Tag: Martin Gilbert

Martin Gilbert
Sir Martin (Photo: Lady Gilbert)
Sir Martin Gilbert on Churchill and the Holocaust

Sir Martin Gilbert on Churchill and the Holocaust

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Why so little of the Holocaust in Churchill's war memoirs? There were many reasons. Intelligence restrictions were still in place, war crimes trials were occurring. Churchill had an understandable reluctance to criticize American officials who had blocked his order to bomb the railway lines to Auschwitz. Churchill was never never one to open a quarrel with allies over the past. Also, as Lady Gilbert pointed out that it wasn't actually known as the Holocaust for years later.

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Official Biographay
Sir Martin Gilbert at Chartwell, 2006. HIs memory and devotion live on in his books and the hearts of his friends.
“In Search of Churchill,” by Martin Gilbert: An Appreciation

“In Search of Churchill,” by Martin Gilbert: An Appreciation

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"In Search of Churchill "is deeply personal—Sir Martin’s answer to all those critics over the years who accused him of being uncritical (yet all the criticisms of WSC are there). Time and again, Martin explains, he was prepared to find Churchill's tragic flaw. And then, having examined more evidence than anyone alive or dead, he would come away more impressed with hiswisdom, generosity and humanity: “I might find him adopting views with which I disagreed. But there would be nothing to cause me to think: ‘How shocking, how appalling.’”

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Buchanan
Detail from the cover.
Pat Buchanan and the Art of the Selective Quote

Pat Buchanan and the Art of the Selective Quote

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No animus toward Pat. I admired him and even voted for him in a NH Primary. I helped him with a couple of items during his research (while lampooning his beliefs in friendly banter). “I like a man who grins when he fights,” as Churchill said. But a problem with his book is the rampant use of selective quotes. Partial quotations edited to distort reality, or to fit a predetermined conclusion are out of bounds.

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Dresden
Dresden after the air attacks of February 1945. (Bundesarachiv)
Nashville (6): The Myth of Dresden and “Revenge Firebombing”

Nashville (6): The Myth of Dresden and “Revenge Firebombing”

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The Martin Gilbert Learning Centre offers a free Zoom presentation by Lady Gilbert herself, on the 1945 bombing of Dresden. The date is Monday 13 February 2023 at 2pm Eastern, 11 am Pacific, 7pm Greenwich Mean Time. Email Deputy Director Dr. Bethany Gaunt to be put on the Zoom invitation list. Lady Gilbert will include Sir Martin's story about how a Soviet general corroborated the truth about who ordered the bombing—in Moscow!

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death
Oscar Nemon’s sculpture of Clementine and Winston at Chartwell. (Photo by Gaius Cornelius, Creative Commons)
“To be opened in the event of my death…” Winston Churchill to his Wife, 1915

“To be opened in the event of my death…” Winston Churchill to his Wife, 1915

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Q: The goodbye letter

I am doing some work for my Eng­lish AS course and  need a com­par­a­tive piece to go with a poem I am study­ing. I have tried look­ing  for Win­ston Churchill’s good­bye let­ter to his wife but have been unsuc­cess­ful. Is there any way I could even have a part of the text of the let­ter for my stud­ies? —A.S., UK

A: “In the event of my death…”

This was a great and mem­o­rable let­ter. After his removal as First Lord of the Admi­ral­ty in 1915, Churchill spent six uneasy months in a sinecure posi­tion, unable to influ­ence war pol­i­cy.…

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Monte Cassino
Monte Cassino Abbey today. (Photo by Radomil, Wikimedia Creative Commons)
Churchill and the Destruction of Monte Cassino Abbey, 1944

Churchill and the Destruction of Monte Cassino Abbey, 1944

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Cassino Abbey

An Ital­ian jour­nal­ist writes for Churchill ref­er­ences to the attacks on Monte Cassi­no dur­ing the Italy cam­paign in spring 1944, ask­ing about “his silence, lat­er con­tra­dic­to­ry” on the bomb­ing of the town’s ancient monastery. If the impli­ca­tion is that Churchill was uncar­ing over the destruc­tion of ancient shrines and grand build­ings, that would con­tra­dict his revul­sion over the bomb­ing of Dres­den. If it is that this par­tic­u­lar destruc­tion didn’t appear in his state­ments at the time, that is true. War is hell, and to expect him to eulo­gize every dev­as­tat­ing loss is to expect a lot.…

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Mein Kampf
A wedding ceremony in Germany in 1936. “Chancellor Hitler has decided that a copy of his book Mein Kampf will be given to every couple on their wedding day.” (Bibliothèque nationale de France, public domain)
When Did Churchill Read “Mein Kampf”?

