Editing Battle of Britain (section)

===First stages of the Second World War===
[[File:Sir Winston Churchill - 19086236948.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Winston Churchill]], British [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]], in 1941]] The early stages of the Second World War saw successful German invasions on the continent, aided decisively by the air power of the Luftwaffe, which was able to establish tactical air superiority with great effectiveness. The speed with which German forces defeated most of the defending armies in [[German occupation of Norway|Norway]] in early 1940 created a significant political crisis in Britain. In early May 1940, the [[Norway Debate]] questioned the fitness for office of the British [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]] [[Neville Chamberlain]]. On 10 May, the same day [[Winston Churchill]] became British Prime Minister, the Germans initiated the Battle of France with an aggressive invasion of French territory. RAF Fighter Command was desperately short of trained pilots and aircraft. Churchill sent fighter squadrons, the [[British Air Forces in France|Air Component]] of the [[British Expeditionary Force (World War II)|British Expeditionary Force]], to support operations in France,<ref>{{harvnb|Deighton|1996|pp=69–73}}</ref> where the RAF suffered heavy losses. This was despite the objections of its commander Hugh Dowding that the diversion of his forces would leave home defences under-strength.<ref name="short hist 99" />

After the [[Dunkirk evacuation|evacuation of British and French soldiers from Dunkirk]] and the French surrender on 22 June 1940, Hitler mainly focused his energies on the possibility of invading the [[Soviet Union]].<ref>{{harvnb|Ray|2003|p=62}}</ref> He believed that the British, defeated on the continent and without European allies, would quickly come to terms.<ref>{{harvnb|Bungay|2000|p=9}}</ref> The Germans were so convinced of an imminent armistice that they began constructing street decorations for the homecoming parades of victorious troops.<ref name="smith1942">{{harvnb|Smith|1942|p=96}}</ref> Although the British [[Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs|Foreign Secretary]], [[E. F. L. Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax|Lord Halifax]], and certain elements of the British public favoured a negotiated peace with an ascendant Germany, Churchill and a majority of his Cabinet refused to consider an armistice.<ref>{{harvnb|Bungay|2000|p=11}}</ref> Instead, Churchill used his skilful rhetoric to harden public opinion against capitulation and prepare the British for a long war.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}

The Battle of Britain has the unusual distinction that it gained its name before being fought. The name is derived from the ''[[This was their finest hour]]'' speech delivered by Winston Churchill in the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] on 18 June, more than three weeks prior to the generally accepted date for the start of the battle:

{{blockquote|... What [[Maxime Weygand|General Weygand]] called the Battle of France is over. I expect that the battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends our own British life and the long continuity of our institutions and [[British Empire|our Empire]]. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. 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 Ages (historiography)|Dark Age]] made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of a 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 still say, "This was their finest hour".<ref name="Stacey 1955, p.18" /><ref>[http://winstonchurchill.org/learn/speeches/speeches-of-winston-churchill/1940-finest-hour/122-their-finest-hour "Their Finest Hour."] ''The Churchill Centre''. Retrieved: 17 January 2012.</ref><ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QArc2c_umzc "Battle of Britain – finest hour speech"] on Youtube. Retrieved: 1 February 2015.</ref>|Winston Churchill}}