Britain

ATS personnel manning anti-aircraft defences, 1942

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Britain alone, 1940

Following France's defeat and the army's expulsion from Western Europe, the British found themselves without allies and threatened with invasion. The nation was placed on alert and prepared to face the might of Nazi Germany alone.

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Edward Walker: Eyewitness to civil war

Sir Edward Walker was Secretary at War to King Charles I during the British Civil Wars. His papers provide a first-hand account of the Battle of Lostwithiel and offer many other illuminating insights on the wider conflict.

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Battle of Naseby

Sir Thomas Fairfax led his troops to victory over King Charles I at the Battle of Naseby on 14 June 1645. His triumph won the First English Civil War (1642-46) for Parliament and ensured that monarchs would never again be supreme in British politics.

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