Churchill booklet 7

Question 1

What was Churchill’s stance towards war in 1940?

Answer 1

Destined to lead Britain, confident in the ability of Britain/ Empire to wage war successfully.

Question 2

What was the situation in May?

Answer 2

Dangerous- British army intact, Churchill had a cabinet of his supporters, campaign in Norway failed, US not enthusiastic and many moments of the Govt being similar to Chamberlain.

Question 3

Why was his past not encouraging?

Answer 3

Failure in Norway and Gallipoli.

Question 4

What challenges did Churchill face?

Answer 4

Failure of Dunkirk, Danger of Italian entry into the war- damage Suez which would restrict access to India and colonies. Threat of Japan in South America, depleting reserves, German offensives in Poland, Lord Halifax’s attempts to reason with Germany.

Question 5

What was Halifax pursuing?

Answer 5

He made rational decisions, thought it could be better to consider terms before France was defeated and German bombing.

Question 6

Rejection?

Answer 6

Churchill didn’t want to negotiate peace.

Question 7

What had improved by 4th June?

Answer 7

Evacuation of 224, 318 from Dunkirk and French demands for aircraft and defence could potentially be met.

Question 8

What was the remarkable achievement of Churchill and how did the Germans react?

Answer 8

He maintained war with no allies agaisnt what was percieved as the greatest militar power.
3 July 1940- Defiance, attack on French fleet, victories around Italy.
The Germans launched an air defence.

Question 9

What role did Dowding play and what had Churchill achieved?

Answer 9

Dowding mobilised small groups of fighters and perserved the strength of the RAF by not pursuing German bombers over the channel, effective.
Churchill established his position over rivals and became a weapon of war.

Question 10

Churchill himself

Answer 10

Determined to supervise details.
Modern ideas such as germ warfare brain stormed.
He did exhaust staff and work irregular hours but he revolutionised methods and insisted on paperwork.
He managed to take on board advice of those who stood up to him but dismissed those who couldn’t keep up.

Question 11

His leadership style

Answer 11

Establishing personal relations with allies was important (Rooselevelt, Stalin).
Well travelled.

Question 12

Churchill’s experiences and failures

Answer 12

His career had not been distinguished.
Little experience of command, planning, strategy and naval experience. Gallipoli.

Question 13

Churchill’s perspective/view

Answer 13

Frustrated by the cautionary approach of leading the military during appeasement.
Dealt with war in a lot of places.

Question 14

Churchill’s inital actions.

Answer 14

Criticised military leaders and issued unrealistic orders.
Had to go against his orders to perserve British forces.
Defence of Calais was ‘pointless’.
Desire to send troops when France was on the brink of defeat was thwarted by Sir John Dill.

Question 15

Relations with Brooke

Answer 15

Chur constantly interfered with military matters and the burden was placed on Brooke.
Different temperament, often annoyed by Churchill’s thinking.
They, however, often agreed on major decisions such as sending troops to North Africa.

Question 16

Relations with Wavell

Answer 16

Churchill personally disliked Wavell.
Took forces away from Wavell when Italy invaded Greece in 1940.
Wavell was not given time to prepare properly for this sp the expedition failed.
Did not have the resources to defeat Rommel- Wavell took the blame and was demoted.
However forces were successful in Africa against the Italians.

Question 17

Relations with Auchinleck ans Montgomery

Answer 17

A- Sacked for delays and cautionary approach.
M- Won over Churchill bc of his confidence, Churchill favoured him depsite M’s delay in following up his victory after El Alamein/

Question 18

North Afria, Italy, France

Answer 18

NA- defeat of Germans in Tunisia led to more British army expeditions. 1943.
I- US/UK forces captured Sicily then landed in Southern Italy. Led to a long campaign of occupation. 1943.
F- Invasion of Dunkirk could not be delayed and was planed for 1944. He favoured more aggressive ideas rather than the preplanned one.

Question 19

Operation Market Garden 1944

Answer 19

Airbourne landings to outflank the Germans by taking bridges in the Netherlands. However it failed as they failed to capture the bridge over the Rhine in Arnhem which was the main objective.

Question 20

1940-44

Answer 20

Churchill and generals occupied Germany- action in NA.
Characterised by the Pm’s loss of confidence in major commanders.
Exerted influence on the US/UK alliance.

Question 21

Why was the Meiterranean imporant and which powers were viewed a the main threats?

Answer 21

Vital trade route through Suez- long tradition of British imperial policy.
Threat of an Italian-German alliance against Britain in African colonies.

Question 22

What nations did Britain have control/influence over? What dominated British military thinking?

