US decide to adopt the Truman Doctrine?
Why did the US decide to adopt the Truman Doctrine? The government in USA was deeply unhappy with the Communism's expansion to eastern Europe, which seemed to go further and further, threatening the power of capitalism. Traditionally America's policy was based on isolationism, but the threat of Communism expansion made the Americans realise that this was no longer possible if it wanted to have a world, where the dominant ideology would be based on capitalism, and not its opposite, communism. At Yalta it was agreed that each liberated country would have an emergency government set up and then free elections would be held. However, Stalin misunderstood - or as many historians suspect ignored - this and he gave leading positions to Communists in governments in eastern Europe, then held rigged elections and soon Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Poland fell under the control of the USSR due to these steps that strengthened the Communist Soviets' control in the government of these countries . This angered very much the Americans, who afraid of a possible continuity of this expansion towards Western Europe (or even worse - a map of the world dominated by the communist ideology) , decided to reject isolationism and try to stop Communism spread out. Relations between the USA and the USSR deteriorated significantly during 1946. Soviet troops after the war still remained
Why did the treaty of versailles provoke widespread hostility among Germans?
"WHY DID THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES PROVOKE WIDESPREAD HOSTILITY AMONG GERMANS? Following the end of the war and the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on the 28th June 1919 the German people reacted badly. Although, it is important to note that the widespread hostility among Germans had also preceded the signing of the treaty. A reason for this hostility, as A.J. Nicholls points out, was that the Germans had always been told they were fighting a defensive war and therefore did not regard themselves as responsible for the disaster, which had befallen Europe. After the terms of the treaty were accepted this reinforced the belief that the German people had been stabbed in the back as the army were seen as undefeated heroes. The Germans would demand for the terms to be modified. As J.W. Hiden stated in his book "The Weimar Republic": "The enforced signature of the treaty confirmed the worst of existing fears and confirmed the need for a more long-term and cautious running campaign to modify the peace terms." In this essay it is necessary to examine the mean reasons why the Treaty of Versailles did provoke such widespread hostility among Germans. Firstly, an important reason why the Treaty of Versailles provoked widespread hostility among Germans was that they felt the treaty was a 'Diktat' forced on them rather than a negotiated settlement. As A.J Nicholls argues, the Germans
Describe the problems of living in a newly set up town in the West.
Describe the problems of living in a newly set up town in the West. There were many problems from living in newly set up towns in the American West. As these towns nearly 'sprang up' over night many problems were caused, as there was no time for the normal systems to be developed. Each type of town - the mining and cow towns had different problems. These problems were caused, partly, because of the speed, which these towns grew up. This caused disruption of systems, which had developed in the east. Systems needed to be speedily set up to prevent law and order problems. As did systems for water supply, sewage and sanitation. An example of disease spreading is when in Virginia City (Montana), 1864 during fall and early winter there was typhoid fever. Some people fell ill but there were no deaths. Shelter needed to be put into place of a reasonable standard because of the climate. Houses had to be put up quickly -they were mainly wooden. However building houses from wood caused problems of fire. In Virginia City (Nevada) November 1875 no rain had fallen for 6 months "loose horses from the stables were dashing madly to and fro seeking to escape, with hair burned from their backs." It was necessary to appoint town marshals to help keep the law and order. These town marshals often caused as many problems as they solved because they were often renowned gun-fighters.
Explain why the US withdrew its forces from the Vietnam War in 1973
Explain why the US withdrew its forces from the Vietnam War in 1973. In the early 1960s, the American president, John F. Kennedy pledged financial and military aid to the struggling South Vietnam. As political unrest grew the support from a war in North Vietnam grew and 1963, and with John Kennedy's assassination in 1963, President Johnson felt that, to keep in with the U.S. foreign policy of containment, he would have to send a vast amount of young soldiers into Vietnam to help fight the rising influence of the Viet Cong. For over ten years, the U.S. pledged thousands of young troops and billions in financial aid until public opinion and guerilla tactics forced the U.S. to withdrawal from Vietnam, claiming that they hadn't been defeated but that they had left in their own right. But in reality, a tiny, lesser economically developed country had successfully defeated a new super power. This was due to many reasons, both short and long-term, such as the political unrest in the U.S., fighting conditions, military tactics and lack of trained unity within the U.S. forces, all of which will be dealt with in this essay. In the mid-1800s, Vietnam was colonized by French forces, which imposed dramatic political and cultural changes on to the country. And though they helped boost the country's economy, fuelled by exports, the French government often ignore calls for self-government
Was Life Better For Germans In 1939 Than in 1933?
