'Retreats and defeats marked the first two years of the war for Britain. How far would you agree with this opinion?

During the opening two years of the war the following incidents happened:

• Britain’s ally Poland was defeated by Germany. Britain and France did little to help their ally.
• In 1940, Germany occupied Denmark and Norway. The ports of Norway were outlet for Swedish iron-ore. Thus affecting the British transatlantic supply lines.
• After this Hitler attacked Holland, Belgium and France. The only remarkable achievement for the Britain till now was the evacuation of a third of a million troops from Dunkrik with the help of British Navy and boosted British morale. Britain again lost her ally France to Germany.
• First time Britain checked Germany in the Battle of Britain which was fought in air. Germany lost more plane than Britain in this battle.
• Then Mussolini’s invasion of Egypt was a failure and British drove out Italians out of Egypt and defeated them. During this battle British took whole Libya.
• In 1941, Germans along with Italians drove British out of Libya and in 1942 captured Egypt.
• In 1941 when Hitler attacked Greece, to help Greece the troops of British, Australia and New Zealand arrived the next day but Hitler was capable of capturing Greece and the Allied troops withdrew.

These incidents marked the retreats and defeats of Britain during the first two years of war and showed that the Axis powers have a upper hand in the war. Britain lost Poland and France during this period which was a huge blow to them.

Topics: GS-I: World Wars, Cold War and Other Major Events of 20th Century