Question

Which development do you feel was more critical to British success in standing alone during 1940: radar or the work at Bletchley Park? Remember to limit your responses to only the standing alone period and not the entire war. Remember to Cite your work!

Answer 1

If we compare the two development, their purpose is entirely different. The radar was used for scanning incoming airplanes and naval ships. It functioned as a monitoring and defensive mechanism. On the other hand, the work at Bletchley Park was more on decrypting the Axis communication. While this development cannot be exactly labelled as defensive or attacking mode, it falls in the category of intelligence, which could be used for defense as well as attack.

If we consider the entire war, then the development at Bletchley Park proved to be more impactful later. However, since we are considering only the standing alone period, my opinion is that radar was more critical.

The codes deciphered from the Bletchley Park was not only used for the British army’s advantage but also for the entire Allied power. But we need to consider that the result was more of strategical in nature and the result was overall long term. The radar on the other hand provided continuous monitoring and alerted the British army about incoming threats in a continuous manner. As a result, for a single period, the impact of radar is higher than the codebreaking work done at Bletchley Park.