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• During World War Two, there were significant changes to life in Britain.

• German U-boats were sinking ships in the Atlantic, causing food shortages.

• Children were evacuated to the countryside to keep them safe from the bombing of towns and cities.

• As in World War One, women took up the jobs that men were no longer able to do, as they had been sent to the front to fight.

When war broke out in September 1939, the British people knew it would be different from World War One. They had seen newsreels of the damage the German Luftwaffe had caused in Spain. The city of Guernica had been heavily bombed, and people were shocked to see the devastation that these bombing raids had caused.

The British government launched a campaign to show people what they needed to do to be safe, and to maintain public support for the war effort.

The government had prepared for evacuation before war broke out. This meant that as soon as Poland was invaded, on 1 September 1939, the UK government was ready to move children and other vulnerable people out of towns and cities and into the countryside.

The initial campaign was highly successful. 1.5 million children, 7,000 disabled people and 13,000 pregnant women were evacuated in just three days. 103,000 teachers were also evacuated. They went to help the children continue with their education.

During the ‘Phoney War’ there was no bombing of British towns, and many children struggled to settle in the countryside. As a result, by the start of 1940, it was estimated that half of the evacuees had returned home. The government launched a campaign to persuade parents to leave their children in the countryside.

Evacuation was a difficult experience for some children. They struggled to cope with life in the countryside, away from their families, while some host families were shocked by the levels of poverty that the children had been living in.

The poster above was produced during World War Two by Britain’s Ministry of Health, which was in charge of evacuating children from cities.

The man bending down to speak to the little boy is an Air Raid Precaution warden, whose job was to help people get to a shelter in the event of an air raid.

The Battle of the Atlantic involved German U-boats trying to sink cargo ships bringing supplies to Britain. This had the potential to cause food shortages in Britain. To ensure people did not starve, rationing was introduced to make sure people got enough food to live on. Without rationing, food prices would have risen dramatically and there was a danger that poorer people would not be able to afford to eat. Rationing ensured everyone would have access to food. Books of ration vouchers were given out, and these could be exchanged for food. Items such as meat, cheese and sugar were all rationed.

In a further effort to deal with food shortages, the British government launched a campaign to persuade people to grow their own food. This was called ‘Dig for Victory’. To support this, land was used in parks, golf courses and people’s lawns to create more space for growing crops.

The rationing and Dig for Victory efforts were highly successful. There were no recorded cases of British people starving to death because of food shortages in World War Two. This was not the case across the British Empire. India was under the direct rule of Britain, and up to 3 million people died in a famine in Bengal, India, in 1943.

Supply shortages also affected clothing. Rationing of clothes was introduced in June 1941. The following year, the Utility Clothing Scheme was introduced. This was an initiative by the government to regulate and control the quality and materials used to make clothes. This helped to significantly reduce the amount of cloth needed to make new garments. Clothes made under the scheme were labelled ‘CC41’, standing for Civilian Clothing 1941.

Following the Battle of Britain, German tactics changed. Instead of trying to defeat the RAF, they started using the Luftwaffe to bomb British towns and cities. To try and protect people, air raid sirens were set up to warn people when to seek shelter. Anderson shelters were built in back gardens or yards so people had somewhere to take cover. In London, underground stations were used as shelters.

Air Raid Precaution (ARP) wardens were recruited. Their job was to support people in getting to an air raid shelter when a siren sounded. They also ensured people were using blackouts to prevent any light from being visible to German planes overhead. This made it harder for them to work out where cities were.

Men who were too young or old to join the regular Army were recruited into the ���˿��� Guard. Men who had failed their Army medical screenings also joined. This group was established in May 1940, and by July 1.7 million men had volunteered to join. The ���˿��� Guard was intended to be the last line of defence against a German invasion. They also provided support for authorities after an air raid by sealing off dangerous areas. Given the age of many members of the ���˿��� Guard, they were given the nickname ‘Dad’s Army’. Many of the members of the ���˿��� Guard had served for the British Army in World War One, so were able to give valuable advice and support to 17 and 18-year-old members ahead of them joining the regular Army.

As in World War One, women were required to take up work in factories and businesses to fill the place of men who had joined the armed forces.

In December 1941, a law was passed that conscripted all unmarried women between the ages of 20 and 30 into one of the support services for the armed forces. The Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) was set up to provide support for the RAF. It provided administrative support so that men could concentrate on fighting on the front line. Women in the WAAF did jobs such as producing special reports and fixing and loading fighter and bomber planes.

The Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) provided support for the Army. They carried out tasks such as delivering, cooking and administration, as well as operating anti-aircraft search lights. They were sometimes sent abroad to support the Army.

The Women’s Transport Service had been set up in the First World War. They were used to support spying operations and to help crack codes of German messages that had been intercepted.

To help with food shortages, the Women’s Land Army was also set up. They worked on farmland to help ensure shortages were not too extreme. They were nicknamed ‘land girls’. By 1944, there were 80,000 women working on the land.

In 1942, the Beveridge Report outlined five ‘giant evils’ that caused big problems in society. William Beveridge, the writer of the report, identified these as:

• disease (caused by a lack of healthcare services)

• idleness (caused by a lack of jobs, or the ability to enter employment)

• ignorance (caused by poor education, or the inability to access education)

• squalor (caused by poor quality housing)

• want (caused by poverty)

During World War Two, people had become more used to the government having a greater role in their lives. The Beveridge Report resulted in an expansion of the government’s involvement in providing healthcare, education and pensions to people across the country, known as the welfare state. These changes began under the Conservative government led by Winston Churchill. For example, the Education Act was voted into law in 1944 and made a secondary education free and compulsory for all children.

When a Labour government came into power following the general election of 1945, the new Prime Minister, Clement Attlee, continued to expand the welfare state. These changes included:

• Family Allowances Act: Passed into law in 1945, this introduced child benefit to try and reduce rates of child poverty.

• The National Health Service: This was created in 1948 to provide free health care for everyone, regardless of income.