On this day 70 years ago, Germany invaded Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, and England was anticipating its darkest days in the second world war. During the 1930s, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain had been pursuing peace with Germany, and Winston Churchill was a strident critic of this policy of appeasement. When Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, England finally decided to resist Hitler by declaring war.
Churchill was brought into the War Cabinet as First Lord of the Admiralty, but for the next 8 months the British war efforts were quite feeble, while Germany continued its invasion of Europe. On 7th May the parliament began debates which were highly critical of the government, and Chamberlain, aware of his weakened position, decided to resign on 10th May. Winston Churchill was appointed prime minister in his place.
Just hours after Churchill had been appointed prime minister, the German invasion of France began. Germany quickly overwhelmed France, and British troops were evacuated from Dunkirk at the end of May. France surrendered on 22 June, and in July the Battle of Britain began. The British Air Force succeeded in repulsing the German attack over the next few months, although several years of fighting remained before the war was over.