Churchill and International Diplomacy 1939-51 Flashcards
What were Churchill’s view on Britain’s world and imperial roles?
- dramatised war as conflict between democracy, freedom, civilised & Christin values and the dark forces of Nazism and dictatorship
- role of Britain to fight dark forces AND maintain Empire which used non-violent repression to maintain control, & didn’t let most of its non-white subjects vote
- Churchill managed to hold on to Britain role as moral leader, manor influence on war policy & imperial power up to 1941 = position later deteriorated
To what extent was Britain’s position at the Beginning of the War an Achievement?
- coalition of 30 countries, dominated by ‘BIG THREE’ THUS despite defeat in Norway & France 1940, by 1941 playing a large world role (Miami trained Empire links, support from dominions & colonies, sustained alliance with US / USSR & influence over way war was fought)
- until 1944, Britain did this WITHOUT committing large land forces to Europe = can be seen as an achievement …?
… Atlantic Charter 1941 affirmed democracy without commitment to ending empire for US support
… USSR losses were HUGE (9 mill military, 13 mill civilian) vs British (452,000) & USA (420,000) - DEPITE this (& Stalingrad, 1 mill casualties alone) Russian alliance maintained
… USA persuaded not to prioritise pacific War but to defeat Germany first / follow British ideas of waging war in Mediterranean (not 2nd front in northern France)
How did Churchill manage his relations with Roosevelt before WW2 intervention?
The danger of war with Japan & US public opinion being generally against war meant at first Roosevelt was careful / minimal support:
>1939 USE repealed Neutrality Act (Britain could phrase USA arms)
> 1940, 50 old US destroyers exchanged for 8 British Naval Bases
> 1941 ‘Lend-Lease Act’ in March (led to $31.6 bill assistance to Britain by 1945)
SUCCESSES:
- Churchill’s mother was American, and he had a strong belief in the united interests of Anglo-Saxon people.
- FIRST MEETING as national leaders August 1941, Canada: Churchill eager to make good impression & obtained a joint declaration of ‘certain common principles’ known as the Atlantic Charter = IMPRESSIVE as although this was not technically a US war (and Roosevelt continued to stress isolationism in presidential election 1940 much to Churchill’s chagrin), the charter still spoke of the ‘destruction of Nazi Tyranny’ & was a commitment to peace and disarmament (WC saw it as a ‘tacit alliance’ and despite terms, avoided having to make any changed to running of Empire)
- Churchill was smart not to push Roosevelt further than the Charter, as declaration of war was in the hands of Congress
FAILINGS:
- first met 1918: Roosevelt thought Churchill a ‘stinker’
- Churchill made unsavoury remarks in 1937 which were quoted by Roosevelt’s opponent during the US election campaign of 1940
- UNTIL Dec 1941, no certainty that US would declare war = Congress had concerns about Britain that made it less likely (dislike of prioritising North Africa over France, concern Britain would want to agin territories as in 1919, concerned the British Empire stood in the way of world free trade) AND Roosevelt though Empire was morally wrong
- Britain had in some respects got less than generous terms; USA made large profits supplying arms, took Britain’s gold reavers in South Africa as security for Lend-Lease payments, Atlantic Charter went against Britain’s imperial interests AND destroyers provided by USA were obsolete
How did Churchill manage his relations with Roosevelt after USA entered WW2?
(December 1941 - October 1943)
Japan attacked Pearl Harbour on 7 December 1941, soon after which Hitler declared war on USA
SUCCESSES
- Prime Minister went to Washington as soon as possible and made a very positive impression
- correspondence following their meetings shows personal bond
= USA more inclined to see Churchill as a heroic figure rather than old-fashioned imperialist warmonger
- British policy prevailed: no invasion of northern France until 1944, USA supported Churchill’s strategy of fighting mainly in the Mediterranean & ‘Europe First’ (Germany before Japan) = from being alone, Britain was now a member of a Grand Alliance of 26 nations
- June 1942 Churchill met Roosevelt in Washington = persuaded against idea of ‘Operation Sledgehammer’ (invasion of France to ease pressure on USSR), promoted joint campaign in North Africa
- Roosevelt accepted British plan for invading Sicily and then Italy at Casablanca
FAILINGS
- Roosevelt disliked Britain’s backing of Roosevelt (prefers French General Giraud)
- Roosevelt thought logical position in May 1943, given USSR’s large war effort, was to focus US diplomacy on Stalin and sideline Churchill - this was apparent at Quebec, August 1943
How did Churchill manage his relations with Roosevelt at and after Tehran?
