Chapter 2 - Churchill as a wartime leader Flashcards
When was the Dunkirk evacuation?
May 1940
When did France surrender to Germany?
June 1940
When was the Battle of Britain?
July - September 1940
When was Operation Barbarossa? What was it?
German invasion of USSR, June 1941
When did the US enter the war? Why?
December 1941 - Pearl Harbour
When did Singapore fall to Japan?
February 1942
When did was the battle of El Alamein?
October 1942
When was Operation Torch? What was it?
November 1942 - US landings in North Africa
When was the Beveridge report?
November 1942
When was the pivotal defeat in Russia for the Nazis? When was it?
Stalingrad, Feb 1943
When did the allies invade Sicily?
July 1943
When was D-Day
June 1944
When was the Yalta conference?
Feb 1945
When did the war in Europe end?
May 1945
When did Churchill lose the general election?
July 1945
What was Churchill’s view on appeasement?
Churchill rejected appeasement and urged Britain to rearm well before he was in power.
What were Churchill’s thoughts about his role in military leadership during the war?
He had direct experience of war and he thought that war was too important to be left to the generals. He took an active part in military matters, his relationships with leading figures of the air force, navy and army were often stormy.
What was Britain’s role in the war looking like by 1944?
Britain had largely lost control of the war to allies with larger forces and resources. Churchill couldn’t control generals like Eisenhower who led the invasion of France in June 1944. Their role was much less important than the Russian armies fighting in the East.
What were the challenges faced by Churchill by the end of May 1940?
1- Dunkirk - 300,000 troops stuck.
2- Fear of large scale bombing of
Britain after bombing of Poland
and the Low countries
3- Britain’s gold reserves were
running out, unclear whether they
could continue the war
4- Danger of Italy entering war,
threaten Suez canal and cut of
Britain’s quickest sea route to
India and the Far East, harder to
defend from Japan
5- Japan was a threat to
possessions in South Asia
6- Lord Halifax, supporter of
appeasement, was foreign
secretary, he was trying to
discreetly discover what German
terms for peace would be, would
have shown weakness to Hitler.
What ended up happening in Dunkirk?
224,318 rescued British troops, 111,172 allies rescued. Churchill made his famous “we shall fight on the beaches” speech to the commons.
What did Churchill do to try to prevent France falling?
He offered a union to France where they would have become one country and pooled their resources.
What was the bold decision that Churchill took vs the French Naval fleet?
On the 3rd of July 1940, he ordered the attack on the French fleet to stop it falling into German hands?
What was another bold decision taken by Churchill regarding British troops?
He sent armoured forces to Egypt despite the threat of German invasion. Rapid victories were achieved vs Italy.
Since when was Britain bombing Germany?
Since it’s invasion of the low countries.
When did Germany shift focus from destroying the RAF to bombing cities? Why?
Hitler and Goring (head of Luftwaffe) thought that civilian populations couldn’t withstand bombing, so in September 1940 they diverted attention away from airfields and towards cities. This unintentionally allowed the RAF to recover.
Why was the Battle of Britain successful?
Sir Hugh Dowding’s strategies of small groups of fighters and not pursuing enemies over the channel proved effective. However, Churchill didn’t back him and he was replaced in November 1940 by people who thought other strategies would be more effective on a larger scale.
