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Was the "Battle of Britain" a Major Turning Point In World War II.
Level: AS and A Level Subject: History Topic: International History, 1945-1991 Word count: 2716
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Was the “Battle of Britain” a Major Turning Point

In World War II

For this essay I am going to study the Battle of Britain and analyse its importance as a *turning point of World War II.

*A turning point is a particular decision or act that significantly alters the turnout of a conflict.

In 1939 Adolph Hitler led Nazi Germany on a crusade to dominate all of Western Europe. After crushing Poland, Norway and eventually France with their vicious and relentless “Blitzkrieg” or “Lightening War” tactics Germany had only one obstacle left before it attained total Western European domination; Great Britain. After a humiliating defeat in France, the British Expeditionary Force, or B.E.F. as it was better known, was faced with a terrible choice. Either stay to fight the German advance and risk encirclement, or pull back to the beaches of Dunkirk, and attempt to get as many men as possible back to Great Britain. Eventually the British and French commanders decided that France was lost and that they should evacuate as soon as possible. What followed was a mass withdrawal using as many floating vessels as were available. Under heavy bombardment from both land and air, cargo ships, freighters, battleships and even fishing boats were used in an attempt to pull the B.E.F. and the “Free French” army back to the relative safety of Dover, leaving almost all their valuable equipment behind. With his empire in the West relatively safe, Hitler turned his attention to the East, and Russia. Under the control of Communist dictator Premier Josef Stalin, Russia although a country of Fascism haters had previously been an ally of Germany during