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How did the Blitz affect the British people?

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Name: Antonia Bell Candidate number: 2069 Centre Number: 68607 How did the Blitz affect the British people? During September 1940 Hitler postponed his planned invasion of Britain whilst he may have been able to invade Britain but Hitler still managed to cause chaos by putting pressure on the civilians of Britain. Hitler ordered Luftwaffe to launch a series of bombing raids on Britain's largely populated cities. This was known as the Blitz, the lives of British civilians changed dramatically. In south Wales the dock cities of Cardiff and Swansea suffered a high level of destruction, which would have affected peoples lives considerably. Source A1 demonstrates the massive damage to both people's lives and property. The source states on January 2nd there was a large amount of death and destruction in Swansea and Cardiff. The source explains, "The docks were almost levelled" the source also gives some understanding of how the Government tried to protect such large cities. "The crump of the anti-aircraft gun" shows not only the sight of bombs caused distress but also the sound of the defence. The source shows how the character had to hurry to the Anderson shelters. The author uses a fictitious character to explain the effects of the blitz, this would be based on real life accounts. ...read more.


Source B5 gives information about rationing during the blitz. The statistics show people were limited to the amount of food they could consume per week, such as 4 oz of butter per week. The source is not really that useful in explaining dislocation although it is very reliable as the information comes from a very well researched textbook specific to the war years. The statistics given can be verified by government records. It was not only people's home lives but people's careers were also dislocated. Men were forced to join armed forces and women soon entered the work place in factories in order to maintain the production of goods. Source C tells us how new jobs were created during the war, especially for women who had opportunities to take up jobs in order to help organise the war effort such as joining the WAAF or the women's voluntary services for civil defence. Women were also drafted jobs, which were previously drafted by men such as working in factories Source C1 shows how women were required to work during the blitz. Women were compelled to do work due to a shortage of labour (as men were in battle) The source shows women played a vital role in keeping the economy stable. The statistics show more than half of workers in Wales were female during the blitz, this indicates the correspondent must want to know this information. ...read more.


Many people had to change their patterns of behaviour such as going to an air raid shelter when they heard sirens. People lives were also affected in ways beyond their control such as loss of sleep and being unable to attend school due to buildings being destroyed. People had to work harder during the war to support war effort. Many women had to contribute to new jobs other than household duties during the war, women were working factories because the men were in battle and production was now even more important. The government also made changes to people lives during the war, the government had introduced food rationing and used propaganda campaigns to try and influence the things people did, for example the government used a form of propaganda to try and prevent people discussing war issues, which is limiting their freedom of speech. British citizens lives had dramatically changed, not only were people effected socially but many children were placed in a new environment with unusual surroundings and were traumatised during their new surroundings. Despite the ways their lives were changed by the effect of the war, people were still keen to carry on as normal, shops were open, people attended social events such as dances. The government used forms of propaganda to try and boost moral. It seemed that people lives were dislocated in a variety of ways but people were determined not to let the war affect them. ...read more.

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