Tag: Munich Pact

Churchill and the Baltic States: From WW2 to Liberation

Churchill and the Baltic States: From WW2 to Liberation

EXCERPT ONLY: For the com­plete text of “Churchill and the Baltic” with end­notes, please go to this page on the Hills­dale Col­lege Churchill Project.

“No doubt where the right lay”: 1940-95

Sovi­et Ambas­sador Ivan Maisky was a “Bollinger Bol­she­vik” who mixed sup­port for Com­mu­nism with a love of West­ern lux­u­ry. Friend­ly to Churchill, he knew the Eng­lish­man hoped to sep­a­rate Hitler and Stal­in, even after World War II had started.

But Maisky tend­ed to see what he wished to see. In Decem­ber he record­ed: “The British Gov­ern­ment announces its readi­ness to rec­og­nize ‘de fac­to’ the changes in the Baltics so as to set­tle ‘de jure’ the whole issue lat­er, prob­a­bly after the war.” There…

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Did Churchill Praise Hitler?

Did Churchill Praise Hitler?

The film “Judg­ment at Nurem­berg” sug­gests that Churchill offered praise to Hitler right after the Munich Pact, which would seem an odd time for Churchill to be singing the praise of the Führer. What’s the sto­ry? —K.C., Washington

In a speech to the Reich­stag in ear­ly Novem­ber 1938, Hitler had attacked Churchill and oth­ers who had object­ed to the Munich Pact by name and describ­ing them as “war­mon­gers.” Reply­ing in the House of Com­mons on 6 Novem­ber, Churchill said:

I am sur­prised that the head of a great State should set him­self to attack British mem­bers of Par­lia­ment who hold no offi­cial posi­tion and who are not even the lead­ers of par­ties.…

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“If you will not fight…when you can easily win…”

“If you will not fight…when you can easily win…”

I remem­ber a quip: “When will we fight. When we have no hope.” Can you help me iden­ti­fy the source?

Those words do not track among Churchill’s 15 mil­lion  pub­lished words.. You may be think­ing of:

…if you will not fight for the right when you can eas­i­ly win with­out blood­shed; if you will not fight when your vic­to­ry will be sure and not too cost­ly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a pre­car­i­ous chance of sur­vival. There may even be a worse case.…

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