History of the Second World War Facts for Kids

This page is about the official history published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office. For a timeline of the history of World War II, see Timeline of World War II.

The History of the Second World War is a huge collection of books. It tells the official story of how Britain helped in World War II. These books were published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO), which is like the UK government's publishing house.

This massive project was split into different parts to make it easier to publish. These parts included:

The United Kingdom Military Series (about the armed forces).
The United Kingdom Civil Series (about how civilians helped during the war).
The Foreign Policy series (about Britain's relationships with other countries).
The Intelligence series (about secret information and spying).
The Medical series (about health and medical services during the war).

Other books were also published by HMSO that added more details not fully covered in the main series.

How This History Was Written
- Secret Information and References
Main Book Series
See also

How This History Was Written

The people who wrote these books wanted each volume to be useful on its own. This meant there might be some repeated information across different books. The goal was that you wouldn't have to read every single book to understand one part of the war.

Sir Keith Hancock managed the Civil Series, and Sir James Butler looked after the Military Series. The first book came out in 1949, and the very last one was published in 1993.

One interesting choice was to write about the war based on where things happened (like the European theatre or the Pacific theatre), instead of focusing on just one military branch (like the Army or Navy). This was done to show that all military actions were connected.

Secret Information and References

Many of the books published before 1970 didn't include references to secret government documents. This was because government archives were not fully open to the public until the Public Records Act 1958 and Public Records Act 1967 laws were passed.

The authors only used information from sources that were already public. This was due to rules about keeping government officials and ministers anonymous. Because of this, some parts of the story might feel a bit distant.

However, special versions of these books were printed just for official use. These versions did include references to the secret documents, often written in red ink. A few of these special copies have found their way into public libraries, so you can sometimes see these extra details.

Main Book Series

The "History of the Second World War" is made up of several important series, each covering a different aspect of Britain's involvement.

United Kingdom Military Series

This series focuses on the military side of the war. It includes books on:

Grand Strategy: How the big plans for the war were made.
The War at Sea: Stories of naval battles and operations.
The Strategic Air Offensive against Germany: Details about bombing campaigns against Germany.
Defence of the United Kingdom: How Britain protected itself from attacks.
Specific campaigns like The Campaign in Norway and The War in France and Flanders.
Victory in the West: Covering battles in Western Europe, including the Battle of Normandy.
War against Japan: The fight in Asia, including the fall of Singapore and the reconquest of Burma.
The Mediterranean and Middle East: Battles in North Africa and Italy.
Civil Affairs and Military Government: How occupied areas were managed.

United Kingdom Civil Series

This part of the history looks at how everyday life and services in Britain were affected by the war. It covers topics like:

British War Economy: How the country's money and resources were managed.
Problems of Social Policy: How the war impacted people's lives and social services.
British War Production: How factories and industries shifted to make war supplies.
Specific resources like Coal and Oil.
Civil Defence: How civilians protected themselves during air raids.
Food: How food was supplied and rationed.
The Economic Blockade: How Britain tried to stop supplies from reaching its enemies.
Manpower: How people were organized for work and military service.
Financial Policy: How the government paid for the war.

Foreign Policy

This series explores Britain's relationships with other countries during the war. The main work here is British Foreign Policy in the Second World War, which explains the diplomatic efforts and decisions made.

Intelligence

This section delves into the world of secret information and spying. The key series is British Intelligence in the Second World War, which discusses how intelligence influenced military plans and operations, including topics like strategic deception (tricking the enemy). Another important book is SOE in France, about the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and their secret missions in France.

Medical Volumes

This series covers the health and medical services during the war for all branches of the military and for civilians. It includes books on:

The Emergency Medical Services: How hospitals and medical care were organized for civilians.
The Royal Air Force Medical Services: Medical care for airmen.
The Royal Naval Medical Service: Medical care for sailors.
The Army Medical Services: Medical care for soldiers in different campaigns.
The Civilian Health and Medical Services: General health services for the public.
Specific medical topics like Medicine and Pathology and Surgery.

History of the Second World War facts for kids

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