Title Churchill, Chamberlain and appeasement / G. C. Peden, University of Stirling

Published Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2023 ©2023

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Description 1 online resource (xi, 406 pages) : illustrations Contents Chamberlain : guilty man? -- Why historians differ on appeasement -- Two contrasting personalities -- Who was who in Whitehall -- The intelligence services -- Churchill and Whitehall in the 1930s -- Measuring power -- Sea power -- Air power -- Land power -- Defence industries -- The wider economy -- Public opinion and national morale -- Collective security -- Intelligence and perceptions of power -- Dealing with the great depression -- The war debts controversy -- Manchuria and the end of the ten year rule -- Disarmament and defence requirements, 1932-34 -- Reshaping grand strategy, 1934 -- Anglo-Japanese relations -- The German threat increases -- The Ethiopian crisis -- Drawing up the rearmament programme -- The Rhineland crisis and after -- Rearmament and the role of the army -- Financing rearmament -- Relations with the United States and Japan -- Seeking a general settlement in Europe -- The Inskip defence review -- Eden's resignation -- First reactions to the threat to Czechoslovakia -- From May 'crisis' to September crisis -- Berchtesgaden and Godesberg -- Munich -- The aftermath of Munich -- Towards a continental commitment -- Chamberlain still hoping for the best -- The end of Czechoslovakia -- The guarantee to Poland -- Negotiations with the Soviets -- Secret contacts with Germans -- The decision for war -- The 'phoney war' -- Norway and the fall of Chamberlain's government -- Finest hour -- The limits of British power -- What would Churchill have done? -- Would it have been better to fight in 1938? -- Concluding reflections Summary "There are few more contrasting historical reputations than those of Winston Churchill and Neville Chamberlain. On the one hand, there is the hero who led Britain in its finest hour when it stood alone against Nazi Germany in 1940. On the other, there is the man of Munich who attempted to appease Hitler by agreeing to his territorial demands on Czechoslovakia in 1938. Appeasement subsequently became a byword for weakness and shameful failure to stand up to dictators. Even today diplomatic compromise with an authoritarian regime is frequently criticised as another Munich. Churchill is dominant in history partly because of what he achieved as prime minister but also because of what he wrote in his best-selling history of the Second World War. Volume one, which appeared in 1948, established an enduring narrative of government failure to heed his warnings and of missed opportunities to halt Hitler before Germany became too powerful. Churchill's account still influences popular perceptions of Chamberlain. In contrast, academic historians have debated the pros and cons of appeasement for six decades without reaching a consensus. Surprisingly, this book is the first to compare Churchill and Chamberlain systematically in relation to both foreign and defence policy. It places their ideas in the context of Britain's power to influence international affairs through armed force or diplomacy, and of advice from the Foreign Office, the Treasury, the armed forces and the intelligence services as to what should be done. By doing so it demonstrates not only the uncertainty facing statesmen in the 1930s but also why historians find it difficult to agree what would have happened if statesmen had taken different decisions"-- Provided by publisher Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes Description based on online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on November 30, 2022) Subject Churchill, Winston, 1874-1965. Chamberlain, Neville, 1869-1940. SUBJECT Chamberlain, Neville, 1869-1940 fast Churchill, Winston, 1874-1965 fast Munich Four-Power Agreement (1938) http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n50063330 Munich Four-Power Agreement fast Subject World War, 1939-1945 -- Causes. Diplomatic relations Politics and government War -- Causes SUBJECT Great Britain -- Foreign relations -- 1936-1945. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85056716 Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 1936-1945. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85056919 Subject Great Britain Form Electronic book LC no. 2022011037 ISBN 9781009201995 1009201999

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