Churchill Flashcards
What were Churchill’s views on India
He took the view that India was the jewel in the crown of the whole empire and that it had to be protected to prevent the empire from falling apart.
He also believed that Britain’s greatness was bound to its imperial status. He also had the view that British rule alone prevented the domination of Hindu elites in India over Indian Muslims.
He thought that British rule was beneficial for India and prevented barbaric practices and provided economic and social progress. This was bound to an innate racial idea, that Anglo-Saxons were superior.
Examples of British repression in India
The Rowlatt Acts of 1919 increased police power by allowing imprisonment without trial.
In April 1919 Gandhi led a mass campaign against the Rowlatt Acts and troops fired on a protesting crowd at Amritsar, killing 400 people.
Examples of British reform in India
1919 Montagu-Chelmsford measures gave locally elected councils some control over internal matters.
How did Britain respond to the Amiritsar massacre?
Ghandi was released from jail to attend conferences in London in 1930 and 1931 to get agreement on ending the conflict. This was ineffective, he was arrested on his return.
But, in 1933 Britain announced its intentions of allowing India greater self-government. 1935 the Government of India Act was passed, taking effect in 1937, the electorate expanded to 35 million (out of a population of 338 million) and they set up elected legislatures to deal with local affairs.
Why were the British public more accepting of reform in the 1920s and 30s?
Many in England had looked at the increasing costs of maintaining the status quo in India, the existence of educated Indian elites, and the changes in public and international opinion.
Before 1918 only one person in seven was able to vote in Britain. British women and male workers had little more say in the democratic process than Indians. After 1918, Britain had become more democratic.
Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa had been utterly loyal to Britain during WW1 despite enjoying self-government. More self-governance in India seemed to many not a danger but rather a necessity.
How did Churchill respond to the Indian protest movement? How did the Conservative Party react?
Churchill made increasingly extreme public statements and supported eccentric and racist organisations that were opposed to negotiations with the Indian protests movements.
Even more moderate Conservatives disagreed with him. Stanley Baldwin, the Conservative leader, undermined Churchill’s position through calm and moderate speeches, and by mocking references to Churchill’s views.
1934 Churchill made bitter attacks on the government ministers over India reform proposals. Even his former supporter Leo Amery, said that Churchill had stirred up a hornets’ nest where there were no hornets. In aiming to make Sir Samuel Hoare, the Secretary for India, resign, he threatened to shatter the Conservative party.
This won him ridicule from Conservative MPs and the deep distrust of the Conservative leadership.
Still, when the GoIA was finally passed, he stopped agitating and invited a close friend and political supporter of Gandhi to lunch, claiming he wished India well.
What was Churchill’s early position on rearmament
When German rearmament started, Churchill became more alarmed. Churchill saw the regime as brutal, he disliked the racism and violence, and the murder of political opponents.
He also feared a repeat of the situation before 1914 when Germany had been a threat to the peace of Europe.
Churchill wrote a book about the German naval threat in his history of the First World War, The World Crisis.
Unlike other leaders, Churchill had been a member of the government which had agreed to the ToV and took it more seriously that HItler wanted to break this up.
Churchill was also worried about air power and Hitler building a new air force. He was colonial secretary and had approved air attacks on Iraqi rebels in 1920 and knew the effects of aerial bombing.
Why was Churchill criticised for his policy on rearmament?
Some critics pointed out that he himself had been responsible for disarming in the 1920s and maintaining the 10 Year Rule (defence planning should not consider a war likely for the next ten years and justified cut backs in defence, lasted 1919 to 1932. Financial crisis had necessitated deep cuts in expenditure. 1934 the means tests imposed stringent conditions on any public help for the unemployed, an arms race that seemed inappropriate.
Many thought that WW1 had originated because of an arms race. Many thought it was ridiculous to restrict Germany’s army forever. People thought Churchill was still in a WW1 mentality, his tendency to exaggerate figures and to speak in alarmist terms reduced his credibility. People that the LoN was strong and could handle international disputes.
How did Germany become increasingly agressive 1930-36?
Left the League of Nations in 1933
Hitler introduced conscription in 1935, breaking the ToV.
He remilitarised the Rhineland in March 1936.
Why did Britian not react to German rearmament 1930-35?
The British were more anxious to stop French action against Germany that could lead to war rather than taking action themselves
Italy had aligned itself with Britain and France against German expansion into Austria in the Stresa Front in April 1935. Mussolini was no longer a possible ally because Britain had been forced by public opinion to condemn Mussolini’s invasion of Ethiopia in 1935.
The Anglo-German Naval Treaty in 1935 agreed that the German fleet could only be limited to 35% of the British fleet.
What were Chamberlain’s views on taking office in 1937?
Chamberlain had little faith in international bodies like the League or vague agreements for peace like the Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928.
Chamberlain was told by the chiefs of the armed forces that if peace policies failed, Britain could not fight a war against Germany in Europe, Italy and the Far East at the same time.
There was a small regular army with massive commitments in the Empire, the navy could not ensure the defence of home and commitment to a worldwide war, the air force needed building up.
Chamberlain had the support of most of the Conservative Party.
The Labour opposition had not supported rearmament.
Why did Britain do little when Austria was annexed by Germany in March 1938?
There were limited grounds for any action because this was popular in Germany and Austria seemingly.
What occured in the Sudeten Crisis (before the Munich Agreement)?
The Sudetenland had never been a part of Germany, but contained German speakers (2 million).
Czechoslovakia was a democracy with substantial ethnic minorities. It had alliances with the SU and France. Britain was not obliged to act but the French were. If France supported the Czechs, who had an army of 35 divisions, there would be a European war, which Britain could not have ignored.
