The Second World War was a total war. Britain needed almost everyone, so the government told people what job to do. That changed the lives of men, women and many people from other countries who were living in Britain.
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Unlock This CourseBritain brought in conscription before the war began. In April 1939 the Military Training Act called up men aged 20 and 21 for six months. When war was declared in September 1939, Parliament passed the National Service (Armed Forces) Act. It made all fit men aged 18 to 41 liable to be called up. By 1941 men up to the age of 51 were liable. Remember, conscription means being forced by law to join the armed forces.
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Men who refused to fight appeared before a local tribunal. It could excuse them completely, order them to do other work such as farming or ambulance duty, accept non-fighting service in the forces, or reject their claim. They were treated more tolerantly than in the First World War.
The government needed food, coal, ships and weapons as well as soldiers. Skilled workers in key jobs were reserved, so they stayed in their jobs instead of being called up.
Women had volunteered in large numbers at the start of the war. But by 1941 Britain was short of workers. In March 1941 women had to register for work. In December 1941 the National Service (No. 2) Act made unmarried women aged 20 to 30 liable for call-up. It was the first time Britain had conscripted women. The age range was widened later.
Women could choose from the women's branches of the forces (the Auxiliary Territorial Service, the Women's Royal Naval Service and the Women's Auxiliary Air Force), civil defence, or war work in factories. Women with children under 14 living with them, and pregnant women, were exempt. Conscripted women could choose industry or civil defence instead of the forces. Women were not made to fight.
Changed: the government now ordered women, not only men, to serve. Millions of women did jobs once seen as "men's work", in factories, on farms and on the railways. Stayed the same: women were still paid less than men for much of this work, and the fighting was still done by men.
An alien is a person living in a country who is not a citizen of it. When war broke out, tens of thousands of German and Austrian people were living in Britain. Many were Jewish refugees who had fled the Nazis. The government feared that a few might be spies, so in September 1939 it set up tribunals around the country to examine each of them.
Judged a high security risk. These few hundred people were interned straight away.
Doubtful cases. They were allowed to stay free but had restrictions on where they could go and what they owned.
No risk. This was the great majority, and most of them were refugees from Nazi rule. They were left alone.
In spring 1940 the mood changed. Germany invaded Denmark and Norway in April, then the Netherlands, Belgium and France in May. Newspapers and some politicians said there must be a fifth column in Britain. Winston Churchill became Prime Minister on 10 May 1940. Soon after, the government began interning category B aliens, then many category C men too. When Italy joined the war on 10 June 1940, Italian men who lived in Britain were rounded up as well.
Thousands of people were held in camps, many on the Isle of Man. Some were sent overseas. On 2 July 1940 a ship carrying internees to Canada, the Arandora Star, was sunk by a German submarine, and more than 800 people died, including many Italians and Germans. The sinking shocked the country.
The policy was soon criticised, because most of the people interned were enemies of the Nazis. Many were released from late 1940, and some joined the Pioneer Corps, the army's labour units, to help the war effort. Aliens had been interned in the First World War too, on a similar scale, but in 1940 most of those locked up were refugees from the Nazis.
This is a Paper 2 Section B (b) question. Give TWO causes and explain how each one led to the outcome. One cause on its own can score no more than half marks (4 out of 8).
Explain TWO causes of the internment of aliens in Britain in 1940. [8 marks]
One cause was fear of a fifth column after the German invasions of western Europe. In April and May 1940 Germany overran Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands and Belgium. Newspapers and some politicians claimed that enemy sympathisers living inside Britain were ready to help an invasion. Because the tribunals of 1939 had left most Germans and Austrians free, many people feared that spies were among them, and so the government decided that locking up more of them was safer than trusting them.
A second cause was Italy's entry into the war on 10 June 1940. Italy was now an enemy, so Italian men living in Britain became enemy aliens overnight. With France close to defeat and invasion looking possible, the government under the new Prime Minister Winston Churchill would not take the risk, and so thousands of Italian men were rounded up and sent to camps, just as category B and C Germans and Austrians had been.
What lifts it to the top level: each cause is supported by dates and named events, and each paragraph shows how the cause led to internment.
For an "Explain two causes" question, begin each paragraph with the cause, add a date or fact, then use the word "because" or "so" to show how it produced the result.