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Appeasement
The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College > Appeasement
Churchill and the Rhineland: “They Had Only to Act to Win”
14
Sep
2023
By RICHARD M. LANGWORTH
It is the belief of many thoughtful historians that Churchill said and did nothing about the Rhineland. His actions are more complex than that. He did give mixed signals, but he also proposed solutions. When France refused action, he favored collective action. His public declarations were hardly a clarion call. But we must bear in mind also that he was not in office. The Rhineland marked Churchill’s final disillusionment over the League of Nations and impelled his efforts to secure Collective Security. The problem was that the willing were few—and demonstrably unwilling to cooperate.
Peden: A Fresh Look at Churchill, Chamberlain and the 1930s
19
Jun
2023
By CHRISTOPHER M. BELL
Chamberlain failed because he did not understand Hitler. He believed Hitler could be trusted, and had only modest and reasonable territorial ambitions. Once it became clear that Hitler could not be trusted and was pursuing a vast expansionist agenda, Chamberlain’s views on alliances, rearmament and deterrence began to align more closely with Churchill’s.
Did Churchill Waffle in 1938?: The Tale of Hubert Ripka
08
Dec
2022
By Richard M. Langworth
“Every one of us leading politicians has to ask ourselves whether we have the right, whether we can in all conscience force our country into war….[But] Masaryk was right. Death is better than slavery. [If war does come] “we’ll smash them to smithereens so they don’t trouble us for a century or more.” —WSC to Hubert Ripka, 22 June 1938
Great Contemporaries: Anthony Eden (Part 2), 1934-1938
21
Jul
2022
By FRED GLUECKSTEIN
“From midnight till dawn I lay in my bed consumed by emotions of sorrow and fear. There seemed one strong young figure standing up against long, dismal, drawling tides of drift and surrender, of wrong measurements and feeble impulses…. Now he was gone. I watched the daylight slowly creep in through the windows, and saw before me in mental gaze the vision of Death.” —WSC
Adrian Phillips Unmasks an Appeasement Architect in the 1930s
19
Jun
2021
Forster, Appeasement, and Fascism: What Churchill Really Believed
04
Apr
2021
1
By RICHARD M. LANGWORTH
The Forster Meeting: Churchill dealt easily with concepts and political ideas. If he had genuinely admired Fascism, he would have said so.
David Charlwood, “Churchill and Eden: Partners Through War and Peace”
31
Mar
2021
By WILLIAM JOHN SHEPHERD
Eden by Charlwood: “The morning had been golden; the noontime was bronze; and the evening lead. But all were solid, and each was polished until it shone after its fashion.”
Great Contemporaries: Alfred Duff Cooper
18
Aug
2019
By BRADLEY P. TOLPPANEN
"I have forfeited a great deal. I have given up an office that I loved, work in which I was deeply interested, and a staff of which any man might be proud. I have given up associations in that work with my colleagues with whom I have maintained for many years the most harmonious relations, not only as colleagues but as friends. I have given up the privilege of serving as lieutenant to a leader whom I still regard with the deepest admiration and affection. I have ruined, perhaps, my political career. But that is a little matter; I have retained something which is to me of great value—I can still walk about the world with my head erect." - Duff Cooper, 1938
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Great Contemporaries: Leopold Amery
24
Jun
2019
1
By BRADLEY TOLPPANEN
Of all those appointed to his cabinet in May 1940, Prime Minister Winston Churchill had known Leo Amery the longest—back to when they were schoolboys. Despite the longevity of their relationship, they were never very close. Rather, as Robert Rhodes James wrote, “there was always a definite restraint, a lack of warmth, a noticeable caution and reserve” between them. Nevertheless, Amery played a notable part in ensuring Churchill’s premiership.