When Britain Saved the West: The Story of 1940

by Robin Prior

Overview

How Britain, standing alone, persevered in the face of near-certain defeat at the hands of Nazi Germany

From the comfortable distance of seven decades, it is quite easy to view the victory of the Allies over Hitler’s Germany as inevitable. But in 1940 Great Britain’s defeat loomed perilously close, and no other nation stepped up to confront the Nazi threat. In this cogently argued book, Robin Prior delves into the documents of the time—war diaries, combat reports, Home Security’s daily files, and much more—to uncover how Britain endured a year of menacing crises.
 
The book reassesses key events of 1940—crises that were recognized as such at the time and others not fully appreciated. Prior examines Neville Chamberlain’s government, Churchill’s opponents, the collapse of France, the Battle of Britain, and the Blitz. He looks critically at the position of the United States before Pearl Harbor, and at Roosevelt’s response to the crisis. Prior concludes that the nation was saved through a combination of political leadership, British Expeditionary Force determination and skill, Royal Air Force and Navy efforts to return soldiers to the homeland, and the determination of the people to fight on “in spite of all terror.” As eloquent as it is controversial, this book exposes the full import of events in 1940, when Britain fought alone and Western civilization hung in the balance.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780300226430
Publisher:	Yale University Press
Publication date:	06/27/2017
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	360
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.70(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Robin Prior is professor of history at Flinders University, Adelaide, and author of six previous books. He lives in Adelaide, Australia.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations ix

List of Maps xii

Acknowledgements xiii

Introduction xvi

1 Half-Hearted War 1

2 The Parliamentary Crisis: Churchill Ascendant, 7-10 May 1940 20

3 The Cabinet Crisis: Churchill Challenged, 10-28 May 1940 45

4 A Close-Run Thing: The BEF's Retreat to the Coast, May 1940 71

5 The Great Escape: The BEF, May-June 1940 110

6 Alone: The Collapse of the French Alliance, May-July 1940 136

7 Hitler at the Door: The Invasion Threat, June-October 1940 155

8 The Battle of Britain: The Antagonists 180

9 The Battle of Britain: Overture 195

10 The Battle of Britain: The Crisis 208

11 The Battle of Britain: The Battle Won, 7 September-31 October 1940 223

12 Terror by Night: Britain Survives the Blitz, September 1940-May 1941 239

13 A Little Help from Our Friends: Britain and America, 1940-1941 263

Conclusion 281

Notes 288

Bibliography 317

Index 325

Editorial Reviews

‘Elegant, well marshalled and powerful… Prior’s authoritative, no-nonsense coverage underlines the period’s momentousness’—Ashley Jackson, BBC History Magazine.
 

BBC History Magazine - Ashley Jackson

“A stirring retelling of the saga of 1940, emphasizing the centrality of Winston Churchill . . . [Prior] writes vividly and well.”—Max Hastings, New York Review of Books

New York Review of Books - Max Hastings

"Shaun Grindell's narration is the perfect complement to this most British of British histories." ---AudioFile

From the Publisher

Shaun Grindell’s narration is the perfect complement to this most British of British histories, enlivening a text that puts scholarly accuracy over narrative verve. Author Robin Prior is no Walter Lord, but he is a diligent and often illuminating historian, and he gives body to a story whose outlines have so often been drawn by romance and legend. Grindell brings pace and purpose to what might otherwise be dry patches in the narrative—detailed summaries of cabinet and parliamentary debates, lists of aircraft models and their totals on either side, and accountings of casualties in various bombed British cities. Better heard than read, this is a must-hear for those who already know, or think they know, the story of Britain in that crucial first year of WWII. D.A.W. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine

AUGUST 2015 - AudioFile