WC Wilderness years 1929-40

Question 1

India

Answer 1

• 1858 India became head of the Indian empire
• Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms 1919 - India self gov
• Amritsar Massacre- killed 379 unarmed civilians - India National Congress wanting self
• Gandhi protest 1930-1 - imposed salt tax gained massive support forcing British viceroy to negotiate (Churchill hated this)

Question 2

Churchill and India

Answer 2

• Opposed Gov of India Act - scared of independence
• Overestimated the effects - India only controls education and agriculture and not the things Churchill cared about such as control of law and order, defence and foreign policy
• Act was designed to head off demand, not pave the way as he feared - BUT was right about Lancashire cotton relied on exports
• Mistook lack of support for Gandhi as support for him - believed that British rule was in the interest of the vast majority of Indians - believed minority groups like Muslims and untouchables would suffer if Gandhi took control

Question 3

Churchill’s beginning career

Answer 3

• Home secretary at 35, 1910
  -Chancellor of the Exchequer 1924-29
• Member of conservative shadow cabinet
• Not made a minister until 1935, predicted Rhode James because of his India issue

Question 4

Why was Churchill disliked?

Answer 4

Out of date and out touch with the political mainstream - forced to ally with EXTREME RIGHT WING
- Macdonald and Baldwin infuriated by his policy

• Made personal attacks on senior gov - India secretary sir Samuel Hoare to resign - not one single MP support
• Knowledge of India politics poor
• Support for Edward VIII damaged
• Faulty judgement - wrong about Gallipoli and the return to the gold standard in 1925
• Lack of party loyalty - defected to Liberals in 1904 and Labour no no General strike 1926 - opportunist

Question 5

Hitler March 1935

Answer 5

• Rearmed in violation of the TOV
• Built Luftwaffe
• 560,000 when only 150,000 allowed

Question 6

Hitler June 1935

Answer 6

• Anglo-German naval agreement - countenancing a German navy but limited it to 35% - appeasement

Question 7

Hitler March 1936

Answer 7

• Sent 20,000 troops back to Rhineland - a demilitirisation zone

Question 8

Hitler March 1938

Answer 8

• Germany annexes Austria - ‘a better Germany’
  The Anschluss

Question 9

Hitler September 1938

Answer 9

• The Munich agreement signed by France, GB, Italy saying Czechoslovakia must resign its border regions and defences to Nazi Germany - the ‘last territorial demand’ (WASTED OPPORTUNITY to seize the Skoda Arms factory - 1/3 gold reserves Hitler used to beat France)

Question 10

Hitler March 1939

Answer 10

• Hitler went to Czech lands and from Prague Castle proclaimed the German protectorate of Bohemia and Morevia (broke his promise)

Question 11

Hitler August 1939

Answer 11

• German-Soviet Pact was signed - allowed Nazi Germany and Soviet Union to invade Poland

Question 12

Hitler September 1939

Answer 12

Invaded Poland
Forced Chamberlain to declare war after he said on 31st March 1939 that he backed Poland

Question 13

Churchill’s Hitler views

Answer 13

• Condemned the brutality of the Nazi regime
• Saw a parallel between the situation before WW1 when German rearmament had threatened British security
• Concerned about the Luftwaffe - Colonial Secretary in 1920 he used air power on Iraqi rebels - he understood the power
• Churchill had been a member of the British gov who drew up the TOV - did not agree with Chamberlain, that that was the main threat to peace
• Called for the ministry of defence
• fervently anti-communist - tried to strangle the regime in the Russia Civil War

Question 14

Churchill Hitler doubts?

