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Churchill and the Baltic, Part 3
02
Oct
2017
By RICHARD M. LANGWORTH
Baltic historians tend to see British prewar policy toward Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania in a narrow light. They want to see Britain coldly abandoning the Baltics to Soviet rule and so that is what they find. Churchill however, would resist recognizing the Sovietized Baltic even when it was to his advantage after Russia joined the Allied forces in late 1941 and 1942.
Great Contemporaries: Hilaire Belloc
25
Sep
2017
1
By RICHARD M. LANGWORTH
Anti-statist, anti-collectivist and anti-establishment, Belloc deplored the servitude of the industrial wage-earner and longed to reconcile his two great loves, “the soil of England and the Catholic faith.” His book championed “distributism,“ a combination of broad land distribution, corporate organization of society, workers’ control of the means of production, decentralization of power, and Jeffersonian democracy comprising a property-owning electorate. Like Churchill, Belloc had traveled in America; it is odd that he never seemed to suggest that the United States, with its class mobility and broad property ownership, came remarkably close to his vision.
Advisors and Family in “The Churchill Documents,” Volume 19
15
Sep
2017
By DAVID STAFFORD
It’s not unusual for leaders with powerful egos and passionate views to prefer the company and advice of close and trusted friends over that of professional advisors or experienced experts. This can have positive results, perhaps shaking up a moribund bureaucracy or forcing radical new approaches to issues mired in the mud of conventional thinking. But it can also lead to disillusion or disaster. Fateful Questions, September 1943 to April 1944, volume 19 in Hillsdale’s series of The Churchill Documents, provides many examples of how Churchill’s decision-making was favorably influenced by close advisors.
Frederick Lindemann: Churchill’s Eminence Grise?
06
Sep
2017
8
By RICHARD M. LANGWORTH
A popular weekly half hour podcast, Revisionist History takes aim at shibboleths, real and imagined. This episode is Churchill’s turn in the barrel. The villain, aside from Sir Winston, is his scientific adviser, Frederick Lindemann, later Lord Cherwell, aka “The Prof.” You’ve probably never heard of him, says narrator Malcolm Gladwell. You should have. It was Lindemann who made Churchill bomb innocent German civilians and starve the Bengalis. Accompanied by background music, uplifting or ominous as required, Mr. Gladwell unfolds his case. He claims to have read six books on Lord Cherwell (whose title he mispronounces). But his only two quoted sources are the British scientist C.P. Snow (very selectively; Snow admired Churchill); and Madhusree Mukerjee, author of a widely criticized book on the Bengal Famine. There are no contrary opinions or evidence.
Nolan’s Dunkirk: “Don’t Let’s Be Beastly to the Germans”
07
Aug
2017
By RICHARD M. LANGWORTH
Dunkirk, produced by Christopher Nolan, sets out to portray the 1940 rescue of the Allied armies from the clutches of Hitler’s Wehrmacht in terms of courage, heroism, survival, and a few examples of cowardice. In that he succeeds admirably. In terms of context—in conveying an understanding of what Dunkirk was about—he fails utterly.
Lessons in Statesmanship: Exchanging Classified Information in Wartime
17
May
2017
By LARRY P. ARNN
It is not unprecedented for a head of state of a democratic nation to give classified information in wartime to the head of a despotism, including the Russian or the Soviet government. On April 3, 1941, Winston Churchill sent Joseph Stalin a message containing classified information for the purpose of informing him of German troop movements and military intentions.
Churchill and the Baltic, Part 2
28
Apr
2017
Churchill, Refugees, and Aliens
27
Apr
2017
By RICHARD M. LANGWORTH
During the war, Britain had a fairly strict internment policy for incoming foreigners. Churchill certainly acknowledged the wisdom of carefully vetting incomers for enemy agents. However, Churchill quickly began to deplore the broad policy of interning refugees and foreigners, and firmly believed that no one should be imprisoned without just cause.
Churchill and the Baltic, Part 1
23
Apr
2017
Churchill and the “Wizard War,” Part 1
02
Mar
2017
Churchill and the “Wizard War,” Part 2
01
Mar
2017
The Italian Navy in “The Churchill Documents,” Volume 19
15
Feb
2017
By ANDREW ROBERTS
After the surrender of Italy to the Allies in September 1943, the Italian Fleet was apportioned between the Allied powers and absorbed into their navies. Although the Axis had by then been cleared out of the Mediterranean, German forces having surrendered in Tunis that May, the ships played a significant part in the rest of the war. Negotiations regarding the apportioning of the Italian Fleet, in volume 19 of Hillsdale’s "The Churchill Documents," Fateful Questions, September 1943 to April 1944, provide a fascinating backdrop and insight into relations between Britain, America and Russia leading up to the November 1943 Teheran Conference and its aftermath.