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World war 2
ww2 air raids
Air raid
What was an air raid?
An air raid was an attack by enemy planes dropping bombs. Warning of enemy planes was given by sirens. When people heard the sirens' wailing sound, they went into air raid shelters.
Big bombs exploded with a loud bang and blew buildings apart. Small bombs called 'incendiaries' started fires. Firefighters worked bravely to put out the flames. Rescue teams pulled people from fallen buildings. Ambulances took the injured to hospital. When the planes had gone, the sirens sounded the 'All Clear'.
Air raid
How the war spreads
The war spreads
Britain and France went to war with Germany in September 1939.They wanted to help Poland after it was invaded, but they were too late. Poland was occupied by the Nazis. By the summer of 1940 they had conquered Holland, Belgium, France, Denmark and Norway. Enemy planes dropped bombs on cities in Britain. Allied ships were sunk by submarines.
In July 1940, German planes started bombing British coastal towns, defences and ships in the English Channel in order to gain control of the skies in the South of England. By mid-September 1940, after many battles, Germany postponed their planned land invasion of Britain as the RAF effectively fought off the German Luftwaffe. This period is known as The Battle of Britain.
Commonwealth nations, such as Canada and Australia, helped Britain. In 1941 the Soviet Union (Russia) was attacked by Germany. In 1941 America also joined the war, after Japan attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Use the timeline to find the important events and battles of the war.
How the war spreads
Why is Churchill famous?
Winston Churchill was Britain's prime minister for most of World War II. He was famous for his speeches, and for his refusal to give in, even when things were going badly. For a time he was the most famous person in Britain. People all over the world know the name Winston Churchill.
When did he live?
Churchill was born in 1874. He lived through two world wars. He saw the first cars, the first planes, and the first astronauts in space. He was at the crowning of Elizabeth II as Queen in 1953. He was an MP for over 60 years. Winston Churchill died in 1965.
What was special about Churchill?
People remember Churchill as a war leader. But he did other important jobs in a long life full of adventures. Winston Churchill loved history and in his life he made history.
The Holocaust
The Holocaust
In 1945 Allied troops freed prisoners from Nazi concentration camps. In these camps, millions of Jews and other prisoners had been killed or had died from hunger, disease and cruelty.
This terrible war crime became known as the Holocaust. It's thought 6 million Jews were killed. Among the victims were many children. One young girl left a diary of her life in hiding, before she was captured. Her name was Anne Frank. She died, aged 15, in 1945 at the Bergen-Belsen prison camp.
colditz castle
colditz castle
Situated on a cliff overlooking a small East German town in the state of Saxony is Colditz Castle. It has stood on this site since the Middle Ages and has in the past been used as a workhouse and a mental institution.
However, its place in history became assured during the Second World War, when it was Oflag IV-C, a prisoner-of-war camp for high-profile Allied officers who had repeatedly escaped from other camps. Colditz has since appeared frequently in fiction, including books, films and TV, but what is the truth behind this notorious Nazi POW camp?
CASTLE HISTORY
The town of Colditz can be found in the middle of the triangle formed by the three great cities of Leipzig, Dresden, and Chemnitz, in the heart of Germany. The first castle was built during the late 11th Century AD at the order of powerful German king Henry IV. From then on the castle played an important role as a watchtower for the German monarchy.
In 1504, an accidental fire destroyed a large part of the castle and its reconstruction saw new buildings added to the site. In 1523 the castle grounds was turned into one of the largest zoos in Europe. The castle structure was changed again under the long reign of the elector Augustus of Saxony from 1553 to 1586, when it was reconstructed into a Renaissance style castle with extra courtyards, cellars and hundreds of rooms.
The condition of the once proud castle was allowed to deteriorate during the 19th Century, when Colditz was used by Frederick Augustus III as a workhouse to feed the poor, the ill and those under arrest in the city. It would be used in this way until 1829.
A summary of World War Two
A summary of World War Two
Key causes and outcomes of World War Two - Hitler, Aircraft, Concentration camp, Soldiers, Warship, A-bomb.
Historians disagree about the causes of World War Two (WW2). Some trace it back to the anger created in Germany by the Treaty of Versailles. Some blame Neville Chamberlain and the appeasers for being too weak. Some ascribe it to Hitler's aggression.
The war broke out when Hitler invaded Poland on 1 September 1939. Britain declared war two days later, on 3 September.
At first there was a 'Phoney War' – Britain and France was not directly threatened – but in 1940 the Germans attacked. Their Blitzkreig tactics quickly destroyed the Allied forces. France was defeated and the British army was evacuated from Dunkirk. For a while, Britain and the empire faced the Germans alone, and had to survive the Battle of Britain and the Blitz.
In June 1941, Hitler invaded Russia and in December 1941, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brought the USA into the war. The war became a truly global conflict. Meanwhile, in Europe, the Nazis implemented their 'Final Solution' to exterminate all Jewish people.
The critical battles that changed the course of the war were at Midway in the Pacific (June 1942), El-Alamein in Egypt (November 1942) and Stalingrad in Russia (January 1943).
After that, the Allies never lost a battle. On D-Day (6 June 1944), the Allies invaded Normandy. The Soviet Red Army was advancing from the east. Hitler later committed suicide, and Germany surrendered (7 May 1945).
On 6 August 1945, the Americans dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, and Japan surrendered on VJ Day (15 August 1945). The war was over.