Britain Under Threat: Civil Defence in the Era of Total War, 1914–1989 Contextual Essays

The development of the atomic bomb, and its first use by the United States against Japan in August 1945, changed warfare forever. It showed that a single bomb, delivered by a single aircraft, could all but destroy an entire city.... Read more →

"A nuclear attack on Britain would be the greatest catastrophe this country has ever suffered . . . No reasonable person can doubt that such a war must be avoided at all costs. Anything that weakens our determination to prevent... Read more →

Throughout the twentieth century, British civil defence programmes blended direct government action—the distribution of gas masks, say, or the construction of large public shelters—with calls to arms for the public to do their bit to keep themselves, and their families,... Read more →