(November 1943 - April 1945)
SUCCESSES
- Roosevelt and Churchill agreed on the policy that there should be free elections in democracy in postwar Europe at Yalta in February 1945.
- When Roosevelt died in April 1945 Churchill fair a fulsome tribute to him in the House of Commons.
FAILURES
- Roosevelt refused to meet Churchhill privately to decide on a joint policy before the conference.
- He met the Chinese leader, Jiang Jieshi, without Churchill’s knowledge.
- When Roosevelt joked with Stalin at Churchill’s expense, he openly scowled, and his face reddened.
- He made it clear that he wanted British attacks in Burma at the expense of more attacks in the Mediterranean.
- The USA had now abandoned ‘Europe first’ and were working for the defeat of Japan.
- There were very bitter exchanges about the invasion of northern France.
- Churchill‘s plan of bringing Turkey into the war, and setting up a Balkan front were rejected.
-At Quebec in September 1944, Churchill got no commitment for postwar financial assistance for Britain. By 1944, America was not as concerned about postwar Soviet expansion as Britain.
- Roosevelt had never visited Churchill in Britain, Churchill did not attend Roosevelt’s funeral.
How successfully did Churchill handle his relationship with Stalin?
SUCCESSES
- As soon as Hitler invaded the USSR in June 1941, Churchill put ideology aside, and famously said “if Hitler invaded Hell, I would at least make a favourable reference to the devil in the House of Commons” & went o Moscow to forge personal bond
- “Percentages Agreement” was the sort of deal that Stalin understood and oddly he respected it, not offering help to the Greek communists in a civil war, in which Britain supported the Royalist side.
- Successful personal relations: Shared capacity for drink and unwavering support for the interest of own country, both anxious to maintain their empires and had limited sympathy for the view that the people they ruled outside that homeland should be allowed to govern themselves
- less problematic relationship, because British forces did not fight alongside Russian forces (unliked USA)
FAILURES
- Bitter and outspoken critic of the revolution of 1917, doing his best to overturn the communist regime of learning by sending British forces against it.
- Tensions about opening of the second front in Europe - Stalin scornfully criticised Churchill at their first meeting in 1942
- Churchill was determined not to allow public sympathy for huge sacrifices in heroic sieges of Leningrad and Stalingrad to lead Britain towards an early invasion of northern Europe.
- In 1944, Churchill reverted to old-style diplomacy, ‘spheres of influence’, which been more common in Victorian diplomacy than in the period after 1918; the infamous “percentages agreement” challenged the idealistic vision of Britain is a fighter for freedom, and was more typical of cynical power politics. There was no question of consulting the people of the countries that were to be dominated by the USSR in the west.
- At Yalta in 1945, Churchill had to accept that Poland would lose eastern territories to Russia - reaper of Chamberlain & Czechoslovakia (no power to stop it)
- Churchill needed Stalin more than Stalin needed him (nothing to offer except 2nd front)
How successfully did Churchill handle his relations with France / de Gaulle?
SUCCESSES
- Been willing to send further forces, even after Dunkirk, and to commit air resources to France against the advice of the RAF commanders. He even offered a union between Britain and France.
- August 1940: De Gaulle & Churchill reached agreement that Britain would fund the Free French
FAILURES
- 1940 Operation Catapult: Out of concern about the French fleet falling into the German hands after the establishment of Vichy France 1940, 1297 French servicemen were killed when five ships were sunk by Brits = These actions ensure that future relations with Vichy France were impossible.
- The French saw the British retreat as a betrayal.
- De Gaulle was uncompromising and often uncooperative, and disliked by the Americans, though admired by Churchill. Not a political leader or high-ranking officer (idea of himself as natural leader of post-war France was not accepted by WC & FDR).
- to go would not work closely with the former Vichy leaders in North Africa, which annoyed Roosevelt and embarrassed Churchill.
Which wartime international conferences did Churchill’s attend?
- Atlantic Conference - Argentinian - August 1941 - FDR & WC - ‘Atlantic Charter’
- 1st / 2nd Washington Conferences - January / June 1942 - FDR & WC - ‘Europe First’, UN, North Africa Campaign
- 2nd Moscow Conference - August 1942 - JS & WC - Second Front & Mediterranean Strategy
- Casablanca Conference - January 1943 - WC & FDR & CdG & HG - Italian Campaign, plan to unify French leadership in London (de Gaulle) & Algiers (Giraud)
- Québec Conference - August 1943 - WC & FDR - DDay set for 1944
- Cairo Conference - November 1943 - WC & JK & FDR
- Tehran Conference - Iran - December 1943 - WC & JS & FDR - 1st meeting of The Big Three, date for invasion of northern France
- Fourth Moscow Conference - October 1944 - WC & JS & FDR - post-war spheres of influence in Europe
- Yalta Conference - USSR - February 1945 - WC & FDR & JS - post-war Europe, UN, USSR entry into war with Japan
What were Churchill’s contributions to wartime international conferences?
