AN INSIDE LOOK AT WWII
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Great Britain                                                           

British Flag  

  Great Britain had just fought in WWI and had planned on never having to fight again.  Neville Chamberlain was the Prime Minister of Great Britain during this time and he wanted his country to stay in peace and avoid fighting if possible.  In fact, after WWI, he placed much of his trust in the League of Nations, which caused him to allow his armed forces to deteriorate and turn his focus to inside of his country.  During this time, another influential leader, Winston Churchill, who later became Prime Minister, was trying to warn people of the danger of Hitler in Germany and his rise in military power.  Because people didn’t want to go through the agony of war, they ignored Churchill’s warnings about German rise in power and were content with not going to war.
 
  Hitler’s army began their moves in 1938 when they took over the Rhineland.  The Rhineland was a zone that was demilitarized and the Germans took it over with and remilitarized it.  They did this with no opposition, but caused Great Britain and France to become very concerned.  Germany then proceeded to request more demands which Britain and France agreed to in order to avoid war.  At a conference called “Munich” Germany requested and got much of the Sudatenland, once again without any opposition.  France and Britain thought that Germany would not continue to expand if they got what they wanted.  After Germany had gotten the Rhineland and Sudatenland, there was talk that they might invade Poland.  This caused Britain to finally take action and so they signed a pact with Poland that they would protect their country if Germany invaded. 
 
  On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland.  Great Britain and France declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939, and this was the beginning of WWII.   Great Britain was a part of the allied powers which included the US, USSR, and France.  They were fighting against the Axis powers which included were Germany, Italy, and Japan. 

Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill

  The war affected the people of the homeland in many ways. The people had to come up with evacuation procedures in case of an air raid.  They were given gas masks, coffins, and different types of shelters such as the Anderson shelter or Morrison shelter to protect them in case of invasion.  Everyday life for these people were changed, church bells could no longer ring because they had to be used as sirens in case of an attack.  Additionally, entertainment was blocked and people were required to have blackouts, (all lights out at night), so they were not easy targets for bombs from the air.  Street signs and signs at railroads were removed so the enemy could not find exactly where they were or how far they were away from their desired attack place.  Houses were all together different, as they had to create a safe room in their houses to protect themselves.
 
  In addition to their altered lifestyle, women and children’s lives were changed.  Many of them were evacuated to the countryside so they would not be near any targets.  Most of the time, women did not go away with their children. Often, rich families would send their children overseas to places like America to protect them.  Sometimes the experiences of the evacuated children were pleasant because they got to see things for the first time, such as cows and sheep, and sometimes their experiences were miserable. 
 
  Children learned how to use gas masks at school.  They had to hand in metal scraps that were used for the building of planes and the children collected foliage to use for camouflage.  Nothing was thrown away at this time.  Children’s clothes were unwoven so that the wool could be reused to make something else. Women and children lived off of rationed food and a group was organized to control rations.  Children and pregnant women received more food than others.  People got very little from their ration books, they were only allowed 30 grams.  People were very lucky if they received food from a different country, such as an orange. 
 
Amy Reinhold