Answer 22

Entrance to the Medierranean at Gibraltar, Egypt (Suez), Palestine and African colonies.
Defence of Empire and route to Empire.

Question 23

What did Churchill believe should happen? How can this be criticised?

Answer 23

Hoped for a Balkan front of Greece, Yugolslavia and Turkey to prevent forces entering Greece which prevents German influence and opened up the prospect of British influence in South East Europe.
Anglo- Centric, imperial perspective becoming outdated, Greece was weak as many forces had been defeated or exiled.

Question 24

What impact did the US have in joining the war? What did they believe should happen?

Answer 24

George Marshall saw the Med as useless and argued for taking pressure off Russia and forming a Western front.

Question 25

Situaton in Italy in 1943

Answer 25

Germans established but Britan had air and naval superiority.
Sixteen allied divisons occupied in heavy fighting.
Invasion of Sicily and Italy had fallen.

Question 26

Why was there a delay to the D-Day invasion?

Answer 26

High casualties expected/ other conflicts happening.
Long Italian campaign wasn’t anticipated.
British policy was to maintain dominance and perserve links with Empire to extend interests in South East Europe.
Invasion of Sicily/ Italy seemed like the logical next step after the battle of El Alamein in 1942.

Question 27

What was the motivation behind the bombing of Germany?

Answer 27

Waging war in NA with Ger was an alternative to invading France, the other was to destroy morale and its capability to prepare through extensive bombing.

Question 28

What were the problems with the defensive bombing idea? What did Bomber Arthur Harris aim at?

Answer 28

Created with offensive fighting in mind.
1. 1942 report indicated that bombing wasn’t effective/ precise enough to damage German industry products.
2. Blitz hadn’t destroyed morale, Germans saw Hitler as the way to stop the USSR.
3. Ethical objections to killing large numbers of citizens brought up by Bishop Bell of Chester.
He wanted as much destruction of Germa cities as possible, large forces, loss of Hamburg, industrial cities of the Ruhr, Berlin and Dresdon. 400,000-600,000 Germans died.

Question 29

Why had the situation changed by 1944?

Answer 29

1. USSR became wealthier than Britain.
2. USSR sacrificed its army to wear down German forces.
3. After Normandy, Britain began to take heavier losses, became a junior partner in the Grand Alliance, lost freedom of action.
4. Operation Market Garden- poor planning, unexpected SS. After the Arnhem disaster, they could only go under a US commander, Eisenhower.

Question 30

What happened to Churchill?

Answer 30

1. Sidlined in Big 3 meetings, had to accept discussions in Yalta that opposed British aims= Stalin regain Eastern Poland.
2. Took back Poland, frontieres moved westward, punished Russain war prisoners.
3. He was forced to watch Stalin ignore the crushing of a rebellion in Warsaw against Germans, Germans killed those who provided opposition to future domination.
4. Roosevelt paid limited attention to the warnings of Russain dominance in post-war Eastern Europe.

Question 31

What did Churchill believe about the Mediterranean?

Answer 31

1. It was key, troops sent to crush communism in Greece.
2. Stalin didn’t intervene.
3. BForces stretched into Germany, India, Middle East and Burma.
4. He entered a campaign to maintain the monarchy in Greece/

Question 32

The contradictions of WW2. What did the public want?

Answer 32

1. Fought for Poland but Poland’s wishes were being ignored, prospect for Russain domination.
2. Britain projected ‘civilised values’ but had bombed cities and caused large scale civilian casualties.
3. War to perserve British independance was ending with US control.
4. War to perserve imperial interests failed.
   The public wanted a national post-war effort.

Question 33

What did Churchill see reform as?

Answer 33

Saw social reform as a distraction from victory.

Question 34

Post-war social reform

Answer 34

Rest and medical centres, Comittee for the homeless, National Assistance, Emergency Hospital Service, National Fire service, help for mothers and children, Railways and factory acts.

Question 35

Beveridge report.

Answer 35

Influential report that aimed to deal with poverty, unemployment and ill-health.

Question 36

Voters demands/ suspicions

Answer 36

Unsure if tories could deliever reforms, wanted to solve high unemployment, wartime reports offered better prospects for the working class, conservatives blamed for the ‘hungary decade’ and appeasement.

Question 37

Churchill was not seen as the right peacetime leader because

Answer 37

of his aggressive campaigning and associations between labour and the Nazi gestapo.

Question 38

Reasons for Churchill’s election loss in 1945

Answer 38

Conservatives’ reputation, Churchill’s hostile and eccentric nature, socialism and change in public attitude, first past the post system.

Question 39

The battle of El alamein

Answer 39

1942. Climax and turning point in the North African campaign in WW2. Germany and Italy defeated by the British.