Was Life Better For Germans In 1939 Than in 1933? It is quite hard to say in general that the life of Germans improved. For some, life was greatly improved while for others it was not so. One example of great improvement during this time is of the unemployed people. There were six million unemployed people in 1933. The formation of the National Labour Service allowed men to be sent on public works and conservation programmes. Hitler set the unemployed to work on things such as a large amount of motorways (Autobahns), which criss-crossed Germany. Therefore, he helped the Germans who had cars and he also gave many of the unemployed jobs. Hitler also helped the army and the unemployed by introducing conscription. This created a larger army and also gave those men conscripted jobs. Hitler also made more money available for the army. On July the first 1934, the night of the long knives, Hitler eliminated key SA members. This destroyed a potential opponent for the army. The SA were also said to be like thugs so by eliminating them It seemed that he was helping the general people by removing a thuggish group of people and replacing them with a more disciplined group, the SS. Also, most workers did not mind the new Nazi rules that were placed upon them. Although workers lost the right to strike, they had much better pay and conditions. This in turn made the factory owners and
Who was to blame for the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914?
Who was to blame for the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914? Franz Ferdinand was the Archduke of Austria and the next heir to the throne of the vast Austria-hungry Empire. He was a well-respected man with all of life's riches handed to him while he was a young boy at the age of twelve when his father Archduke Karl Ludwig died leaving him with the majority of his wealth. In 1895 he married Countess Sophie Chotek and after this he felt quite high of himself believing that he did not need security even though associations such as the Black Hand who wanted to make all Serbs free from the Austrian empire and were out to kill him. He believed that God would protect him from the evils that the world had put before him. Franz went to Sarajevo to celebrate his 19th anniversary with his wife and took an opened roofed tour around the town. Many people came to admire the Archduke but among these people were members of the Black Hand. Due to a wrong turn made by the driver they were forced to turn around and that was when Gavrilo princip fired 2 shots, both hitting their target. This was an assassination but who was the one to blame? Some historians believe that it was due to poor security. Others say that it was a planned plot by well-trained assassins. In this essay I will analyse all of the sources related to the topic and state, what key factor was their to blame for
Assess The Impact Of Stalin On Russia And The Russian People.
Assess The Impact Of Stalin On Russia And The Russian People? Now that Stalin was in power, he was determined to modernise the USSR so that it could meet the challenges which were to come. He took over a country in which almost all the industry was concentrated in just a few cities and whose workers were unskilled and poorly educated. Many regions of the USSR were in the same state as they had been a hundred years earlier. So, Stalin wanted to make a few changes and believed that: "Throughout history Russia has been beaten again and again because she was backward" and that the USSR was "50 to 100 years behind the advanced countries. Either we make good the difference in ten years or they crush us" so in order to do this Stalin ended Lenin's NEP because he believed is was such a slow process and needed a dramatic change for Russia to become a world power. So Stalin set about achieving modernisation through a series of Five-Year Plans which was for towns and industrial workers and also made a modernisation plan for peasants and countryside's throughout Russia. This was called collectivisation. The Five-Year Plans were originally drawn up by the GOSPLAN, the state planning organisation that Lenin set up in 1921. They set ambitious targets for production in the vital heavy industries (coal, iron, oil, electricity). The plans were very complicated but they were set out in such a
What Were the Consequences of the First World War for the British People 1914 - 1924?
What Were the Consequences of the First World War for the British People 1914 - 1924? There were many consequences and changes to British society because of the war, both positive and negative, however if you look closely some of the changes such as women obtaining the right to vote could have happened naturally - war or no war. The war provided many changes both socially, economically and politically. One such social change was the population of men declining drastically, this was of course because of the death toll as a result of the war. As a result of this the population of women went up from 595 per thousand to 638 per thousand and the proportion of widows went from 38% - 43% and there were also now 3.5 million orphans. (1) So since women now outnumbered men it would be harder to ignore them, which meant since they outnumbered men more than they used to, they would have to be treated better, since women were the ones who had to bring up all the kids to make up for the loss. The other consequence of the great loss of men is that children lost their fathers and people had lost friends and relatives. `It was virtually impossible to avoid losing a relative or close acquaintance' (2). The severe loss was the most important change in society. The sadness of losing loved ones would have been unbearable. It also had a knock on effect towards industry and unemployment, because
Was Hitler a Totalitarian Dictator?
Was Hitler a Totalitarian Dictator? A Totalitarian is a dictator which controls all the aspects of their citizens lives. In practice the term is often is used to describe a political situation where a small group of people, or one organization, has total authority over a nation. In Hitler's Germany there were many characteristics of a Totalitarian state and a Totalitarian Dictatorship. The Government ran and censored the media. All forms of communication were liable to interference from above and could, and were, heavily censored. This removes freedom of speech, therefore enabling the government to influence popular opinion via propaganda and false news messages. The Age of Anxiety, the age of the lost generation, was also an age in which modern Fascism and Totalitarianism made their appearance on the historical stage. Before examining if Hitler established a totalitarian dictatorship, it is necessary to look at how Hitler, once in power, established a dictatorship. In my essay I will be examining three different methods of control, one how Hitler manipulated the law, two how Hitler used terror and three how Hitler used propaganda and persuasion. Hitler used the law to his own advantage throughout his quest to become the Fuhrer and when he eventually became the Fuhrer. Hitler removed his opposition through the Enabling Act. The Enabling Act gave Hitler the power to
