Churchill as a wartime PM - Quizlet Flashcards
Churchill’s stance and context at the beginning of the war?
-Churchill wanted to keep the war effort focused and maintain the Empire
-France fell to Germany on 14th May
-Mussolini and Italy had become allies to Germany
-Dunkirk signalled British weaknesses and failings
-Japanese threatened Empire territories
-Suez Canal threatened by German/Italian forces
-Lord Halifax begun negotiation with Italy to see what Surrender would look like
What were some key events of WW2?
-Dunkirk: between 26 May and 4 June 1940.
-France Falls: June 1940
-Bombing of French Fleet: British attacked the French fleet at Mers-el-Kébir on 3 July 1940 - stop them falling into German possession.
-Battle of Britain: 10 July – 31 October 1940
-above the skies of Britain, between the RAF and the German Luftwaffe. Had British and Allied aircrew not defeated the Luftwaffe, it is likely that Germany would have invaded Britain.
-Pearl Harbour (US enters WW2): December 7, 1941, Japan staged a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, decimating the US Pacific Fleet - Germany and Italy declared war on the United States days later, America found itself in a global war.
-Singapore Falls - Feb 1942 - Japanese Empire captured the British stronghold of Singapore.
-Battle of El Alamein - Oct 1942 – Nov 1942 - The Axis army of Italy and Germany suffered a decisive defeat by the British Eighth Army - turning point in WW2 for North African campaign.
-Ally Invasion of Italy: Sept 1943
Allied attack on Italy made the Italians surrender and tied down German strength.
-D-Day: 6 June 1944, Allied forces launched a combined naval, air and land assault on Nazi-occupied France - largest seaborn invasion in history.
-opening Europe to the Allies and a German surrender less than a year later
-War Conferences
What was Churchill’s leadership style during WW2?
-Inspired Determination/Dedication among staff
-Interested in Warfare Advancements i.e. Germ Warfare
-Restless/Dedicated, meetings at 1 O’Clock or even in the Bath!
-Those who weren’t frank or were too passive were sacked i.e. Auchinleck
-Knew importance of morale, his Speeches and Writing inspired the country and given the Nobel Literature Prize
-Wanted to establish strong relations with Allies, even placing aside concessions on Communism to have working relations with Stalin
-Strongly Decisive leader, willing to take decisive decisions others wouldn’t i.e. French Fleet
The North Africa Campaign
‘Operation Torch’ was fought between Britain and German Afrika Korp led by ‘desert fox’ Rommel.
The British’s main focus was maintaining control of the Suez Canal, a vital trade route between Britain and the rest of British Empire.
Some Revisionist Historians might argue it was a way for Churchill to stall on D-Day that would lead to great loss of life.
What was Churchill’s relationship with his Generals?
Little experience of command, planning or strategy.
The Gallipoli campaign of 1915 resulted in heavy losses on Churchills behalf, and Norway Campaign saw repeated failure.
The Generals thought Churchill was unpredictable, lacked realism and had amateur strategy.
They were also aware of his previous failures. Churchill was frustrated with generals who favoured planning over action, defence over attack.
Churchill and Sir Alan Brooke
Burden of Churchill’s interference fell on head of army, Field Marshal Sir Alan Brooke.
Brooke was a competent organiser and a true professional.
In temperament he was very different to Churchill.
He was aware of the need to deploy forces carefully and avoid heavy casualties.
He was annoyed by Churchills ‘thinking aloud’ and ludicrous ideas.
His wartime diaries, written up after long, exhausting meetings, show his frustration with political interference (supported by many other recollections by senior officers).
However, when it came to major decisions, there were fewer disagreements between Brooke and Churchill i.e. North Africa
Churchill and Wavell
Churchill gave little credit to Sir Archibald Wavell for early successes in North Africa.
He took forces away from Wavell to establish Balkan Front, he was not given time to prepare and his troops were part of a deeply flawed campaign.
Without planning and resources, this expedition failed.
British then evacuated to Crete, then were defeated by Nazi attack and forced out again.
