By the start of the Second World War, the British Empire was the largest empire in the world and
human history, covering 30% of the planet's land. With the combined efforts of its territories,
the British Empire was absolutely instrumental to the Allied war effort,
contributing some 15 million military personnel and vast quantities of materiel. Britain was the
first nation to declare war on Germany, two days after Hitler invaded Poland.
Its leader, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, took a bold stance against an aggressive Hitler
and refused to bend to the Nazi's demands. On the 13 of May 1940, Churchill said,
As May trudged into June, however, for the men on the ground in France,
that strength started to waver. The German Blitzkrieg had taken France by surprise, and
soon the Allies were scrambling to flee an overrun France via Dunkirk and the English Channel. The
situation across the channel in Britain wasn't amazing, either, with the nation anticipating a
shortage of supplies and even a German invasion. Then the bombs started falling from the sky.
But just how close was Britain to keeling over in the Second World War?
Was it ever holding on by a thread? In this video, we address these very questions.
You've probably all heard the phrase 'history is written by the victors', but as recent times have
shown, it's also written by those who create the news. In the unprecedented times we're living in,
it's easier than ever to get caught up in tribal echo chambers and lose the perspective of 'the
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Of its 1939 population of 47,760,000, some 390,000 British military personnel
served in 13 divisions under the British Expeditionary Force or BEF in the Battle
of France. Between September and May 1939, over 66,000 of these people became casualties of war,
with 11,000 losing their lives, 14,000 sustaining wounds, and over 41,000 taken as POWs
or labelled MIA. By the 21st of May, the Germans had pressed a huge chunk of the defending Allied
forces towards the coast in Northwest France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, and encircled them.
Between the infamous Dunkirk evacuation and subsequent evacuations from France, some 558,000
people were able to escape over the English Channel, including over 338,000 British troops.
This was the vast majority of the BEF, but manpower isn't everything. In their escape,
the BEF left behind tons and tons of precious materiel, including 435 tanks,
45,000 cars and lorries, 20,000 motorbikes, 2,500 artillery pieces, some 11,000 machine guns,
6,400 anti-tank rifles, some 77,000 tons of ammo, 415,000 tons of equipment and supplies,
and 165,000 tons of fuel. If Hitler hadn't halted his advance on Dunkirk for three days,
it's likely he would have struck Britain with a crippling blow,
eradicating the BEF—which Churchill referred to as "the whole root and core and brain of the British
Army"—and absolutely pulverising British morale. Of course, this didn't happen, so Britain was
nowhere near keeling over after the Fall of France, despite losing its foothold on Europe.
Back in the Isles, the British could see the war coming long before Hitler invaded Poland.
The government understood that war of any calibre, let alone a world war,
was an expensive endeavour. They also understood that Britain relied heavily on imports,
and sourced around 70% of its food from overseas. Right from the start of the war,
the Germans attacked British merchant shipping with warships and U-boats in
what became the Battle of the Atlantic, putting an even greater strain on British supplies.
One drastic measure the British took was—make sure you're seated for this—the 1939 pet massacre.
That's right, anticipating a food shortage, people all across the UK started killing
their cats and dogs so they'd have fewer mouths to feed. People couldn't justify the,
quote, "luxury" of a pet when their own lives and their country were at stake.
Some pets were taken to professionals for destruction, while other owners completed the
horrible job themselves. All in all, some 750,000 pets were killed in the British pet massacre.
Though, perhaps this was not an act of desperation so much as mass hysteria. The
government implemented less drastic measures to ensure the people didn't starve to death.
One of such measures was rationing. The Ministry of Food implemented a system of rationing for
many items, including but not limited to meats, eggs, milk, cheese, biscuits, and—God save us—tea.
Later in the war, Britain established the Combined Food Board with the United States to help
coordinate the supply of food to the Allies and import-starved Britain. Domestic food production
also went up, with the British people creating so-called victory gardens on their home turf,
just like they did in the US and other belligerent nations. Sports fields and golf courses became
farms and vegetable patches. Even sections of Hyde Park in London were converted into arable plots.
