British popular culture glorifies the Dunkirk evacuation as a miracle, a moment of national pride, but was that really the case?Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay The question of whether the evacuation was a miracle rests on the false assumption that miracles exist in the first place. To a large extent, it was indeed a humiliation. To claim that it was a miracle is to deify it; attribute an element of superstition and attempt to veil the rather chaotic and humiliating circumstances that led to the Great Escape in the first place. In this essay, the key debate around this issue will be addressed by analyzing contemporary views on the evacuation through the prism of primary sources, the details of the rather chaotic and humiliating evacuation itself, and the perspective of British popular culture and modern historians. the representation of Dunkirk was propagandized and heavily censored. He used unifying and moving titles to mask the humiliation. The national media (under strict instructions) brandished clearly propagandistic headlines such as "335,000 soldiers saved by this miracle" and "4,000 preferred death to surrender", a deliberate ploy that played on the "spirit of Dunkirk". » to anger a nation that was on its knees. Yet Churchill bluntly described the Battle of France as “a colossal military disaster” and reminded citizens that wars are not won by evacuations. However, he also considered the evacuation a "miracle of deliverance" and emphasis was placed on the incredible number of soldiers saved. Certainly, at first glance, the evacuation can be considered close to a "miracle" for this reason and underlines the ingenuity of the British in achieving this feat in just eight days. Taylor complements this point of view, considering Dunkirk as "both a great deliverance and a great disaster", highlighting the difficulty of the debate around how to classify it. A clear call was made to the public to stay behind the war effort, as evidenced by the emphasis on the role played by "little ships" and the stories of ordinary people becoming heroes. Additionally, following the fall of Belgium and France, shortly after the evacuation, this was seen as the "miracle" needed to ensure that Britain continued to be a unique bastion of freedom and civilization in Europe . Thus, for contemporaries, the evacuation was widely considered a miracle solely because of the emotional reaction of loved ones returning from such a terrible situation. Humiliation was subordinated to the feeling of national unity; a duty to defend our battered but undefeated nation from the clutches of tyranny. However, when not blinded by emotion, it is clear that the evacuation was an absolute military humiliation. Once again, I refer to Churchill's speech in the Commons that "wars are not won by evacuations." The Battle of Dunkirk was chaotic and the evacuation itself (which seemed so miraculous at first glance) had serious consequences. The War Cabinet, for example, vehemently criticized the French in their reports on the evacuation. It notes the "failure of the French navy to assist in the evacuation", its inability to respect the agreement of British and French soldiers evacuated on their own ships and the chaotic failure of the French high command to give the order to 'evacuate. Such disagreements and tensions between the British and the French are absent from knowledge.’.