If I was a British citizen during World War II and I heard this speech, I would probably be scared witless, but also be opposed towards Germany, when I’d hear “I expect the Battle of Britain is about to begin”.
I think I’d also feel hope about the future, because of Churchill saying “Hitler knows that he will have to break us on this Island or lose the war, if we can stand up to him…”The use of the metaphor “moving forward into broad, sunlit uplands,” sounds very positive and inspiring enabling me to show strength in the dire times. “Let us brace ourselves to our duty” would make me feel more obliged to go to work. But alas I am not a British citizen and therefore I will try to imagine myself in Danish shoes. Denmark was occupied by Germany during the war and we did not suffer ‘severe’ casualties, we mostly lost Danish people because some of Denmark was taken into Germany a few hundred years earlier (they were forcefully enlisted in the German army). Back to the point: I would be scared of Britain losing the war against Hitler and I would be horrified, but maybe also a bit relieved that the French lost against Germany, maybe some of my family was on the German frontline, who knows? Even though Denmark was only occupied things was getting worse and worse, because of rebels against Germany in Denmark and eventually the government in Denmark resigned their duties. In all honesty I find it hard to imagine what I would feel. Probably anxious, probably frightened, probably, probably, probably…