the battle of britain

In this essay I will explain the battle between Germany and Britain, discuss how important winning this battle was, what Britain had that the Germans did not have, and what could have happened if Britain would have lost. It is known cleverly as “the Battle of Britain”.

”Battle of Britain, in World War II, a series of air battles between Great Britain and Germany, fought over Britain from Aug. to Oct., 1940. As a prelude to a planned invasion of England, the German Luftwaffe attacked British coastal defenses, radar stations, and shipping. On Aug. 24 the attack was shifted inland to Royal Air Force installations and aircraft factories in an effort to gain control of the air over S England. Failing to destroy the RAF, the Germans began (Sept. 7) The night bombing, or blitz, of London. Heavy night bombings of English cities continued into October, when the attack was shifted back to coastal installations. The Germans gradually gave up hope of invading England, and the battle tapered off by the end of October. Though heavily outnumbered, the RAF put up a gallant defense; radar, used for the first time in battle by Britain, played an important role. The Germans lost some 2,300 aircraft; the RAF 900. The Battle of Britain was the first major failure of the Germans in World War II, and it thwarted Hitler's plan to force Britain to accept peace or face invasion” (Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia).

The British were outnumbered 900 fighters to 640 fighters plus the Germans had an additional 1,300 bombers. With these statistics, the Luftwaffe thought that they would have a very easy time defeating the Royal Air Force. Even though the British were outnumbered, they had a few advantages that the Luftwaffe was unaware of. First, they develope...

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...se the main reason for the invasion of the Soviet Union was to weaken and demoralize the British. Hitler would have control of the Middle East and the rest of the British Empire. If the United States wanted to join the war, it would be very hard for them to have a place to launch an attack and would basically be forced to have peace with Hitler. With these events taking place in the west, the war would end early and Hitler would come out on top. This would not be the end to all conflicts because once Hitler wanted to start invading the east; he would run into more problems.

Works Cited

Columbia University, Press. "Battle Of Britain." Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6Th Edition (2013): 1. History Reference Center. Web. 2 May 2014.

McGowen, Tom. "The Battle Of Britain." Air Raid!. 20. US: Lerner Publishing Group, 2001. History Reference Center. Web. 2 May 2014