Churchill attended 16 meetings, Roosevelt 12, Stalin 7 - sheer effort of travel shows PMs energy & determination that Britain should be forefront of decision making. HOWEVER, his conduct at conferences reflected strain on his (especially at his age):
- Moscow 1942, British Ambassador said his ‘“respect for him and faith in him have suffered badly”
- Quebec 1943, Sir Alan Brooke described him as “impossible, temperamental like a film star and peevish like a spoilt child”
- by 1943, contribution lessened as ‘junior partner’ (humiliating putdowns at Tehran)
- judgement became less sure / irresponsible (‘percentages agreement’ threatened relationship with USA - undemocratic and unstatesmanlike “naughty document”
- very real achievement of maintaining anti-Hitler alliance & being flexible enough to accept some unwanted demands for the sake of unity (Atlantic Charter, Yalta agreement & Poland / Soviet prisoners)
The Yalta Conference
February 1945 - Churchill had to face realities of Britain’s position
- Allies couldn’t prevent Russian occupation of Berlin
- Clear evidence about Soviet treatment of Poles in 1940 eastern occupation
BUT Churchill was not getting any support for opposition to USSR demands from USA : little Churchill could do with troops dispersed in Greece, Italy & Western front, & weakened by war = forced to accept division of Germany, return of USSR prisoners of war & revised frontiers of Poland
Churchill’s view on Foreign Policy Immediately after 1945
- Great deal of his thinking on maintaining peace depended on relations outside Europe: committed to ‘Atlantic policy’ (Anglo-American friendship as basis), no abandonment of Empire, supported UN & even gave USSR concessions about representation of some of its republics to ensure its membership
- He was committed to opposing communism where practical (Greece, Turkey) BUT worryingly large votes for communists in Italy & France
- Initially in favour of harsh measure against Germany (fears of repeat of 1919 however when Germany lost land to USSR = resentment could lead to another war?)
- He thought it possible to maintain considerable influence in Mediterranean (close to Egypt / Suez Canal & Asian part of empire / Australian allies) - greater interest in this & Balkans than relationship with Western Europe
- HOWEVER: not clear if USA would continue involvement in Europe (doubt of Anglo-American relationship?) OR if Stalin would stick to Yalta agreement about free elections (hold on occupied territoires strengthened)
What was Churchill’s attitude to post-war Europe?
Zürich September 1946 Speech after Election Loss added to his reputation as a major figure in the European movement (used by supporters & opponents, although he had never been a ‘little englander’)
- Churchill always saw that Europe was central to the defence of the Empire and despised those who thought could opt out of European affairs = greater unity would strengthen Britain’s position and security, especially against communism
What were the problems with Churchill’s attitude to post-war Europe?
- Obligations to UN/Empire, sometimes outweighed benefits.
- In the Anglo-American group, the Commonwealth and Empire group, and the western Europe group, there were those who did not want Britain to dominate.
- Postwar Britain was struggling economically, and defence costs of being a key player were very high.
- Conservative view that great European Union undermined Britain’s traditional freedom of action.
- Churchill’s view was reserved to Western Europe, shown by his view of the division of the ‘Iron Curtain’.
Churchill’s Iron Curtain speech: what was its significance?
March 1946: Fulton, Missouri
- ‘Sinews of Peace’ seen as initiating the Cold War
- Made the phrase ‘Iron Curtain’ famous.
- Enabled West to label Soviet dominated eastern Europe as ‘Iron Curtain countries’.
- Set up image of a real and permanent division.
- Helped to create international tension.
- Seen as a very hostile speech by Stalin.
- Influenced opinion in the USA towards a policy of containment of communism.
- Criticism of the speech as being irresponsible and “poisonous” = protesters outside Churchill’s hotel in New York = Truman did not immediately state his agreement because at the time there was considerable approval for a return to peace and gratitude for sacrifices of USSR.
HOWEVER - USA anti-communist feeling already present (Truman unsympathetic towards communism)
- Churchill also advocated understanding with the USSR, and this is often ignored when the speech is quoted.