In a 1939 study conducted by Cambridge University physiologists Elsie Widdowson and Robert McCance,
it was suggested that, even if the Germans destroyed 100% of British imports, the UK
could persist on domestic food production without suffering from malnutrition. One
of the main side-effects of such a diet, which included a lot of bread and potatoes,
would be a significant increase in flatulence and the size of people's poo. Lovely. With
these measures in mind, it's safe to say Britain wasn't hanging on by a thread in terms of food.
The U-boat threat in the Atlantic wasn't eternal, either. The Germans enjoyed two so-called "Happy
Times," tearing up British shipping after the nullification of the French Navy following the
Fall of France and tearing up shipping bound for Britain after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
To put it in perspective, during the "First Happy Time," from June 1940 and October 1940,
282 Allied merchant ships went down off the British coast, amounting to almost 1,500,000
tons of merchant shipping. But by late 1943, the Allies had gained the upper hand in the Battle
of the Atlantic by means of better tactics, such as increasing the size of escort groups;
better air-cover; better intel, notably through the cracking of enemy naval codes;
better submarine-detecting technologies, like radar and sonar; better depth charges and
other anti-submarine weapons; and a range of other factors. Later, Churchill wrote,
"The only thing that really frightened me during the war was the U-boat peril."
But with the US Navy standing in at Britain's side, the Germans were soon playing a losing game.
While U-boats were attacking British shipping, the Luftwaffe hit Britain from the sky.
While some 23,000 British civilians were killed in the Battle of Britain,
and while a further 43,000 lost their lives in the Blitz,
these German offensives didn't impact Britain's capacity to wage war as much as you might think.
Flying against the Royal Air Force, which boasted skilled pilots and high morale,
the Germans ultimately lost too many aircraft and experienced pilots to sustain their campaign. The
Luftwaffe was supposed to soften Britain up for a German invasion, but the RAF and its allies fought
valiantly in the defence of British military targets, vital infrastructure, and civilian lives.
Britain's industrial output index dipped slightly in November and December of 1940 but actually
increased most months after that. The Blitz—an attack on London designed to goad the RAF into a
losing battle and destruction—was also a strategic failure. In the words of author Alfred Price,
"The truth of the matter, neither by attacking the airfields nor by attacking London, was the
Luftwaffe likely to destroy RAF Fighter Command. For the first time during the Second World War,
the German war machine had set itself a major task which it patently failed to achieve."
If Hitler hadn't directed the Luftwaffe against civilians, maintaining his focus
on military targets and infrastructure instead, things may have been different.
If the Luftwaffe had managed to destroy the RAF and soften Britain for an invasion,
it still wouldn't have been the end of all things for Britain.
Churchill seemed to have meant it when he said, "We shall defend our island, whatever the cost
may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in
the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender." Too young or
too old to fight in the regular British military, as many as 1,500,000 Brits volunteered for the
Home Guard between May 1940 and December 1944, the period for which this citizen militia was active.
Among other roles, their main jobs would be to stall the advance of a German invasion and—after
the regular forces had regrouped—maintain control of the civilian population. Within the Home Guard
were secret units trained for guerrilla warfare. These were known as Auxiliary Units, and they
may have proved instrumental in the event of an invasion, as evinced by other guerrilla operations
during the war, such as those in the Philippines and Greece. In England, some 3,500 Auxiliary
Unit personnel trained at Coleshill House, learning how to use tools like silenced pistols,
American Thompson SMGs, Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knives, and various explosives.
Without some critical mistakes by the enemy, and without its allies—notably the United
States with its Lend-Lease policy —Britain may indeed have fallen in the Second World War.
But Hitler did make mistakes, Britain did have allies, and Churchill could
always call upon the British Empire if it came down to a German invasion. While Britain lost
its foothold in Europe early in the war, it remained a major player by fighting in the sea,
the sky, and on overseas lands, notably in (and in the vicinity of) its imperial territories.
We think the evidence points a certain way, but we'll leave the ultimate answer up to you.
How close do you think Britain came to falling, and when do you think it came closest? Finally,
can you think of any other examples that support the notion that Britain didn't come
close to falling? Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below.