A Defence of Winston Churchill
It has been said (truthfully, in my opinion) that Winston Churchill saved Western Civilization. But why? Why is Churchill credited with this achievement? And was Western Civilization truly close to collapse when he took office in 1940?
To begin, Churchill was the first politician to recognize and warn of the danger of the Nazis. While the rest of Britain wanted peace and appeasement from when Hitler rose to power in 1933, Churchill warned of the dangers and truly took Hitler’s threats seriously. No other major politician of which I am aware in France, Britain, the United States, Canada, Poland, or any other country truly took the threat seriously until much later. Even more so, nations wanted to avoid the horrors of war that the Great War had brought. At the time, Churchill was considered a has-been, a warmonger, and a fool through the 1930s. Though he remained in government, he was largely marginalized. His reputation and career were all damaged by his warnings. Sound familiar?
His rise to the office of Prime Minister was no sure thing either. Lord Halifax was considered the most likely successor of Chamberlin when he resigned. Halifax wanted to make a deal with the Nazis and was supported by large sections of the British public and even some members of the Royal Family. Had Churchill not rose to Prime Minster the British would likely have surrendered or allied themselves with Hitler. Then, it is likely Ireland and possibly even Iceland would have fallen, and the liberation of Europe would have been impossible. Even the D-Day landings were no sure thing. It was fortunate indeed that both Churchill managed to rally support of the Labour Party (the opposition) and a number of Conservative MPs to secure his support. Lord Halifax decided to decline the offer to form a government (I think realizing that he did not have and would likely not keep the support of the government) and the King, reluctantly, offered the position to Churchill.
When he rose to power, his position was weak, and Britain has suffered multiple setbacks. Austria and Czechoslovakia had been ceded to Hitler. Poland was conquered by both the Nazis and Soviets. Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, and Belgium had fallen or were falling. The Allies were losing the Battle of France and France fell a month later. Greece had been invaded. Italy was allied with Nazi Germany. Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, and Portugal were neutral but leaning towards Germany. In short, Churchill had no Continental European allies. Even the Soviet Union was allied with Germany. The United States was isolationist and not interested in joining another European war.
What did Churchill have? He still had the Commonwealth, who had separately declared war on Germany and could, in theory, each make a separate peace. It was a topic he was careful to avoid throughout the war. So, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa, Egypt, Malta, Bermuda, Hong Kong, and Singapore were still, at least in theory, still in the fight. He had to keep them in. So, to answer one question, yes, a free and democratic West was under serious threat when Churchill took office.
To make matters worse, once France fell, there was a high risk that their colonial empire would also fall to the Nazis. This empire, which included vast holdings in Africa, would have given the Nazis the ability to dominate two continents, from the North pole to the Cape of Good Hope, should South Africa fall. Even just the French colonial holdings in North Africa would have let the Nazis dominate the South Atlantic and might have kept Brazil out of the war over the long term. Then, there was the possibility of the Italians conquering British holdings in Africa, the Middle East and taking the Suez Canal. This would have been the death knell of real resistance to the Nazis, and they likely could have gone on to conquer entire continents.
So, what did Churchill do to prevent this? It started with rhetoric, which at the time was most of what he did have. I believe that most of his more famous speeches, which came in 1940 and 1941, were issues he had long contemplated, and putting them into words helped rally the British to resist. Second, Dunkirk. The Royal Navy managed to rescue several hundred thousand British, and to a lesser extent French forces from encirclement and annihilation. The equipment was left behind, but the experience was irreplaceable. The soldiers, sailors and airmen formed the core of the forces that ultimately won the war in the West. In an interesting side note, the First Canadian Division, which arrived in Britain just before Dunkirk, formed one of the only intact and fully equipped divisions in Britain in 1940. It was used in a number of propaganda broadcasts.
Truthfully, Churchill’s contribution was to have Britain and her few allies fight on. He instituted the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, which trained airmen for the war in secure locations such as Canada and Australia. He found the right generals and admirals to fight the war. He moved certain industrial assets overseas, or licensed them to Canadian, South African, and Australian companies to produce materials for the war. When the Soviet Union was invaded in 1941, he sent war materials to them, despite the fact that Britain desperately needed them. He understood that he had to keep the Soviet Union in the war, despite the fact they had betrayed Poland. He also understood that North Africa and the Mediterranean were critical theaters, and kept them supplied with men, equipment, and material to keep the fight going, even when it seemed that it might be lost. He instituted the commandos and ordered them to “set Europe alight” while sending agents and supplies to resistance movements all over Europe.
He also planned for defeat. Had Britain been invaded, the Royal Family would have been evacuated to Canada. Despite the King’s desire to stay in Britain, he would have been evacuated, kicking and screaming or not. He also planned for the Royal Navy to sail to Canadian and Australian ports, to carry on the war from there. He sought as much aid as he could from the US, including Lend Lease and tried to get the Americans to join, though they would not until after Pearl Harbor in December 1941.
So, what made him a saviour? In those dark days he understood the nature of his enemy. He understood that he had to hang on, keep resisting and Hitler, who would never be satisfied with his conquests would make critical errors, and bring other nations into the war. That was what he had to do, and he did it.
Was he perfect? No. Like any great leader, he made serious errors. He completely underestimated the Japanese threat, leading to the losses of Hong Kong, Singapore and the threats to India and Australia. When the Bengal famine hit, he was distracted and clearly did not understand the seriousness of the situation. He was, ultimately, too much a Euro centric thinker, which blinded him to other threats in the world.
He also, it must be said, sacrificed the British Empire. At the end of the war most nations of the Commonwealth were closer to the US than to Britain. Especially Australia, which had to rely on the Americans to defend them from the Japanese. The British were too weak and distracted. But in the darkest times of 1940 he managed to hold his country together to resist Hitler. Without Churchill, the world would have been a much darker place. And the Second World War might have gone on for many more years before the Nazis could have been defeated.
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