Britain at war 1914–1918 and 1939–45

Britain entered the First World War on 4 August 1914. Instead Britain entered a period known as the phoney war; in which little military activity took place until Germany invaded France and the low countries in spring 1940. In Britain, the food situation was never as severe, but Britain had been a net importer of food before both the First and Second World Wars. Although these numbers are not insignificant, they were not only dwarfed by the civilian casualties in other belligerent nations but also by Britain's losses in the Second World War. Historians have long discussed and analysed Britain's particular attachment to the Second World War. By contrast, far more war workers and foreign soldiers were present in Britain during the Second World War. With the entry of the United States into the war in 1941, a significant number of Black American soldiers were also stationed in Britain during the war.