What was britains finest hour

Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us now. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands.

But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age, made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will say, "This was their finest hour.

Like all inhabitants and even transient visitors of inner worlds, he gives evidence of seasons of agonised brooding and slow recovery. Over 60 German aircraft were destroyed, another 20 were badly mauled. The RAF was clearly not on its knees. The British people were not demanding peace. The British government remained determined to fight.

Now the autumn gales threatened. The invasion plans would have to be now or never. Following the bombing campaign on the 15 September, the resilience shown by the British meant Hitler postponed the invasion of Britain. Over the next few weeks, it was quietly abandoned. World War Two poster containing the famous lines by Winston Churchill.

The Luftwaffe lost nearly 2, planes during the battle. The RAF around 1, — these included the aircraft sent on suicidal missions to bomb the invasion barges in the Channel ports. Compared to the later gigantic battles of the Second World War the numbers were small, but the impact was huge. Britain remained committed to the destruction of the Third Reich. It would supply the Soviet Union with vital intelligence and material support.

It would rearm, rebuild and act as a base for the allied nations to eventually launch the liberation of Western Europe. TV A new online only channel for history lovers. Sign Me Up. The beginning By late May German forces were on the Channel coast. Battle of Narvik with several ships on fire at the harbour. Hawker Hurricane Mk. Radar coverage — He is a German Luftwaffe ace with 81 confirmed victories on the Eastern front. Now a year-old veteran, Hugo Broch will soar into the skies in a Spitfire.

You May Also Like. Dalrymple agreed the Convention of Sintra with Junot, whereby the French army was evacuated from Lisbon, in Royal Navy vessels, taking with them their arms and their plunder. Dalrymple, Burrard, and Wellesley were recalled to Britain and the two elder generals were sacked. Wellesley survived, but before his return to Portugal, Britain suffered defeat.

Sir John Moore had taken command there, and in November advanced into Spain to assist the Spanish armies fighting Napoleon, who was himself in the south of the country.

Twenty-six thousand British troops were successfully evacuated by the Royal Navy while Moore fended off a strong French attack on the port, but the commander was killed. After halting to refit his army, he advanced on Lisbon. Wellesley returned to Portugal in April to command a British army reinforced by Portuguese regiments.

Wellesley now advanced into Spain, but, after winning a bloody victory at Talavera, was faced with lack of provisions and found himself in danger of being encircled, so withdrew to Portugal. His response was to pull back to the prepared defences of the Lines of Torres Vedras outside Lisbon. The contrast between the two armies was immense. Thus the French often went hungry, spent much time foraging, incurred the enmity of the local population, and became the targets of guerrilla attacks.

Wellesley also benefitted from French failure to concentrate their forces in the Peninsula, with different armies operating under different generals in different theatres. The centralised direction of Napoleon was a vital missing element in French strategy in Spain. Only in , with Napoleon tied down in Russia, were the British able to resume their offensive and break through, capturing both towns, then defeating the French at Salamanca in July.

Again, though, Wellesley was forced to fall back on his main base in Portugal; decisive victory over the French forces in Spain was still beyond his power.

The following year, , with Napoleon withdrawing troops from Spain in a desperate effort to shore up his crumbling empire following his retreat from Moscow, Wellesley was able to launch a war-winning offensive.

With , men 54, British, 40, Spanish, and 28, Portuguese , he marched from northern Portugal into northern Spain, whose ports could supply his advance. In late May he took Burgos. On 21 June, at the Battle of Vitoria, an outnumbered French army was forced from its positions and its retreat turned to rout. Wellesley advanced to the Pyrenees, taking San Sebastian and Pamplona, and by the time Napoleon finally abdicated in , with France invaded by Russians, Prussians, and Austrians, the British had reahed Toulouse.

That struggle — against Revolutionary and Napoleonic France — was itself the culmination of a long series of wars between the rising maritime-commercial power of Britain and the established power of France.

Britain and France fought six major wars against each other between and They were formally at war for a full half of this entire period. Invariably, other states were also involved as allies of one or the other. After , Britain and France never went to war against each other again. Instead, they became allies — against Russia in , and against Germany in and By mid century, Britain had become the paramount global superpower.

This was the fruit of Waterloo. This article was published in the October issue of Military History Matters. To find out more about the magazine and how to subscribe, click here.

One of the giants in an age of giants: Nelson, here seen boarding the San Nicolas during the Battle of Cape St Vincent in , brought the British way of war at sea to a peak of perfection.

A modern finance system gave the British a huge advantage over Napoleonic France when it came to funding war. Contemporary cartoonist James Gillray here reflects on the strange novelty of it all. The superiority of British gunnery was a decisive factor in the war at sea. Napoleon and his generals.