Chamberlain put pressure on the Czechs to make concessions, and, as agitation grew amongst the sudeten Germans, Hitler’s speeches became more war-like, Chamberlain flew to see Hitler to negotiate.
Chamberlain did not involve any other countries, not Czechoslovakia. No attempt to involve the LoN and very little discussion with the international community.
Having negotiated an agreement for self-government in the Sudetenland, Chamberlain was outmanoeuvred by Hitler, Hitler insisted on a full union with Germany.
What happened in the Munich Agreement?
After Hitler insisted on full union with Germany, Britain prepared for war. Then Mussolini offered a mediatio at a four power conference in Munich.
Mussolini was allied with Hitler in the Pact of Steel. The French government did not want to fulfil its obligation to the Czechs. Chamberlain asked Hitler to agree to further consultation, which was what he waved at crowds on his return. Chamberlain was given gifts by admiring members of the public and songs were composed in his honour.
Britain’s rearmament now was accelerated and people began to lose faith in any attempt to negotiate with Hitler. Germany occupied Bohemia and Moravia and dismembered the Czech state in March 1939. On the 31st of March 1939, Chamberlain guaranteed Polish independence.
What did Churchill think of the Munich Agreement?
Churchill rejected the idea of persuading the Czechs to make concessions. He did not think one could meaningfully negotiate with Hitler. He was for collective security, the LoN and a Grand Alliance of countries ready to stop German aggression. Churchill thought that Britain was only encouraging Germany to go further.
How could one argue that the Munich agreement was justified?
Churchill offered no idea of who would be Britain’s allies.
Britain did not have an expeditionary force ready for war. Its troops were tied down in peacekeeping activities in the Empire, particularly in Palestine. War would lead to Italy and Japan threatening British interests in the Suez Canal, India, South East Asia.. 1938 Japan was fighting a bitter expansionist war in China, and looked towards western colonies in SouthEast Asia for rubber, ores and oil.
Churchill had been relentlessly hostile to the communist Soviet Union, which was undergoing massive internal change in the 1930s. It was unlikely that a meaningful alliance could be made with Stalin given the concerns about Russian activities in the Spanish Civil War and the distrust in France of communism.
France was looking to Britain to provide excuses for not acting. Opinion in France was profoundly opposed to any action which risked a war like the First World War. The Maginot Line had been expanded but this was a defensive measure.
Eastern European nations were more concerned about the threat from the Soviet Union.
The USA favoured isolationism, the Neutrality Acts had been passed preventing the USA from supplying other countries engaged in War. League had consistently failed.
How did war become more likely in 1939?
By 1939 conscription, planning for air raids, the formation of an expeditionary force and an air force had made war more of an option than previously. British guarantees of Poland did not make war inevitable but more likely. Hiter made a nonaggression pact with the USSR in August 1939. Lands gained by Poland in 1919 were the ones closest to German hearts and their recovery would complete the destruction of the ToV and open the way to eastern expansion. Poland was invaded on the 1st of September 1939 and Chamberlain asked Churchill to join the War Cabinet.
What had happened in the war prior to the Norwegian campaign
The British expeditionary force was sent to France but could not take initiatives and the French did not launch an offensive. The Nazi-Soviet pact led to German forces taking western Poland, the Soviets the East. The Soviet Union waged a winter war against Finland after taking back the Baltic States.
Why was Norway a problem for Britain?
Churchill pressed for action against Norway as its waters in the North Sea were a vital routeway for Germany to obtain Swedish iron ore.
How did the Norwegian campaign occur?
Churchill proposed mining Norwegian waters and action to prevent a German invasion. Chamberlain agreed to mining on the 28th of March 1940 but Hitler had already approved a German invasion on the 1st of March. This began in April.
Denmark was invaded, forces were landed in Norway. Germany lost 12 large ships against the British. British army landings were unsuccessful and there were disputes about methods and objectives. Forces landed at Namsos and Andalsnes were forced to withdraw in early May. Forces landed at Narvik achieved little and it fell to the Germany on the 28th.
How did Churchill become prime minister?
A debate in parliament began on the whole record of the government since the war began. It was obvious that the war was not well coordinated. There was an ineffective Minister for the Coordination of Defence, a military coordination committee had not proved effective, the economic planning had not been synchronised.
Sir Roger Keyes criticised the government. Chamberlain came under attack from his own side, especially from Leo Amery, a former ally. Labour forced a vote. Churchill took responsibility for the failure of the expedition and defended the government, increasing his own standing. The vote was 281 to 200 for the government.
Over 40 Conservatives had voted against the government, 40 had abstained. By May 1940 he was unwell. Only a minority of Conservatives wanted Chuchill to become PM. Lord Halifax, the former Foreign Secretary and friend of George VI was wanted . He sat in the HoL and would not have been able to without renouncing his title.
Churchill became the only alternative. He was backed by a group within his party and support from Labour and its leader Clement Attlee. Labour would not have served under Chamberlain. On 10th of May Germany had invaded Holland and Belgium. Chamberlain wanted to stay on but it became clear his war cabinet would not support him, especially Kingsley Wood. The King appointed Churchill PM on 10th of May 1940
What problems did Britain experience in the first months of Churchill’s premiership
Roosevelt was not keen on his appointment and the HoC and government contained many that did not support him.
4th of May Germans broke the French defences. 28th May British army was cut off from the French and had fallen to Dunkirk, 300,000 troops. Italian entry into the war was a threat, threatening Egypt and Suez. Gold reserves were running out. Germany had bombed Poland and the Low Countries, fear of bombing.
