United Kingdom home front during World War II information
Civilian population and activities of the United Kingdom during World War II
This article may require copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone, or spelling. You can assist by editing it.(June 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
WW2 Britain
3 September 1939 – 8 May 1945
One of a series of posters by Frank Newbould, intended to arouse patriotic feelings for an idealised pastoral Britain.
Monarch(s)
George VI
Leader(s)
Neville Chamberlain
Winston Churchill
Chronology
Interwar era
Postwar era
Periods in English history
Prehistoric Britain
until c. 43 AD
Roman Britain
c. 43–410
Sub-Roman Britain
410-c. 449
Anglo-Saxon
c. 449–1066
Norman/Angevin
1066–1216
Plantagenet
1216–1485
Tudor
1485–1603
Elizabethan
1558–1603
Stuart
1603–1714
Jacobean
1603–1625
Caroline
1625–1649
(Interregnum)
1649–1660
Restoration
1660–1714
Georgian era
1714–1837
Regency era
1811–1820
Victorian era
1837–1901
Edwardian era
1901–1914
First World War
1914–1918
Interwar Britain
1919–1939
Second World War
1939–1945
Post-war Britain (political)
1945–1979
Post-war Britain (social)
1945–1979
See also
Political history (1979–present)
Social history (1979–present)
Timeline
v
t
e
The United Kingdom home front during World War II covers the political, social and economic history during 1939–1945.
The war was expensive and financed through high taxes, selling off assets, and accepting large amounts of Lend Lease from the US and Canada. The US provided $30 billion in munitions, while Canada also contributed aid. American and Canadian aid did not have to be repaid, but there were also American loans that were repaid.[1]
Britain’s total mobilisation during this period proved successful in winning the war by maintaining strong public support. The media dubbed it a “people’s war,” which caught on and signified the popular demand for planning and an expanded welfare state.[2][3] By 1945, the Post-war consensus emerged, delivering a welfare state.[4] The Royal family played major symbolic roles during the war. They refused to leave London during the Blitz and visited troops, munition factories, dockyards, and hospitals all over the country.[5]
The British relied successfully on voluntary labour. Munitions production rose dramatically while maintaining high quality. Food production was emphasised to free shipping for munitions. Farmers increased the area under cultivation from 12 million to 18 million acres (from about 50,000 to 75,000 km2), and the farm labour force expanded by a fifth, thanks to the Women's Land Army.[6]
^Hughes, J. R. T. (1958). "Financing the British War Effort". Journal of Economic History. 18 (2): 193–199. doi:10.1017/S0022050700077718. JSTOR 2115103. S2CID 154148525.
^Mark Donnelly, Britain in the Second World War (1999) is a short survey
^Angus Calder, The people's war: Britain, 1939–1945 (1969)
^Brian Harrison, "The rise, fall and rise of political consensus in Britain since 1940." History 84.274 (1999): 301-324. online
^Alfred F. Havighurst, Britain in Transition: The Twentieth Century (1962) ch 9
^Calder, The People's War: Britain, 1939–45 (1969) pp. 276–83, 411–30
and 28 Related for: United Kingdom home front during World War II information
the homefrontduringWorldWarII was a significant part of the war effort for all participants and had a major impact on the outcome of the war. Governments...
the UnitedKingdom in WorldWarII covers the Second WorldWar against the Axis powers, starting on 3 September, 1939 with the declaration of war by the...
The United States homefrontduringWorldWarII supported the war effort in many ways, including a wide range of volunteer efforts and submitting to government-managed...
several times during the 20th century, during and immediately after a war. At the start of the Second WorldWar in 1939, the UnitedKingdom was importing...
propaganda duringWorldWar I War art in The National Archives (UnitedKingdom) American propaganda duringWorldWarII Propaganda and India in WorldWarII Nazi...
HomefrontduringWorldWarII Japanese occupation of Guam Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies United States homefrontduringWorldWarII Williamson...
British homefrontduring the First WorldWar from 1914 to 1918. This conflict was the first modern example of total war in the UnitedKingdom; innovations...
The UnitedKingdom was a leading Allied Power during the First WorldWar of 1914–1918. They fought against the Central Powers, mainly Germany. The armed...
The evacuation of civilians in Britain during the Second WorldWar was designed to defend individuals, especially children, from the risks associated...
This is a list of war crimes committed duringWorldWarII. The Axis powers (Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan) were some of the most systematic...
Mexico's participation in WorldWarII had its first antecedent in the diplomatic efforts made by the government before the League of Nations as a result...
WorldWarII in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia began on 6 April 1941, when the country was invaded and swiftly conquered by Axis forces and partitioned among...
Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the UnitedKingdom, in 1940 and 1941, during the Second WorldWar. The term was first used by the British press...
geared for war if the Allies were to prevail on the Western Front. The United States homefrontduringWorldWar I saw the first ring WorldWarII. A factor...
timeline of declarations of warduringWorldWarII. A declaration of war is a formal act by which one nation goes to war against another. The declaration...
DuringWorldWarII, the Kingdom of Hungary was a member of the Axis powers. In the 1930s, the Kingdom of Hungary relied on increased trade with Fascist...
The history of Canada duringWorldWarII begins with the German invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939. While the Canadian Armed Forces were eventually...
Technology played a significant role in WorldWarII. Some of the technologies used during the war were developed during the interwar years of the 1920s and...