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Britain reluctantly begins to re-arm itself.
New air defence programme adds 41 squadrons to the RAF -
First Penguin paperbacks go on sale
Publisher Allen Lane felt there was a need for cheap, easily available editions of quality contemporary writing. It was a revolution in publishing that massively widened public access to literature. -
men march to London to highlight local poverty and unemployment
Poverty and mass unemployment (as high as 70%) in the north east of England drove 200 men from Jarrow, Tyne and Wear, to march 300 miles to London to deliver a petition to parliament asking for a steel works to replace the local shipyard that had recently closed down. -
First refugee children of the 'Kindertransport' arrive in Britain
A total of 10,000 Jewish children between the ages of five and 17 were sent from Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia to Britain between December 1938 and the outbreak of war in September 1939. Many were given homes by British families, or lived in hostels. Very few of them saw their parents again.
This is important to Lord of the flies because they also had to be evacuated from Britain due to rising fear of the War. -
Germany occupies and then annexes Austria in the 'Anschluss'
The union of Austria and Germany was forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles. The treaty was deeply resented by both countries for its allocation of 'war guilt' and imposition of heavy reparations. When the German army marched into Austria in March 1938, they were welcomed by cheering crowds of Austrians. -
'Munich Agreement' cedes the Sudetenland to Germany
The Munich Conference between Britain's Neville Chamberlain, Germany's Adolf Hitler, Italy's Benito Mussolini and Edouard Daladier of France agreed that the Czechoslovakian territory of the Sudetenland and its three million ethnic Germans should be joined with Germany. Chamberlain returned to Britain claiming he had achieved 'peace in our time' -
Britain guarantees territorial integrity of Poland
The British government reluctantly began to prepare for war. Conscription was introduced for the first time in peacetime on 27 April, with little protest. On 23 August, the German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact put paid to British hopes of a Russian ally. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain warned Adolf Hitler that Britain would support Poland if it was attacked by Germany. -
Britain declares war on Germany in response to the invasion of Poland
On 1 September, German forces invaded Poland. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain still hoped to avoid declaring war on Germany, but a threatened revolt in the cabinet and strong public feeling that Hitler should be confronted forced him to honor the Anglo-Polish Treaty. Britain was at war with Germany for the second time in 25 years. -
Battle Of Britian
Germany had only one enemy left- Great Britian. They decided to take over Britian by bombing them and taking over there airspace. Although the Germans continued to bomb Britian by october it was clear that the British had won. This was the first defeat of the Germans in WWII
This could have been the reason why the boy's plane was shot out of the sky. -
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack was intended as a preventive action in order to keep the U.S. Pacific Fleet from influencing the war that the Empire of Japan was planning in Southeast Asia, against Britain and the Netherlands, as well as the U.S. in the Philippines. -
Anne Frank Goes Into Hiding
They went into hiding after her sister Margot recieved a notice that they would search her naighborhood. But on August 9 1944 they were discovered and arrested. -
Atomic Bombs dropped
During the final stages of World War II in 1945, the United States conducted two atomic bombings against Japan in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
“Didn’t you hear what the pilot said? About the atom bomb? They’re all dead" (Golding 87). -
First Computer Built
ENIAC was built. -
Germans Surrender
The German Instrument of Surrender was the legal instrument that established the armistice ending WWII in Europe. It was signed by representatives of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, the Allied Expeditionary Force and Soviet High Command on May 7 and formally ratified on May 8, 1945. The date is known in the West as Victory in Europe Day.
This is important to Lord Of The Flies because this is how they would have been able to be saved, since the war was practically over. -
United Nations was founded
The UN was founded in 1945 after WWII to replace the League of Nations, to stop wars between countries, and to provide a platform for dialogue. It contains multiple subsidiary organizations to carry out its missions. -
Hitler Commits Suicide
In his bunker while hiding from the Soviets, him and his wife both committed suicide. Hitler took a gunshot to his head and his wife drank poison. After they died some of his staff members took him and his wife and drenched them in gasoline and set them on fire. They did this many times until you couldnt reconize that that was a body. Then they buried them side by side. -
Ghandi's assassination
Gandhi's violent death came just months after the realization of his long sought-after goal - the independence of India from Great Britain. It was a bittersweet victory for Gandhi because along with India's independence came the partitioning of the sub-continent into two seseparate states - Muslim-based Pakistan and Hindu-based India - an action he thoroughly opposed. Gandhi did not take part in the celebration of India's independence. -
Labour wins the general election with Clement Attlee returned as prime minister
Labour remained in government but its majority fell greatly, to only five seats, as the electorate's enthusiasm for Labour's post-war vision dwindled away. -
British troops arrive to support US forces in the Korean War
British troops were sent to help the US-led United Nations force repel the Communist invasion of South Korea by North Korea. The conflict set the pattern for the Cold War, with South Korea backed by the US and its allies, and North Korea backed by the Soviet Union and China. An armistice was agreed in July 1953 and Korea was partitioned. Approximately two million Korean civilians, 1.5 million Communist troops and 450,000 UN and South Korean troops were killed. No peace treaty was ever agreed. -
Conservatives under Winston Churchill win the general election
The Labour government fell as the Conservatives won a clear majority. Remarkably, Winston Churchill became prime minister again at the age of 76. He focused on foreign affairs, including reducing escalating Cold War tensions and maintaining the 'special relationship' with America, which he had done so much to develop during World War Two. Other foreign concerns included the Malayan emergency and the Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya. -
Elizabeth II succeeds her father, George VI
Princess Elizabeth was in Kenya when news of her father's death reached her. She immediately returned to Britain and was crowned on 2 June 1953. Elizabeth II proved an experienced and skilful adviser of successive prime ministers, but was careful to main constitutional conventions and not take a political stand publicly. Nonetheless, she held strong opinions, not least a belief in the Commonwealth. Under Elizabeth, members of the royal family maintained their important charitable role. -
Watson and Crick publish their discovery of the structure of DNA
Scientists James Watson and Francis Crick were the first to describe the structure of a chemical called deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, which makes up the genes that pass hereditary characteristics from parent to child. They received the 1962 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, which they shared with another DNA pioneer, Maurice Wilkins. A hugely important discovery, it has since formed the basis for a wide range of scientific advances. -
Worsening pollution prompts the passing of the Clean Air Act
The Clean Air Act was part of a general move towards a cleaner environment, directed in particular against the burning of coal in urban areas. The Act was in response to the severe London smog of 1952, which killed more than 4,000 people. Another Clean Air Act followed in 1968. -
Commercial television starts with the first ITV broadcast
The monopoly of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) was broken when commercial television companies, financed by advertising, began broadcasting under the name of Independent Television (ITV) following the Television Act of 1954. The BBC started broadcasting a second channel, BBC Two, in 1964, and Channel 4 started broadcasting in 1982. -
Britain switches on its first nuclear power station
Britain switches on its first nuclear power station
Calder Hall, Britain's first nuclear power station - and the first in the world to supply substantial quantities of electricity to a national system - was opened by Elizabeth II.