Munich Agreement

Historians tend to downplay Horace Wilson’s contribution to British Appeasement policy in the 1930s. Adrian Phillips fills in the blanks.

The Forster Meeting: Churchill dealt easily with concepts and political ideas. If he had genuinely admired Fascism, he would have said so.

The earliest cigarette cards trace their origins to the Crimean War of 1853-56, when smoking rose to the heights of popularity. Originally, cards were plain stiffeners in the cigarette packs. With advances in printing and lithography, it did not take long for the tobacco companies to recognize the marketing potential of illustrated cards.

Both Churchill and Chamberlain understood that Nazi Germany was a time bomb. But whereas Chamberlain imagined that it could be defused by diplomacy, Churchill believed that it could only be defused by force, or the threat of force. When the diplomacy of appeasement failed Chamberlain was compelled to accept—albeit with the profound reluctance of a man who loathed war—that no other response was possible. In the final analysis the British Empire, which was already in decline, had to be sacrificed so that Britain itself could live.

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.