World War II/Battle of Britain
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During the Battle of Britain, Germany had most of western Europe under its control. Germany never launched an invasion of Britain, but launched attacks by air. Germany bombed ports, factories and centres of population including London. They hoped that, with mounting casualties, the British would surrender. They also did this to knock out the Royal Air Force in a couple weeks, or RAF, so that an invasion would be possible. Instead, the British fought harder, and the Germans were unable to destroy Britain's air defenses in several months.