Second World War - Occupies a place in British collective memory - So many ideas about what the war represented - Many myths and representations historians have to engage with. - British nation drew together a sense of social cohesion -Persistenceofmythsisbaffling - Myths that the British people united under a common cause - 'People's War' - 1940s during war 1. Did the war precipitate a levelling pf social hierarchies? 2. To what extent did the war change attitudes to state intervention? 3. How did the years 1939-45 shape post-war reconstruction? Labour landslide which ushers in a welfare state, how did war eras encourage an appetite for this? 'The People's War'? - Angus Calder - People were "protagonists" and participation was "wider, deep and longer" than any other war. - Argues that the war opens up idea for the welfare state - But the phrase people's war was also used in government's propaganda at the time- emphasise idea of a united people, race, class, gender against fascism. - Recently, historians have begun to question this idea - Sonya Rose assesses extent of cohesion and common experience. - Cultural experience during the war - British Culture at the box of f i ce Cinema Attendance (increases): - 1939 - 19 million - 1945 - 30 million - Went to see the newsreels November1940MinistryofInformationdrewaprogramforfilmpropaganda 1943-keyfilmswhichdepictedeverydayBritonscopingwiththewaronhomesoil:Mil- lions Like Us, Fires Were Started, The Demi Paradise. - Ministry of Information believed emphasis on what Britain was f i ghting for as a purpose, explanationofhowBritainisfightingthewar.Fundthesefilmswhichportrayharmonious class relationships.
-Stipulatedfilmshouldhavestrong,tough,independentcharacters. - Contribution of the working-class - Marxist way. - Strong emphasis on sacrif i ce - keeping going under dif f i cult circumstances. - War brought about 'equality of sacrif i ce' - black market - -Butalsochallengestothisargument:Claimsthataffluencesometimesshirkedduties- Buying way out of conscription duty, black market. Evacuation - Tensions about class are most vivid - Justif i ed concerns that Britain would experience ariel bombardment in urbanised areas. - Cripple infrastructure, cripple to country. - Government planned mass evacuation of children - f i rst begun prior to outbreak of war - some families - unof f i cial schemes - sending to other relatives in rural areas, seaside ar- eas. -Moreaffluent-sentabroad-5,000toUS,fewhundredtoAustraliaandNewZealand. - Largest peacetime movement of civilians in the country. - Experiences often very challenging - split of families, Protestant children sent to Catholic families - no sensitivity. East-end - poverty stricken - criticism of these children and par- ents(poorstateofhealth-head-lice,tuberculosis)evidenceofpoverty.Moreaffluent communities see poverty and poor health from poorer communities where there is a broader recognition of the need to raise standards and the need for the welfare state. - Quickly revealed underlying social tensions - Depths of poverty and opinions were polarised by class position - Phoney war - not much happened - children came home, but then 1940s sent away again, movement backwards and forwards. Women's working roles - 1943 - 90% of single women between 18 and 40 and 80% married women with children over 14 worked - 9 out of 10 single women and