ABSTRACT

It remains the most striking paradox in contemporary British history: a global conflict which killed some 60 million and which left the legacy of Auschwitz, Hiroshima and countless acts of barbarism has evoked nostalgia, pride and even sentimentality in Britain for over fifty years. In one sense the paradox is simple to understand. Popular perceptions of the second world war have been filtered through the unique experience of the British from 1939 to 1945: relatively light casualties, no invasion of the home islands, standing alone as the only major power against Germany after the fall of France, a propaganda campaign which emphasised both the communal nature of the ‘people’s war’ and the moral superiority of the national cause, and victory as the only member of the ‘Big Three’ to have fought from the outset.