New Collection Release from British Online Archives! Britain Under Threat: Civil Defence in the Era of Total War, 1914–1989 is out now.
Comprising over 100,000 images from government files at The National Archives (UK), this collection explores civil defence in Britain from 1914 to 1989. This period spans the two world wars, the fraught interwar years, and the Cold War. This collection examines the technologies that transformed warfare and endangered civilians—chemical weapons, bomber aircraft, ballistic missiles, and the atomic bomb. In response to these threats, civil defence took on a broad and diverse definition, encompassing everything from building air raid shelters and distributing gas masks to stockpiling medical supplies and issuing propaganda.
The material in this collection highlights public reactions to the threat of attack and protective measures, while also revealing the true diversity of twentieth-century British society: exploring how civil defence was experienced differently along lines of social class, gender, religious identity, ethnic background, age, and disability.
Britain Under Threat: Civil Defence in the Era of Total War, 1914–1989 offers students and researchers insight into the social, political, cultural, and ethical landscapes of modern Britain.