An analytical investigation into Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s decision-making process during every stage of World War II. When Winston Churchill accepted the position of Prime Minister in May 1940, he insisted in also becoming Minister of Defence. This, though, meant that he alone would be responsible for the success or failure of Britain’s war effort. It also meant that he would be faced with many monumental challenges and utterly crucial decisions upon which the fate of Britain and the free world rested. With the limited resources available to the UK, Churchill had to pinpoint where his country’s priorities lay. He had to respond to the collapse of France, decide if Britain should adopt a defensive or offensive strategy, choose if Egypt and the war in North Africa should take precedence over Singapore and the UK’s empire in the East, determine how much support to give the Soviet Union, and how much power to give the United States in controlling the direction of the war. In this insightful investigation into Churchill’s conduct during the Second World War, Allen Packwood, BA, MPhil (Cantab), FRHistS, the Director of the Churchill Archives Centre, enables the reader to share the agonies and uncertainties faced by Churchill at each crucial stage of the war. How Churchill responded to each challenge is analyzed in great detail and the conclusions Packwood draws are as uncompromising as those made by Britain’s wartime leader as he negotiated his country through its darkest days.

After the defeat of France in May 1940, only one nation stood between Nazi Germany and total domination of Europe – Britain. This is the gripping story of Winston Churchill’s wartime government, an emergency coalition of Conservatives, Labour, Liberals and men of no party, assembled to see Britain through the war. A chronicle not only of their successful efforts to work together but also of quarrels, power plays, unexpected alliances and intrigue, it is an account of the most important political narrative of our time. With a cast of characters featuring some of the most famous names in twentieth-century British history, including Bevin, Attlee, Chamberlain, Beaverbrook, Morrison, Eden, Cripps – and of course Winston Churchill – this magisterial work provides a unique view of the inner machinations of Britain’s wartime cabinet. Dispelling that the War Cabinet constituted an unbreakable 'band of brothers', award-winning historian Jonathan Schneer reveals that this ensemble of political titans were in fact a ‘team of rivals’ that included four Prime Ministers – past, present and future. Both illuminating and engrossing, Ministers at War is the first work to draw upon original research to present a previously unseen perspective of British politics during and after World War II. Schneer shows us that just as the war had kept them together, the prospect of peace saw this supposedly unbreakable band fall apart, thus providing a fascinating insight into the birth of the Welfare State.

Would it have been possible for the First World War to be avoided? Steve Cliffe, author of Churchill, Kitchener and Lloyd George: First World Warlords, believes so as did David Lloyd George, Britain’s wartime prime minister. In a bloody act of annihilation that killed over half a million young British men, George was one of three powerful personalities who indelibly stamped their authority and influence on the conduct and final outcome of ‘the war to end all wars’. Of the other two, Winston Churchill became better known for his role in the Second World War, and Lord Kitchener was arguably the greatest instigator of Britain’s war effort. With his image stamped on the iconic ‘Your country needs you’ enlistment poster during the war, Kitchener exerted tremendous influence on both politicians and a lost generation of British youth. Those who start wars seldom finish them, and Kitchener, tragically, was no exception to this grim rule. Illustrations: 40 black-and-white photographs

A New York Times bestseller! A New York Times Book Review Notable Book of 2017 A dual biography of Winston Churchill and George Orwell, who preserved democracy from the threats of authoritarianism, from the left and right alike. Both George Orwell and Winston Churchill came close to death in the mid-1930's—Orwell shot in the neck in a trench line in the Spanish Civil War, and Churchill struck by a car in New York City. If they'd died then, history would scarcely remember them. At the time, Churchill was a politician on the outs, his loyalty to his class and party suspect. Orwell was a mildly successful novelist, to put it generously. No one would have predicted that by the end of the 20th century they would be considered two of the most important people in British history for having the vision and courage to campaign tirelessly, in words and in deeds, against the totalitarian threat from both the left and the right. In a crucial moment, they responded first by seeking the facts of the matter, seeing through the lies and obfuscations, and then they acted on their beliefs. Together, to an extent not sufficiently appreciated, they kept the West's compass set toward freedom as its due north. It's not easy to recall now how lonely a position both men once occupied. By the late 1930's, democracy was discredited in many circles, and authoritarian rulers were everywhere in the ascent. There were some who decried the scourge of communism, but saw in Hitler and Mussolini "men we could do business with," if not in fact saviors. And there were others who saw the Nazi and fascist threat as malign, but tended to view communism as the path to salvation. Churchill and Orwell, on the other hand, had the foresight to see clearly that the issue was human freedom—that whatever its coloration, a government that denied its people basic freedoms was a totalitarian menace and had to be resisted. In the end, Churchill and Orwell proved their age's necessary men. The glorious climax of Churchill and Orwell is the work they both did in the decade of the 1940's to triumph over freedom's enemies. And though Churchill played the larger role in the defeat of Hitler and the Axis, Orwell's reckoning with the menace of authoritarian rule in Animal Farm and 1984 would define the stakes of the Cold War for its 50-year course, and continues to give inspiration to fighters for freedom to this day. Taken together, in Thomas E. Ricks's masterful hands, their lives are a beautiful testament to the power of moral conviction, and to the courage it can take to stay true to it, through thick and thin. Churchill and Orwell is a perfect gift for the holidays!

This memoir was first published in 1930 and describes the author's school days, his time in the Army, his experiences as a war correspondent and his first years as a member of Parliament.

A controversial account of the Churchill years by a bestselling historian. 'The best sort of history - revealing, gossipy and acidulous' OBSERVER This highly praised book by the Wolfson History Prize-winning author of SALISBURY tackles six aspects of Churchilliana and uncovers a plethora of disturbing facts about wartime and post-war Britain. His revelations include: - The case for the impeachment of Lord Mountbatten - The Nazi sympathies of Sir Arthur Bryant, hitherto considered a 'patriotic historian' - The British establishment's doubt about Churchill's role after Dunkirk - The appeasement of the trade unions in Churchill's Indian summer - The inside story of black immigration in the early 1950s - The anti-Churchill stance adopted by the Royal Family in 1940

In June 1938, Winston Churchill published this book under the title "Arms and the Covenant." It was then published in the US in September 1938 as While England Slept; a Survey of World Affairs, 1932-1938. It highlighted the United Kingdom's lack of military preparation to face the threat of Nazi Germany's expansion.

London, early May 1940: Britain is on the brink of war and Neville Chamberlain's government is about to fall. It is hard for us to imagine the Second World War without Winston Churchill taking over at the helm, but in SIX MINUTES IN MAY Nicholas Shakespeare shows how easily events could have gone in a different direction. The first land battle of the war was fought in the far north, in Norway. It went disastrously for the Allies and many blamed Churchill. Yet weeks later he would rise to the most powerful post in the country, overtaking Chamberlain and the favourite to succeed him, Lord Halifax. It took just six minutes for MPs to cast the votes that brought down Chamberlain. Shakespeare shows us both the dramatic action on the battlefield in Norway and the machinations and personal relationships in Westminster that led up to this crucial point. Uncovering fascinating new research and delving deep into the backgrounds of the key players, he has given us a new perspective on this critical moment in our history.