Early successes in North Africa were thrown away, and Wavell didn’t have the resources to meet German forces who were sent to Africa.
He took the blame and was demoted.
Churchill overloaded Wavell and gave him little time and resources to prepare for attack.
Churchill and Auchinleck
Sir Claude Auchinleck was not prepared for a premature attack on the Germans and to Churchill’s annoyance insisted on delaying until he was well prepared.
Despite a very effective defence against German attacks that allowed for thorough preparations for a counter attack, he was sacked for his delays and not being sufficiently daring and aggressive according to Churchills unrealistic standards.
Churchill and Montgomery
Bernard Montgomery, won over Churchill with his self-confidence and charisma.
but insisted on very thorough preparations by accumulating more than twice the men that Rommel had before attacking at El Alamein in October 1942.
Much of the credit for the first major British victory in the war should have gone to Auchinleck because of the efficient preparations he had gathered, even though he did not actually lead the attack carried out by Monty.
He was slow in following up his victory after El Alamein, which allowed the Germans to retreat to Tunisia.
But Churchill continued to favour him.
The Battle of Britain and The Bombing of Germany, 10 July 1940 - 31 October 1940
Sir Hugh Downing was head of the Battle of Britain for the RAF, defending the British Shores from German Bombardment- Blitzkrieg.
Churchill rallied the nation with his inspiring speeches and morale remained among Britain.
There were around 37,000 British casualties/fatalities during Battle of Britain, in comparison to about 500,000 German civilian deaths when Arthur Harris of the RAF led the The Bombing of Germany.
In particular, The Dresden Bombing in 1945 killed 25000.
The War 1943-1945
American and British forces invaded and captured Sicily and then landed in southern Italy.
This led to a long campaign of slow progress right through Italy which distracted the allies from the major task of defeating the main German armies and invading Germany.
It kept more British and American troops occupied than it did German troops and forced Russia to take on the main task of moving towards Germany.
However, the invasion of France could not be delayed indefinitely and Churchill planned it for the summer of 1944.
Montgomery’s last bold strike at Arnhem was a huge failure, and signalled the need for the second front.
Churchill and Italy
In 1943 considerable resources were devoted to an invasion of Sicily by British and US forces, which failed to prevent the Germans retreating to the mainland.
With North Africa, Gibraltar, Malta, Cyprus and Sicily in Allied hands, the Mediterranean was secure.
By 1943, also, Italy had been weakened by defeats and was no longer a serious threat, making it one of the most puzzling decisions of the war.
If Italy had fallen, it is difficult to see how this would have led to the defeat of Germany.
This required a decisive defeat of the German forces in France, rather than in Italy, and an invasion of Germany itself.
What was Churchill’s role during the end of WW2?
When the USA entered WW2, allied with Britain and USSR, it began to dominate military strategy along with the USSR due to their size and power.
Britain had begun to become a junior partner to their allies.
Churchill was stalling on the second front in France with conflicts in North Africa and Italy, this annoyed fellow allies as the D-Day landings would push back Nazis from the west and eventually end WW2.
However, in an attempt to remain relevant and keep Britain on the negotiation table, Churchill attended more conferences than the other 3 Leaders
Why had The Allies delayed D-Day?
-Such high casualties were expected that an invasion of France was put off as long as possible.
-The long struggle in Italy was not anticipated and the Allies hoped that bold landings might speed the process
-British policy was to maintain British dominance over the Mediterranean to preserve the links with Empire and to extend British interests in south east Europe.
-The invasion of Sicily and Italy seemed the logical next steps from the long pursuit of German forces after the Battle of El Alamein in 1942.
Britain’s Post War Plans and Churchill
Attention was increasingly given to ensuring that post-war Britain should be a better place by radical social reforms.
There were hopes that the massive national effort which had gone into war would go into post-war reconstruction.
This had failed after the First World War.
Churchill saw discussion of what would happen after victory as a distraction.
Nevertheless, the wartime coalition which Churchill headed made substantial progress in planning the post-war period and paved the way for important reforms after 1945.
The Beveridge Report paved way for the Post-War Welfare State
