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    Half the battle: Civilian morale in Britain during the Second World War

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    Author(s)
    Mackay, Robert
    Language
    English
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    Abstract
    How well did civilian morale stand up to the pressures of total war and what factors were important to it? In this important work, Robert Mackay offers a robust rejection of recent contentions that civilian morale fell a long way short of the favourable picture presented at the time and in hundreds of books and films ever since. Whilst acknowledging that some negative attitudes and behaviours existed - panic and defeatism, ration-cheating and black-marketeering, looting, absenteeism and strikes - the author argues that these involved a very small minority of the population. In fact, most people behaved well, and this should be the real measure of civilian morale, rather than the failings of the few who behaved badly. This book shows that before the War the official prognosis was pessimistic but that measures to bolster morale were taken nevertheless, in particular with regard to protection against air raids. An examination of a range of indicative factors concludes that morale fluctuated but was in the main good, right until the end of the War. In explaining this phenomenon, due credit is accorded to government policies for the maintenance of morale, but special emphasis is given to the 'invisible' chain of patriotic feeling that held the nation together during its time of trial. This book will give students of the Second World War new insights into how and why ordinary people coped with the intolerable.
    URI
    http://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/35048
    Keywords
    britain; war; civilian; BBC; London; Mass-Observation; Propaganda; The Blitz
    DOI
    10.7228/manchester/9780719058936.001.0001
    ISBN
    9780719058936
    OCN
    57555449; 994596261
    Publisher
    Manchester University Press
    Publisher website
    https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/
    Publication date and place
    2003
    Classification
    European history
    Public remark
    Relevant Wikipedia pages: BBC - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC; London - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London; Mass-Observation - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass-Observation; Propaganda - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda; The Blitz - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blitz
    Rights
    https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/
    • Imported or submitted locally

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    License

    • If not noted otherwise all contents are available under Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

    Credits

    • logo EU
    • This project received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 683680, 810640, 871069 and 964352.

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