Position:Home>History> How reliable is source b? (shown below)?
Question: How reliable is source b!? (shown below)!?
i've got to write quite a lot but i don't really know!.
the question is:
How reliable is source B to a historian looking at how britain tried to prevent air raids in world war 2!? explain your answer by referring to the purpose of the source as well as using its content and your own knowledge!.
the source is:
source B- extracts from a leaflet issued by the govertment in July 1939!. The leaflet was giving advice about air raids:
no outside lights will be allowed and all street lighting will be put out!.
the question is for 7 marks!. HELP MEEE!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
I believe that source B is very reliable because the leaflet issued by the government was the british plan for the people when they were about to get bombe!. Once the air raid siren went off, everybody had to turn off the outside lights as well as the street lights being turned off so that the German bombers would have a hard time finding the targets that they were going to bomb!. With no outside lights, the bombers could not figure out if the land below them was a city or just the woods!.
ADD ON: But the fact that the government wanted the lights out during an air raid was a means to help hide areas of high population!. The extract is a primary source so it would be beneficial to a Historian!. It does not answer everything about what the british government was doing for air raids but it was a leaflet given to the people to show them what to do if the sirens went off and that the government was working on the problemWww@QuestionHome@Com
Hi Emily!.
I have checked out this source and it is OK and safe to use!.
I also found out that as early as 1924 plans were afoot for such an event!. The leaflet you speak of was the Air Raid Precautions Act of 1937
You could bolster you answer by supplementing it with further information relevant to the question!.
I hope this is of help to you!.
Good luck my friend,
Cathorio!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
This may be a trick question, because advice to civilians on air raids has nothing to do with preventing them!. It no doubt was aimed at minimising their effects!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
okay 7 marks is a lot so they Will be expecting you to cover some good ground!. I would suggest thinking about an answer that includes:
- impact of air raids - both morale as well as damage to the home front and thus the war effort - eg heavy bombing on the Liverpool docks
- what was done to try and avoid them - intelligence, anti-air craft guns etc as well as things to reduce their impact - the blackout, fire watchers etc
when you have discussed that you then need to assess the source you have against this backdrop!. Sounds like it is about only one of the things above so whilst it is useful and reliable for telling us the message the government wanted civilians to know about some elements of the blackout we can not assess how much impact it had (how many people saw it, how relevant was this vs other documentation and legislation and people such as wardens) it is not reliable for giving us a full picture of the total UK efforts in preventing air raids!. It tells us some bit not all of what we need so to consider it is isolation does not give the whole story!.
Note i have not actually seen the source!Www@QuestionHome@Com