Churchill as a wartime Prime minister

• Why did Churchill become Prime Minister in 1940?

  Churchill was still to an extent isolated due to his views and the failure of the Gallipoli Landings in 1915 and the Norway Campaign of 1940 in which Churchill urged the mining of Norwegian waters.

  
  

  Chamberlain resigned because he was a man of peace and could not wage war very well. Was seen as responsible for appeasement.

  
  

  Churchill had amassed some support for his strong dislike of appeasement which paved the way for world war 2.

  
  

  Lord Halifax was preferred candidate but did not want to give up his lordship.

  
  

  Churchill was a great orator, very articulate, had plenty of experience of war and was a good writer.
• What was Churchill's stance towards war?

  Was completely focused on victory.

  Made defiant speeches in the house of commons, entire nation, Churchill emphasised determination to never surrender. Ever after 300,000 men were trapped on the beaches of Dunkirk, Churchill encouraged Britain to look at it as a deliverance. "We shall never surrender" speech boosted morale. Made it clear that Britain should not consider peace terms.

  
  

  By the end of 1940, Britain survived the fall of France, there were victories against Italians in North Africa.
• What was special about Churchill's style of leadership during the war?

  Believed his role was not just to chair discussions but to direct the war effort. Favoured daring actions and was highly frustrated by delay. Believed in personal and close relations with allies which was key in diplomatic successes, especially with Stalin and Roosevelt. Worked irregular hours and was energetic. Very flamboyant. Not always easy going, dismissed military leaders whom he had lost trust in and came across as highly condescending. Supported extreme action, like destruction of German fleet at Oran 1940.
• What characterised Churchill's relations with his generals?

  Churchill wanted to influence the way war was fought out but his generals knew his own military career wasn't very distinguished. He had little experience of command, planning and overall strategy yet he still tried to dominate.

  
  

  Field Marshal Sir Alan Brooke was highly competent and was extremely professional. Brooke was a dogged opponent to some of Churchill's more daring ideas which put British troops as risk. However they did agree on focusing on the Mediterranean to defeat the Italians and protect Suez and delaying the opening of a second front in Europe.

  
  

  Wavell. Churchill personally disliked Wavell and gave him little credit for victories in the North Africa in 1940. Churchill took forces away from him when Italy invaded Greece in 1940 and cabinet decided to defend it. His troops were taken from him to a deeply flawed Greek campaign in which Britain was defeated when Germany invaded. Early successes in North Africa were thrown away, Wavell did not have resources needed, took the blame and was demoted.

  
  

  Auchinleck was not prepared for a sudden attack on Germany in North Africa and waited to wait until he was better prepared to do so, this annoyed Churchill who saw it as delaying war. Auchinleck was demoted.

  
  

  Montgomery, his replacement was better liked and the credit for Britain's victories went to Monty instead of Auchinleck.
• Why did Churchill call for a Grand Alliance? And what were the attitudes at the time?

  -Britain stood alone against the Nazi threat in Churchill's eyes

  -American isolationism

  -Churchill's outspoken hatred for Communism

  -Nazi annexation of France

  -Russia had no direct border with Czechoslovakia

  -Foreign Office analysis against alliance
• How effective were Churchill's strategic decisions during the war in the Mediterranean?

  Preventing Axis power victories in the Med. was important. Suez Canal was the link to India and the rest of the empire from which Britain took resources. It was seen as the alternative to liberating the French after the fall of Paris which would be a difficult task.

  
  

  Churchill was determined to follow the Med. strategy whilst the USA wanted the rapid invasion of France.
• How justified was the bombing of Germany?

  - German destruction of Britain during the Blitzs caused substantial damage, so this was seen as revenge and it was justified

  - Strong belief that bombing strategic targets was the way to win the war without mass civilian casualties

  - It would decrease the morale of Germany and expose a weakness in the Nazi regime

  - Ethical objections to killing large numbers of women and children

  - Around 400,000-600,000 Germans died from bombing campaigns, only 60,000 Britons
• Why was Churchill re-elected as Prime Minister in 10 May 1940

  -Failure of the Norway Campaign

  -Chamberlain falling Ill

  -Loss of support from backbench MPs

  -Churchills experience as First Lord of The Admiralty

  -Lord Halifax didn't want to be PM

  -The need for a decisive leader
• How important were the reconstruction policies of Churchill's government and what role did he play?

