Battle of Britain

1940-07-10 - 1940-10-31

The Battle of Britain was a military campaign of the Second World War in which the Royal Air Force and the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy defended the United Kingdom against large-scale attacks by Nazi Germany's air force, the Luftwaffe. It was the first major military campaign fought entirely by air forces. After rapidly overwhelming France and the Low Countries, Germany sought to compel Britain to negotiate, but faced the threat of invasion by sea while the Royal Navy controlled the Channel; the campaign takes its name from Winston Churchill's June 18, 1940 speech declaring that "the Battle of Britain is about to begin".