Britain in the Second World War

by Donnelly; Mark

• ISBN13: 9780415174251
• ISBN10: 0415174252
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-08-17
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

World War Two was the defining episode for twentieth century history, and indeed for much of the war Britain was by far the most important nation of the allies. This book presents a new and vivid survey of politics, society, culture and military strategy between 1939 and 1945. Structured around themes such as "Wartime Media" and "Britain and its Allies," the book covers the major historical debates of these areas--including Britain's commitment to remain in the conflict until unconditional surrender and the effect of war on the status of women.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	vii
List of abbreviations	viii
Chronology of the war in the west	ix
Introduction	1	(3)
Wartime politics	4	(29)
The outbreak of war and the downfall of Chamberlain	5	(8)
The Churchill coalition, 1940-2	13	(5)
Beveridge and reconstruction	18	(8)
Popular attitudes and the 1945 election	26	(7)
The People's war	33	(21)
Evacuation and the blitz	35	(3)
Women at war	38	(7)
Civil liberties, citizenship and the state	45	(9)
The wartime economy	54	(16)
Organising the war economy	54	(6)
The performance of the war economy	60	(4)
The economic legacy of the war	64	(6)
Wartime media-press, radio and cinema	70	(15)
The national press	71	(4)
The BBC	75	(4)
Cinema	79	(6)
Wartime strategy-Britain and its Allies	85	(24)
Britain and France, September 1939-June 1940	86	(5)
Britain alone, June 1940-June 1941	91	(5)
Towards the Grand Alliance, June-December 1941	96	(2)
The Mediterranean strategy, 1942-4	98	(5)
D-Day and victory in Europe	103	(6)
Bibliography	109	(10)
Index	119