  Attention was given to ensuring that post-war Britain was not a bad place to live in. The government did not want to see a repeat of the post-ww1 situation.

  
  

  There were rest centres and meal services, committees for homeless, emergency hospital service, national fire service.

  
  

  There plans to expand the welfare state and reform education.

  
  

  Key document was Beveridge Report of 1942 which was highly influential, it made provisions to bring to an end poor health, ignorance and poverty.
• Examples of Churchill's relationship with his Generals

  Field Marshall Brooke- Churchill saw him as too slow and cautious, Brooke saw Churchill's military ideas as stupid and was annoyed by his thinking out loud

  Commander Wavell- Churchill disliked him, Churchill forced him to make a Balkan Front then fight in Libya with little time and when he failed Churchill demoted him

  Commander Auchinlecker- Wavell's replacement, he too wanted to take his time preparing to fight Rommel but Churchill was impatient and sacked him

  Commander Montgomery- Churchill liked Monty, and was able to win at the battle of El Alamein but mostly from the help of his predecessors
• Why did Churchill lose office in 1945?

  Labour had a well-focused campaign stressing domestic change which appealed to a population who did not want to relive the horrors of post world war one Britain. The GP didn't think that the Conservatives would be able to provide them with the type of Britain they wanted.

  
  

  Conservatives campaign was more based on Churchill's reputation, Churchill made a mistake when he made a speech in which he said labour needs a gestapo to enforce his policies.
• As Churchill came into power in 1940 the war took a turn for the worse, the British army had been cut off from French forces and had fallen back to Dunkirk, rescuing them seemed challenging, Gold reserves were running out, strong possibility Italy would join the war and threaten the closing of the Suez canal. In response, Churchill used speeches to rally the nation
• Fall of France 1940

  was invaded by Germany after Belgium fell, Churchill couldn't afford to send anymore aircrafts there to try and save them. Germany took over Paris. C needed to make sure French ships didn't fall into German hands so bombed them at Mers El Kebir in Algeria, 180,000 died.
• Battle of Britain, 1940


