If we had not mobilized the entire British Navy in time, the German army would have crossed the English Channel and invaded Britain. If the French military had held the border fortifications for just one more critical week, the evacuation at Dunkirk would have succeeded much earlier and saved more soldiers. If the weather conditions had been better during the evacuation, far fewer exhausted soldiers would have died from exposure and enemy fire. We did not win the war purely by luck or chance; we won because we prepared thoroughly and made wise strategic decisions.