-
Essay / The People's War: Were They Really All in the Same Boat?
There are controversial views when trying to interpret the meaning and reality of the so-called people's war. Undeniably, the English people survived the Battle of Britain, or “Blitz,” with implacable morale. That being said, the idea of the People's War as representative of social class cohesion in England and a strong front all around is an ideology that some consider questionable. To show that the People's War generates class cohesion, this article will examine both sides of the debate and determine that the People's War did not actually unify the entire nation. Throughout the diary, memories and testimonies will be used to give a representation of the acceptance of the People's War. There is a large amount of information to support this claim, such as propaganda and speeches given by Prime Minister Winston Churchill. However, the purpose of this article is to determine that the People's War did not unify everyone in Britain and that it did not retain the theme that "everyone was in this together", as seen primarily across class and gender. There are a select few groups who would disagree with the idea of the people's war and claim that they did not fit into this niche presented so popularly today. To be able to understand how the idea of the people's war came to be, the term must be examined back to its first use. Questions such as “What does the people’s war mean?” and “Who invented the term?” » you have to ask him to help him understand it well. The first person to use the term was AJP Taylor in his "English History 1914-1945". He said: “During the Second World War the British people came of age. It was a people’s war.” It was after this that the term "People's War" became popular, but...... middle of article ......history/ww2peopleswar/stories/45/a1300645.shtmlRose, Sonya O. Quelle people's war? National identity and citizenship in wartime Britain 1939-1945. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. Salden, Chris. “Wartime Holidays and the ‘Myth of the Blitz’.” Cultural History 2, no. 2 (May 2005). Taylor, AJP English History 1914-1945. New York: Oxford University Press, 1965. Taylor, Edith. “Ambulance driver.” People's War of World War II. April 7, 2004. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/19/a2499519.shtml “Second World War: Government Posters. How did Britain encourage its citizens to help win the war? » The National Archives. 2008. http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/education/propaganda.pdf “People's War of the Second World War: Archive of Second World War Memories – Written by the Public, Collected by the BBC.” » BBC. February 2012. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar