Research Topics Archives - Page 2 of 19

Q&A: Churchill Libeled by Lord Alfred Douglas

25 January 2023 Comments 1 Comment

Lord Alfred Douglas, friend of Oscar Wilde, was involved in several scandals, one of the more unfortunate being his accusation that Churcill manipulated press announcements about the Battle of Jutland in order to favor Jewish investors on the New York Stock Market.

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Churchill, Ripka, Appeasement and the Czech Debacle

20 January 2023 Comments 0 Comments

When Ripka said the Czechs would defend themselves, Churchill waxed emotional: “Tomáš.Masaryk was right,” he cried. “Death is better than slavery.” If war did come, he continued, mopping his eyes, this time they must wage it against the Boche so thoroughly that he wouldn’t recover for generations.... After a while he spoke of “Herr Beans,” as he pronounced the name of Czechoslovakia’s president, Edvard Beneš, Ripka continued: "Churchill called him one of the greatest men of our epoch, and praised the resolution of the Czechs to fight for freedom with such vehemence that he began to cry all over again."

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How “Goeben” Changed History, by Dal Newfield

10 January 2023 Comments 1 Comment

An obscure "What-If" of history: Had Goeben not passed the Dardanelles, it was very possible Turkey would have remained neutral in WW1. Absent Turkey, the Allies lost their only supply route to Russia. This loss was so serious that in 1915 Churchill felt it imperative to assault the Dardanelles. The resulting debacle was the principal reason Churchill was ousted from the Admiralty. Because of Goeben, the Russian armies starved for food and materiel. The Czar fell and the Bolsheviks took over.

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Munro in the Civil & Military Gazette, Lahore, 1 January 1942

Happy New Year: “May we all come through safe and with honour”

30 December 2022 Comments 2 Comments

Churchill entered the dining carriage amid cheers and applause, raising his glass to the company. “It was with no illusions,” he wrote, “that I wished them all a glorious New Year.... 'Here’s to 1942, here’s to a year of toil—a year of struggle and peril, and a long step forward towards victory. May we all come through safe and with honour.'"

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Winston Churchill’s Washington Humor

25 November 2022 Comments 0 Comments

Washington, December 1941 press conference: A Texas reporter asked (getting his title wrong): “Mr. Minister, can you tell us when you think we may lick these boys?” There was a pause while someone explained to WSC the meaning of the American slang, “lick.” Then Churchill said: “If we manage it well, it will take only half as long as if we manage it badly.”

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Winston Churchill on War, Part 3: Anthony Montague Browne

30 October 2022 Comments 0 Comments

"I tried to rally him. I spoke of the extraordinary life he had enjoyed...all he had said and done, of how he was almost universally popular and admired. In Germany in 1956, as he drove through the streets he was cheered. It astonished him. After all, it was not very long after the end of the war....How, I concluded, could he be so downcast? I noted his reply verbatim: 'Yes, I worked very hard all my life, and I have achieved a great deal—in the end to achieve nothing.'"

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Winston Churchill on War, Part 2: Atomic Age

25 October 2022 Comments 1 Comment

"Then it may well be that we shall by a process of sublime irony have reached a stage in this story where safety will be the sturdy child of terror, and survival the twin brother of annihilation.…The [atomic] deterrent does not cover the case of lunatics or dictators in the mood of Hitler when he found himself in his final dug-out. That is a blank…."

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Battle of the Somme, July 1916: Indian cyclists at a crossroads on the Fricourt-Mametz road. (Photo by John Warwick Brooke, public domain)

Winston Churchill on War, Part 1: 1900-1932

21 October 2022 Comments 0 Comments

Churchill's reputation as a warrior tends to obscure his efforts for peace. Of peace he sometimes despaired, especially toward the end of his life. Herewith are some of Churchill’s words on war and peace from "Churchill by Himself." Part 3 will consider why he regretted, in his final years, that despite all his efforts, peace still did not prevail in the world.

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Netflix on Operation Mincemeat: Did They Get It Right?

22 August 2022 Comments 3 Comments

Churchill believed Mincemeat had deceived Hitler, but he was always a fan of intelligence operations. Gilbert, Macintyre and Netflix say it did, and some German troops were sent to Greece. But German minefields and port defenses in Greece did not need resources from Sicily. Some motor torpedo boats were transferred, but they did not significantly weaken Sicily’s defenses.

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Train-Spotting: Churchill’s Reputation in the First World War

30 July 2022 Comments 0 Comments

On 20 May 1915 Allies did silence the “Ace of Spades” and other Dardanelles Narrows forts. But the invasion languished with great losses for the ANZAC and British forces. Thus the cartoon: Churchill “promises” that fell short in execution. By October, Gallipoli was nearing evacuation. Churchill, his reputation shattered, would soon leave the cabinet and report to the front. We may understand why he saw events as snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

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