The evacuation of children occurred in World War Two. This is where the children were moved from the cities to the country. In this essay I am going to show how the evacuation occurred and some of the effects it caused and the advantages and disadvantages associated with the whole scheme.
In the build-up to WW2 the powers and governments were very scared of bombing. England was no exception. As soon as WW2 began Britain began to evacuate the big towns and cities. Cities like London, Birmingham and Southampton along with other cities were all evacuated due to the dangers of bombing. In London alone the number of deaths were expected to reach up to 4 million. People were scared of bombing due to the Spanish Civil war in Guernica where the death rates were very high. As soon as war broke out many children along with teachers, siblings and or their mothers were evacuated to more sparsely populated areas like Yorkshire and Sussex.
The government had to organise two waves of evacuation due to the Phoney War and after they got back many were reluctant to go back to the country again. They came back because in the Phoney War (pre-blitz) London was not bombed until the blitz started in 1940. The Phoney War saw many children return to there parents supposedly temporarily but in fact near enough one in four people remained in the cities away from the foster parents and in the country. After the Phoney War many of the children were sent back after France collapsed in 1940.
This is because France being invaded suddenly helped people to wake up and once again on the first of September all pregnant women, disabled; under 15's and patients were re-evacuated to the country once again. Some went abroad to Australia and South Africa. Another fact for this sudden re-evacuation were that the Germans built air bases on the French coast making large important cities in England in range of the deadly German air force.
Another reason for the children being evacuated into the more sparsely populated areas were that it could boost morale for the armies of the people fighting in the war. This is because it helped them to fight on with the thoughts of their future and as if they were almost fighting for their future. It could also be beneficial to the children and the foster parents alike as it opened their eyes to the cities and country and of the other lives they both knew so little about.
Yet another reason for the mass-evacuation of Britain was that if the children were evacuated to the country then it made the mothers of the children free to aid and assist the army with the war. The women are known to have made uniforms and perform other jobs throughout the war.
In conclusion the government evacuated children for a majority of different reasons. The main reasons being that there were high death rates expected due to the Spanish Civil War with the civilian casualties, some reasons for it being successful were that many of the children found homes with pleasant foster parents. Whereas there were also downsides like the fact that many people refused to accept fostering children and there were many stories of terrible things happening to particular foster children. I however on the whole believe it was successful as children and the disabled were far safer in the country and many lives were saved.
Comments
Post a Comment