No Peace with Hitler: Why Churchill Chose to Fight WWII Alone Rather than Negotiate with Germany

by Alan I. Saltman

Overview

Winston Spencer Churchill, the brash, aristocratic son of a famous British politician, was elected to Parliament in 1900 at 25. Beginning in 1908 during WWI and in the 1920s, he served in numerous cabinet positions in the Governments of various Prime Ministers.

His service was never quiet, whether as a member of the House of Commons or a Cabinet minister. While recognized for flashes of brilliance, Churchill also had a reputation for being overly aggressive and making extremely poor judgments. His reputation notwithstanding, eight months into WWII, after Parliament effectively ousted the Government of Neville Chamberlain (best known for his policy of appeasing Hitler) on May 10, 1940, Churchill was asked by King George VI to form a new Government. Having long wanted to be Prime Minister, Churchill accepted.

He did so despite (or perhaps because) that on the morning of May 10, Hitler simultaneously invaded Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Luxembourg, and France. Most of these countries fell in a few days. Over the next few weeks, even with Britain providing some 300,000 troops and a substantial number of airplanes and pilots, Belgium capitulated, and it became apparent that France was going to fall as well.

Because the United States was not yet in the war (and showed little intent of joining any time soon), in late May 1940, it seemed that it would only be a few days until Britain would be standing alone in the war against Germany. The future foretold the bombing of London and other British cities followed by a German invasion. The number of British deaths would be unfathomable.

As a result, Churchill's War Cabinet sentiment was that Britain had to consider entering into peace negotiations with Germany immediately. The matter was discussed at every War Cabinet meeting from May 25 through May 28. During that time, Churchill consistently rejected the notion and, at the end of the day, held to that view and prevailed-no move toward peace negotiations ever took place.

Churchill's intransigence has led to the inevitable question: Why would a sane person not seriously have considered peace talks in preference to what seemed almost certain annihilation of Britain and her people?

Why indeed. The fact is that there was a multitude of things, both external and part of the make-up of the man, that resulted in Churchill's seemingly inexplicable decision to subject Britain to the horrors of the seemingly unstoppable Nazi war machine.

Here a retired corporate lawyer, with the assistance of a psychiatrist, has researched, laid out, and analyzed the facts, as well as how they came to be, and has attempted to provide a comprehensive explanation as to Why Churchill Chose to Fight WWII Alone Rather Than Negotiate with Germany

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798985479416
Publisher:	dba W.G. Hobart Publishers
Publication date:	08/24/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	784
Sales rank:	389,010
File size:	20 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Alan Saltman is a semi-retired corporate lawyer who for many years has been involved in complex litigation involving the federal government. After seeing the movie and reading Darkest Hour written by Anthony McCarten, he became intrigued with the issue that faced Winston Churchill in late May 1940 and decided to put his skills researching and writing briefs to the matter. Alan lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland with his wife Beryl. He has two sons and two grandchildren.

Table of Contents

Thank You vii

Foreword ix

Chronology xiii

Introduction xxix

1: From Birth to Age 24 (1874-1898) 3

2: November 1899-June 1900 The Boer War 23

3: Early Years in Parliament and Government 1900 through April 1908 27

4: Early Years in the Cabinet April 1908 through September 1911 35

5: September 1911-December 1918 The Admiralty, WWI, Gallipoli, and Its Aftermath 45

6: January 1919-November 1922 A Return to the Cabinet 71

7: January 1923-October 1924 Out in the Cold, Churchill Morphs. Meanwhile, in Germany 87

8: October 1924-April 1929 Churchill Elected as Conservative-Returns to Cabinet 95

9: May 1929-December 1936 The Early Wilderness Years 107

10: May 1937-March 1938 Chamberlain, Appeasement, and the Road to the Anschluss 155

11: March-December 1938-The March to Munich and its Aftermath 175

12: January-August 1939 Czechoslovakia, The Polish Guarantee, etc. 245

13: September 1, 1939-May 9, 1940 Poland, The Phoney War, and Norway 323

14: May 9-May 24, 1940 Churchill's first two weeks as Prime Minister 377

15: Saturday, May 25, 1940 425

16: Sunday May 26, 1940 435

17: Monday May 27, 1940 451

18: Tuesday, May 28, 1940 463

19: What Could Churchill Have Possibly Been Thinking? 477

20: Using Personal History and Psychodynamics to Examine and Understand Churchill's Decision to Commit to War 517

21: May 29, 1940 to June 22, 1941 The Evacuation from Dunkirk, The Battle of Britain, The Blitz, and the Invasion of the Soviet Union 553

22: Churchill Thereafter 599

Endnotes 665

Bibliography 703

Index 727