When Did Churchill Read “Mein Kampf”?

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Q: Mein Kampf

When did Churchill  first read Mein Kampf, and did he have any ear­ly reac­tion to it?” Of Mein Kampf in his war mem­oirs, he wroe:

…there was no book which deserved more care­ful study from the rulers, polit­i­cal and mil­i­tary, of the Allied Pow­ers. All was there—the pro­gramme of Ger­man res­ur­rec­tion, the tech­nique of par­ty pro­pa­gan­da; the plan for com­bat­ing Marx­ism; the con­cept of a Nation­al-Social­ist State; the right­ful posi­tion of Ger­many at the sum­mit of the world. Here was the new Koran of faith and war: turgid, ver­bose, shape­less, but preg­nant with its message.[1]…

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consistency
Churchill and Chamberlain on 14 March 1935. (Wikimedia Commons)
Churchill’s Consistency: Politics Before Country (Part 2)

Churchill’s Consistency: Politics Before Country (Part 2)

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Consistency in Politics…

…was a theme of Churchill’s, and he often wrote about it. He made many mis­takes, but through­out his career he was sel­dom guilty of lack­ing con­sis­ten­cy. Con­tin­ued from Part 1…

“Much better if he had never lived”

Churchill main­tained friend­ly rela­tions with Bald­win until Bald­win died in 1947. Nevertheless—which was rare for him—he nev­er for­gave and nev­er for­got. In June 1947 he made an aston­ish­ing state­ment: “I wish Stan­ley Bald­win no ill, but it would have been much bet­ter if he had nev­er lived.” Offi­cial biog­ra­ph­er Mar­tin Gilbert wrote that this was not Churchill’s usu­al con­sis­ten­cy, but exact­ly the opposite:

In my long search for Churchill few let­ters have struck a clear­er note than this one.…

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consistency
Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, Chancellor of the Exchequer Winston Churchill, in happier times, late 1920s. (Wikimedia Commons)
Churchill’s Consistency: “Politics Before Country” (Part 1)

Churchill’s Consistency: “Politics Before Country” (Part 1)

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“Churchill’s Con­sis­ten­cy,” first pub­lished in 2011, is updat­ed with mate­r­i­al from my book, Churchill and the Avoid­able War. It exon­er­ates, par­tial­ly, the state­ments and actions of Mr. Bald­win in the debate of rear­ma­ment in the 1930s.

“Politics before country”

A U.S. Con­gress­man, observ­ing America’s spend­ing prob­lem, pro­posed an elab­o­rate plan to fix it. In the process he didn’t wilt under the assault direct­ed toward any­one who defies the sta­tus quo by propos­ing prac­ti­cal change. Intend­ing to defend his ideas in a speech, his pri­vate office asked me to ver­i­fy what Churchill said on con­sis­ten­cy among politi­cians.…

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Parker
Best pals by 1942: Ambassadors to the United States Lord Halifax and Maxim Litvinov chatting at the New Zealand Legation, Washington. (Photo by Marjory Collins, U.S. National Archives, public domain)
Alistair Parker Presents a Balanced, Scholarly Cambridge Seminar

Alistair Parker Presents a Balanced, Scholarly Cambridge Seminar

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Review of Park­er excerpt­ed from the Hills­dale Col­lege Churchill Project. For the orig­i­nal text includ­ing more images and end­notes, please click here. Sub­scrip­tions to this site are free. You will receive reg­u­lar notices of new posts as pub­lished. Just scroll to SUBSCRIBE AND FOLLOW. Your email address guar­an­teed to remain a rid­dle wrapped in a mys­tery inside an enigma.

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Alis­tair Park­er, ed., Win­ston Churchill: Stud­ies in States­man­ship. Lon­don: Brasseys, 2003, 282 pages, paper­back, Ama­zon $32; hard­bound copies also available.

“There are times,” wrote a great Cam­bridge schol­ar, Sir Geof­frey Elton, “when I incline to judge all his­to­ri­ans by their opin­ion of Win­ston Churchill: whether they can see that no mat­ter how much bet­ter the details, often dam­ag­ing, of man and career become known, he still remains, quite sim­ply, a great man.”…

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