Answer 14

• Weakest link in GB defence planning was army not air force
  -Forgot how crucial tanks and submarines were
• Distrusted, impulsive, Baldwin said ‘war is where he thrives’, pacifist feeling after 900K British soldiers died
• Younger conservative MPs did not attach themselves to him
• Support for Edward VIII contradicted his opposition to appeasement
• Only spoke about foreign policy, not economic problems - preoccupied most of his countrymen

Question 15

The war powers

Answer 15

GB - 900k die, distrust, econ depression
France - Defence line - Maginot line, French losses in WW1 were worst, distrust, most vulnerable
- Russia - against regime, ‘red army’ purges, willingness for a pact, Munich settlement
- USA and NZ isolationist
- Japan and Italy - threats unseen

Question 16

Churchill unrealistic

Answer 16

• Grand alliance unrealistic because of world powers but soviet movement to western borders - proof USSR could’ve fought for czech
• Almost deselected by conservative association constituency
• Germany 90 divisions, us 3, NAVY YES, ARMY NO
• Spitfire and Hurricane needed time to breathe, no expenditure force, most in India and Palestine

Question 17

Churchill realistic

Answer 17

• Hitler psychology right - conquerer
• GB willingness to appease after Hitler took the Rhineland, Sudentenland, Austria

Question 18

Norway campaign

Answer 18

• Churchill strong advocate for military intervention in Norway to cut off Germany’s iron ore supplies from neighbouring Sweden
• BUT Hitler beat them to it, invaded Norway (early April) first caught Churchill’s navy by surprise - captured all ports and airfields

Question 19

Churchill’s Norway efforts and mistakes

Answer 19

• Too impatient - demanded troops to land in Namos. Andalsnes and Narvik, overstretched, all landings failed and ports had to be evacuated
• Didn’t have ski straps - useless - were not well equipped (maps, proper guns) - they ran away
• Exter, Ajax and Achilles worked best in the navy
• ‘Graf Spee’ blew up Dec 1939 damage
• German supply ship Latmark captured

Question 20

Parliamentary and debate of change of PM

Answer 20

• Disaster - Chamberlain not a war leader - GB’s first serious involvement in WW2
• Admiral Roger Keyes made a speech defending the Navy but criticising the gov
• Cons MP gave info to Labour Leader Clement Attlee to help attack gov - party politics set aside
• Leo Amery (once Chamb, then allied with opposition for appeasement) - in the name of god, go - Chamberlain lost support with his party by a 281 to 200 vote

Question 21

Churchill v Lord Halifax

Answer 21

• Halifax was highly respected as a politician of all parties as well as the King and civil services. Didnt want it - pain in the stomach, knew he would be a great peacetime PM, knew Churchill was a better war leader
• Chamberlain asked who should be PM - Halifax HOL may be a barrier - no peer had been PM in over 40 years

Question 22

Churchill wanted to capture Narvik?

Answer 22

• Stop Germany’s supply of iron ore from Sweden to Narvik
• Could be used for a Finland base against communist Russia
• Finnish surrendered to GB - stopped them from fighting Germany and Russia at the same time

Question 23

What was the British Cabinet decision and the impacts?

Answer 23

• Align with french troops and mine Finnish waters
• ‘Missed the bus’ - Hitler invades - Luftwaffe took over Norwegian airfields
• British soldiers sent to Norway defended northern Norway and seized the port cities of Stavanger, Bergen, Trondheim
• Failure at Narvik - advantage lost, no assault

Question 24

What did Conservative MP Captain Martin Lindsay say about the Narvik operation?

Answer 24

No hope, entirely improvised and short notice. Barely any artilary, and the ground was covered in snow. With no skis, they couldn’t retaliate ate on just the road?

Question 25

What did the Labour Party think after the Norway invasion?

Answer 25

They would not serve in a coalition government with Chamberlain, but did prefer Halifax

Question 26

Churchill YES for PM (4)

Answer 26

• Popular with public about Hitler + great orater and performer
• Growing support within Parliament - small Tories, Labour MPs distrust but respect his opposition to appeasement + trade unions saw Churchill more willing to maximise war production
• Understood a national gov was needed to prosecute the war effectively
• Experienced - Home Secretary, First Lord of the Admirality (x2), Colonial Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer

Question 27

Churchill NO for PM (5)