  Churchill sent the majority of tanks to the Mediterranean to stave off the Italians from the Suez canal. The Germans had also launched an air offensive against GB with the aim of destroying the RAF, luckily the Germans diverted their attention from the air fields to the cities which gave time for the planes to recover and managed to defeat most of the German air force defensively, leading to stalemate. A much needed victory.
• The US wanted to invade from Britain across the channel into Berlin but C convinced them to go through the Mediterranean instead, he had personal motivations for this as, if Sex fell they would loose access to middle eastern oil, India and other supplies. Britain easily pushed back Italian forces and so Germany came in to fight.
• The Mediterranean campaign was important to Churchill because it was the only place he could actually fight the Germans on the ground and he needed a victory to satiate the public, his cabinet and parliament.
• 1940 Mussolini ordered his troops into the Italian colony of Libya to launch an advance into Egypt. Wavell, the British commander in N Africa, threw everything he had at the Italians despite being outnumbered (200,000 to 30,000) the Italians were forced to surrender/ retreat. Then the Germans arrived in 1941.
• 1941, the Germans arrived in Libya to prop up the Italians with a unit called Afrika Korps led by Erwin Rommel, a great commander and tactician, often nicknamed the 'desert fox'. C sent some of his most experienced troops to Greece which was a strategic error because he thought the Germans wouldn't be ready to attack until May-June but in fact they were ready by March.
• Britain was caught by surprise because of the Germans and they were forced to retreat 200 miles, a British general: O'Connor was captured and In June The Germans defeated the British counter attack (Operation Battlaxe) and pushed the British back to where they had been before fighting the Italians (Operation compass). The Germans had better tanks, air superiority and better trained troops
• Churchill blamed Wavell for Operation Battleaxe's defeat (unfairly, he had sent his best troops away to Greece against his advice) and replaced him with Auchinleck
• Churchill ordered Auchinleck to launch operation Crusader which pushed back the Germans out of Libya and relived Tobruk but lost far more tanks than the Germans and made limited gains considering how many more tanks they had compared to the Germans.
• 1942 Rommels counter offensive to Britain's limited advance (Operation Crusader) was an aggressive offensive which drove the Brits out of Libya and into Egypt. Tubruk, a vital port in Libya surrendered to the Germans despite inferior numbers. The Germans had advanced 100 miles into Egypt which threatened to cut off GB's links to India and Middle eastern oil.
• 1st Battle of El Alamein - July 1942, Auchnleck successfully resisted Rommel's attack and planned a counter attack (2nd battle of El Alamein) which Monty took credit for because he had taken over at the point.
• 1942, Churchill lost patience with Auchinleck and replaced him with Montgomery who he admired b/c of charisma and leadership, but other commanders found him hard to work with because he was seen as arrogant. He likely succeeded over other generals because he was given more time to prepare and double the supplies and tanks.
• 2nd Battle of El Alamein - October and November 1942. A decisive victory which drove the Germans back into Libya, they also lost 30% of their men and nearly all tanks but Monty was too over cautious to encircle them. A huge victory for Britain, people stopped doubting Churchills leadership and Cripps stopped running for PM, mostly spin however because more British troops died than Italian/ German
• Operation Torch - November 1942, Churchill persuaded Roosevelt to invade French N Africa to attack the Axis from both sides (First US involvement in the European war)
• Because of Operation Torch the Germans were massively outnumbered. They were pushed back to Tunisia and forced to surrender in May 1943, over 200,000 prisoners were taken.
• After the Axis surrendered in Tunisia the Allies moved up into Sicily but the Germans resisted skilfully, Italy surrendered but the Germans occupied all of Italy before the Allies invaded. Despite more men and superior equipment , the Allies made slow progress hindered by mountainous terrain and and German resistance commanded by Kesselring.
• In the Italian campaign, Rome did not fall until June 1944, only a day before the invasion of France. The Germans formed a new defensive line and did not fall until May 1945, by then the Russians were in Berlin. Could be argued as less important than anything else but it held down German troops.
• Generals 1 : O'connor was one of Britain's best generals and he led operation Compass but was captured by the Germans during Operation Battleaxe where the Germans had superior numbers and supplies.
• Generals 2 : Wavell, Churchill blames him for the defeat of Battleaxe and so replaces him wit Auchinleck.
• Generals 3 : Auchinleck, In command at an unfortunate time with rommel advancing 100 miles into Egypt, almost got control of Suez but successfully resisted and planned the 2nd battle of El Alamein. Churchill lost patience with him and replaced him with Monty.
• generals 4 : Monty, a good ability to inspire and be charismatic to his troops but other commanders found him arrogant and difficult to work with. He transformed the 8th army with ne staff officers etc as well as the adoption of better tactics but luck was also on his side. More time to prepare and double the amount of supplies.
• Churchill clashed with General Marshall of the US army because he didn't believe in the med strategy and came to the British with a plan to cross the channel in April 1942 which ended up with the Dieppe disaster with 70% of the troops being killed in the second division, Churchill used this to stave off any ideas of a full scale across the channel invasion.
• Roosevelt was originally on board with the Med strategy because he needed the US to get angry at Germany but later on wanted to cross the channel like Stalin because they thought the 'soft underbelly' strategy was selfish and inconclusive.
• The 2nd Battle of El Alamein was important because the Axis were forced to retreat because of the RAF and Rommel suffered heavy losses (37,000 or 30% of their total force) and driven back 1500 miles. First land victory against the Germans and a huge boost to British morale. Churchill called it the 'hinge of fate' changing, they never won a war before El Alamein and they never lost one after.
• Sicily is what finally made Roosevelt and Stalin push for a channel invasion in Tehran conference because the landings were disastrous, 20,000 died, the rocky terrain made it easy for Germans to defend and it was diverting British and America troops,
• The Med could've been a good strategy because the Americans needed the experience of fighting the Germans in Tunisia, they tied down 50 German advisors in the Med and it was an even playing field while France was built up as a fortress, he could get Italy out of the war by overthrowing Mussolini
• Operation Market garden (1944) was a failed attempt to capture 3 bridges in the German occupied Netherlands by airborne troops. it failed because they lost the element of surprise by the drops taking too long and having insufficient air support, soldiers were also dropped 8 miles away from their mark and the German forces in the Netherlands had recently been enforced. This marked a transfer of power to the USA and a return to Eisenhower's (US general) Broad front strategy.
• It cold be argued that Churchill was a good at dealing with his generals because, Brooke agreed with sending troops to N Africa after the threat to Britain had passed in 1940, as well as that the French invasion should be postponed in the case of premature invasion and failure as well as other generals.