Q1 - 16 marks:
Explain how useful these sources have been in informing you in your enquiry into the roles played by the Royal Navy in the war at sea in the two world wars. (Sources A-D)
The Navy played an important role during WW1 as it protected the British Isles and its colonies. It was also used to blockade the ports of enemy countries, to try and stop supplies of food and other materials getting in. WW1 was largely a land based war, although battles at sea also were also a crucial part of warfare. Overall The Royal Navy played an essential part in ensuring Britain’s victory.
Source A depicts an illustration published by the “Illustrated London News” in 1916. Clearly the purpose …show more content…
A captain on the Royal Navy was consisted to be one of the most superior roles of the navy fleet. The rank of a captain is considered to be the equivalent to a colonel in the British Army. From this we can identify that Donald Macintyre was an important figure. For the Royal Navy. The nature of this source is clearly an Autobiography, and the provenance is the captain of the HMS Walker. The purpose of this source was to clearly to be presented to the public. Since it is an autobiography it will be reliable in the sense that it can provide unique insights as nobody knows better than the subject about themselves, on the other hand they can be political with the truth or written to cause sensation; the facts could be skewed because the writer will definitely be presenting himself in the best possible way. As well as that it is highly likely that only one point of view will be provided so the account written in the autobiography may biased. Since WW2 was such a long time away from when the book was written and published. (1956) it is highly likely that he could have forgotten some information and to compensate for that he fictionalised some of the parts of the book, partially to make the autobiography more interesting. The likelihood that someone buys uninteresting book it is unlikely to make sales therefore the author must try to make the …show more content…
In both wars England were threatened by the opposition and used propaganda and censorship effectively to cover up the facts from the public. Sources ( A-D) show a good mix in source type collection. This is useful as it gives us a range of views. However these source types are not of equal value and this may affect the final judgement. There are two different source type although they have the same motive. Both source A (An illustration) and D(a propaganda poster). These are the least reliable because they are biased and their main purpose was to increase war efforts during both wars, it does not tell any information about the purpose of the Royal Navy and their roles in the war. On the other hand source B and C are more reliable than the A and D because they have been recorded from primary perspective, therefore their views and the most valuable in terms of usefulness as it can easily depict the roles of the royal navy since they were there at the time, and were part of the royal navy also. As well as that Source B does not show any indication of biased as the source was only intended to a small amount of people therefore there was no need to be secretive about anything, therefore we can easily observe the jobs of the royal navy in order to win the war. Source C is also useful as it is coming from the perspective of a former royal navy soldier captain, therefore it can be useful in