Answer 27

• Norway - directly more responsible for the failure - failed landings + fired Captain Tolbert criticism on U-boat defence, India, Gallipoli, gold standard, civil service distrusted him
• Very few Tory MPs supported, King and Queen didn’t because of Edward VIII
• Labour happy with Halifax - trade unions still remember General Strike
• Naval commanders and Cabinet colleagues found him interfering in matters outside his responsibility as First Lord of the Admiralty - atmosphere strained from drinking and late night meetings
• ‘Yesterday’s man’ - 60s and had not been a gov minister for over a decade prior to the outbreak of war

Question 28

Appeasement

Answer 28

• Meant giving Hitler what he wanted to avoid the war
• June 1935 w.o consulting France or Italy Baldwin gov signed Anglo-German Naval Agreement - openly breached TOV as long as navy was no bigger than 35% the size of GBs - allowed unrestricted submarine development
• GB protested Hitler’s actions but no effective - Rhineland they discouraged France from doing so
• Baldwin pursued ‘passive appeasement’, Chamberlain did ‘active appeasement’ met Hitler x3 a fortnight - agree he could have the Sudentenland and not have USSR during Munich Conference
• Hitler broke Munich agreement by invading the rest of Czech, GB did nothing - even gave Czech gold reserves

Question 29

Churchill’s Views (7)

Answer 29

• Condemned Nazi regime brutality, including murder of the opposition and the persecution of the Jews
• Saw a parallel with ww1 when German rearment threatened British security - even wrote about it in his book ‘the World Crisis’ - called for Ministry of Defence to rearm
• Churchill member of GB gov crafted TOV which Hitler broke, did not agree with Chamberlain that it was the TOV that was a threat to peace
• Concerned about Luftwaffe - understood the importance of this when he authorised air power against Iraqi rebels as Colonial Secretary 1920
• Did not think it would preserve the peace if France disarmed - saw their army as the best way to restrain Hitler - saw Hitler’s remilitarisation of the Rhineland as a missed opportunity
• Anti-Communist - leading advocate in GB for military intervention to strangle Communist regime at birth in Russian Civil War
• Argued Japan and Italy should be appeased, condemned Spanish republican gov as pro-communist and Gb should be out of Spanish Civil war - supported international peacekeeping organisations like League of Nations and New Commonwealth Society - did not believe it is a substitute for British rearment (they had no army)

Question 30

The different countries and their stances (8)

Answer 30

• GB - Churchill fail to get support, 900K died in ww1, gov against, econ depression
• France - most vulnerable, soft defence in Maginot line, french losses worse in ww1, Gb and France didn’t trust each other and supported appeasement
• Russia/Soviet Union - ‘Red army’ senior officer purge, tried squandering communist regime at birth, Munich Conference no trust
• Japan - Churchill was racist, saw Germany as main enemy despite Germany threatening the British empire in eastern countries such as Singapore, Hong Kong, etc (same with Italy with the main enemy thing)
• Australia - isolationist, really far away
• India - often wrong about them, damaged credibility
• USA - isolationist, the great depression made them focus on domestic problems and new deal, 13M unemployed

Question 31

Why did WC become PM in 1940 - First Lord of the Admirality

Answer 31

Started ww2 as this, same as ww1
This meant he was the Cabinet minister in charge of the Navy

Early successes such as the German cruiser called the ‘Graf Spee’ being forced to sink itself but WC unable to deal with the U-boat threat posed to merchant shipping carring vital food, oil and supplies which GB depended on

Question 32

The Norwegian campaign

Answer 32

• April-May 1940
• Military intervention in Norway to cut off Germany’s iron ore supplies from neighbouring Sweden which in the winter had to be exported via Norway bc the Sweden ports were frozen. Chamberlain hesitated before agreeing to this in the end of March 1940 but it was too late: Germans beat him to it by invading Norway first in early April

Question 33

The Parliamentary debate and change of PM

Answer 33

• Norway campaign disaster - Churchill poor war effort
• HOC met to debate the campaign in early May Admiral roger Keyes, appeared to make a speech defending Navy but strongley critisizing the gov
• Many Con MPs concluded that Chamberlain was not suited to being a war leader (hesitation) Leo Amery allied with Churchill for the opposition of appeasement