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Books
“The World Crisis” (5) Dardanelles to Gallipoli: Failure is an Orphan
09
Mar
2024
By RICHARD M. LANGWORTH
What a story! A prime minister unwilling to be prime; a war minister reluctant to make war; backbiting among colleagues; idle babble to outsiders; changes of tune; dreams about the spoils of war; unwillingness to hear those who understood. It doesn't sound so far removed from the criticism now thrown at Western governments who have inherited the mistakes of a generation, and are expected to mend them overnight.
“The World Crisis” (4) Dardanelles: Success Has 1000 Fathers
04
Mar
2024
By RICHARD M. LANGWORTH
The War Council waxed euphoric over Dardanelles prospects, "turning eagerly from the dreary vista of a ‘slogging match’ on the Western Front." Next, why not a naval attack up the Danube, landing at Salonika, and sending a fleet up the Adriatic? One member envisioned the end of the Ottoman Empire and expansion of the British Empire as far as Palestine. None of these naively optimistic visions were voiced by Winston Churchill.
“Fighting Retreat” by Walter Reid: Did Churchill Really Hate India?
26
Feb
2024
By ZAREER MASANI
The promise of Dominion status required only that Congress, the Muslim League and the princes agree on power-sharing at a federal Centre. To blame Churchill for the internal divisions that obstructed such a coalition obfuscates reality. A power-sharing deal between Nehru and Jinnah would have made nonsense of Churchill’s fears. Instead, India’s fragile imperial unity fell apart under majoritarian strains. That gave Churchill the dubious distinction of being proved right.
“The World Crisis” (3): Antwerp—Folly or Success?
13
Feb
2024
By RICHARD M. LANGWORTH
“Only one man of all your people had the prevision of what the loss of Antwerp would entail and that man was Mr. Churchill. Delaying an enemy is often of far greater service than the defeat of the enemy. The delay the Royal Naval Division caused was of inestimable service to us. These three days allowed the French and British Armies to move northwest. Otherwise, our whole army might have been captured and the Northern French Ports secured by the enemy.” —King Albert of the Belgians
Who Really “Shaped” Winston Churchill?
09
Feb
2024
By MICHAEL MCMENAMIN
“Mirrors of Greatness” mainly substitutes figures Churchill interacted with for those who actually shaped him. Where are the people who really influenced Churchill before he was “firmly set” in his character—in his mid-twenties? Besides Bourke Cockran, whom he revered all his life, where are Elizabeth Everest, Lady Randolph Churchill, Pamela Plowden, John Morley, Bindon Blood and Bishop James Welldon? None are included.
“The World Crisis” (2): The Marne and Its Meaning
29
Jan
2024
By GWEN THOMPSON
“One must suppose upon the whole that the Marne was the greatest battle ever fought in the world,” Winston Churchill wrote in 1931. Its scale, he added, “far exceeded anything that has ever happened.” It actually “decided the World War,” for “never after the Marne had Germany a chance of absolute triumph.”
Jack Pease Insights on the 1911-15 Liberal Government
15
Jan
2024
By RAYMOND A. CALLAHAN
Pease enhances our understanding Cabinet decisions during the Great War’s first critical months, hitherto mainly represented by Asquith’s gossipy letters to his lady friend. But virtually every entry is accompanied by a superb editorial gloss that not only fills in the context but acts as a review of all recent scholarship on the subject covered, or alluded to in the entry. Everything is good about this book—except the price.
Churchill’s classic, “The River War” Returns to Print
08
Jan
2024
By LARRY P. ARNN
The book is a portent of what Churchill will become and achieve. It demonstrates two things about him, the first his incessant ambition. Young British officers used every artifice to get sent to a war, any war. Churchill did the same, but when he was emphatically refused, he went anyway and found a job, a fighting job, when he got there. The second thing demonstrated about Churchill in this book is his power to see beyond the battlefield to something more strategic and political: the meaning of the battle to the way of life and the way of government of the peoples involved.
Classic Letters Bracket the Churchill Saga, 1883 to 1964
21
Nov
2023
By WILLIAM JOHN SHEPHERD
"Letters for the Ages" includes correspondence between Churchill and his family, friends and colleagues. In no way do the authors seek to encapsulate the official eight-volume Official Biography, or the twenty-three volumes of Churchill Documents. Instead these carefully edited personal letters reveal the unvarnished thought of the authentic and complex Churchill. He was utterly devoid of the artifice of modern media manipulators.
Bowman on Churchill and D-Day: “What’s Not Trite is Not True”
13
Nov
2023
By RICHARD M. LANGWORTH
“Empire First” argues that Churchill was dragged into D-Day by his U.S. and Russian allies: Right to the last, Churchill supposedly preferred the “soft underbelly” route to Germany through Italy. This is not a new charge. What is new is the argument that Churchill was motivated by ignoble self-interest: securing the Mediterranean, Suez and Britain’s Eastern empire.
Robin Prior Describes Britain’s Role in Two World Wars
02
Nov
2023
By CYRIL MAZANSKY
Robin Prior concludes that the critical need in war for the correct political leadership. Lloyd George in the First World War and Churchill in the Second were right for the task. Both managed to gain the support of their citizens. Once that is accomplished, Prior concludes, “democracies at war can be fearsome.”
Robert Kershaw Looks at Dunkirk from the Other Side
07
Sep
2023
By WILLIAM J. SHEPHERD
Kershaw explains Hitler’s “halt” order and Germany’s focus on the still formidable and as yet undefeated French army. But his greatest accomplishment is to unpack established historical hindsight by depicting how letters, diaries, and reports of contemporary players reveal on-the-ground realities. This is particularly valuable through his use of overlooked or otherwise unknown German language sources.