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Articles
Robin Prior Describes Britain’s Role in Two World Wars
- By CYRIL MAZANSKY
- | November 2, 2023
- Category: Books
Robin Prior, Conquer We Must: A Military History of Britain 1914-1945. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2022, 832 pages, $40, Amazon $20.75, Kindle $19.71, Audiobook $5.95.
The Australian historian Robin Prior has written widely on the two World Wars. His Churchill’s World Crisis as History (1983) was a trenchant criticism which nevertheless praised Churchill’s “humanity and breadth of vision.” His latest work is of the same genre, eminently readable and difficult to put down.
Prior serves the interests of readers fascinated by wartime political, strategic and historic perspectives. His book is divided into three parts. The first 250 pages cover the First World War. The next fifty deal with the interwar years and Appeasement period. The remaining part covers the Second World War. The book ends with an excellent 20-page conclusion.
The Great War
On the First World War, Prior provides a limited discussion of Churchill’s role. He criticizes Allied conduct of the early stages, but credits Churchill with understanding the unprecedented challenges. Almost uniquely, WSC understood that this was different from any war in the past. It could not be won rapidly, and alternatives to the Western Front were desirable.
The Dardanelles and Gallipoli were Churchill’s chosen alternates, and the War Cabinet went along—but Lord Fisher’s early enthusiasm vanished. Prior offers a clear description of how those operations failed. Churchill then fades from the scene, even though he tried to offer sound advice during the following years. More emphasis might have been given to his stalwart efforts, as Minister of Munitions, to produce desperately needed ammunition.
Robin Prior deftly describes the poor relationship between political and military leaders following the 1915 appointment of Douglas Haig to head the British Expeditionary Force. He points out how Haig’s “skills” were spent in repeating his failed strategies. Through 1917 he veered from one major slaughter field to the next.
Lloyd George, who became premier in 1916, failed to intervene or to remove Haig. By 1918, Lloyd George understood that powerful military machines and not men would turn the tide. When Haig finally accepted Lloyd George’s order to emphasize technology not cannon fodder, he ultimately drew the war to its successful conclusion.
The wasted interregnum
In a short section on the inter-war period, Prior criticizes Neville Chamberlain’s blind, naïve, poorly informed pacificist policy. Chamberlain’s actions during the Munich crisis are described as “morally repugnant and strategically illiterate.” His Russia policy, Prior argues, was also useless and a danger to Britain.
As another war begins, the only good thing Prior cites about Chamberlain is his honorable resignation, allowing Churchill to succeed him. The major section of the book considers what happened next. Churchill now assumes center stage throughout the remaining narrative.
Churchill and the military
After Dunkirk, Churchill and his chiefs of staff had to decide where to deploy British forces. The disaster in Greece in 1941 was shared by the politicians and the military, though Churchill was always skeptical of the outcome. North Africa, Egypt and the elimination of the Italians in Libya then became paramount. The interaction between Churchill and his military leaders was difficult in the earlier days of this campaign. Irwin Rommel had come on the scene, and British generals at first failed to cope with his tactics.
Bernard Montgomery was not Churchill’s first choice to lead the Eighth Army in North Africa. He would have preferred a general like himself, dashing forward and taking risks. Yet Montgomery’s methodical methods and good results ultimately won Churchill over. (Years later, though, Churchill was still jibing his by-then close friend. “Don’t use Montgomery in any of your revolutions,” he told the Panamanian ambassador in 1960. “He will need thirteen Divisions before he’ll ever make a move.”)
The right leader at the right time
Once the Americans were in the war, Churchill and his chiefs had to deal with an ever more powerful and dominating ally. Succeeding years found him less influential in decision-making. Despite this, Prior shows that Churchill played an effective role. He was crucial, for example, in directing the Italian campaign and delaying D-Day until success was likely. Prior is himself somewhat disdainful towards Eisenhower and his leadership. Outside of Europe, Prior devotes a moderate amount of space is to the war in the East, and particularly Burma.
Prior points out in his conclusion the critical need in war for the right 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 the British people. Once that is accomplished, Prior concludes, “democracies at war can be fearsome.”
The author
Dr. Mazansky is a retired radiologist living in New York City. His article, “Churchill at War, Illustrated by Cigarette and Trade Cards” was published by the Churchill Project in 2019. He is the author of British Basket-Hilted Swords and The First World War on Cigarette and Trade Cards.