Churchill
Unit 1: Churchill’s view of events
Churchill was out of office from 1929-1939 due to a various list of reasons. These include:
Previous reputation
Views on abdication
Outdated view on India
Opposition to appeasement
Campaigning for rearmament
These range of factors help contribute to why Churchill was voted out of office.
In 1935, Stanley Baldwin was Conservative leader and PM of Britain. The following year in December
1936 was one reason why Churchill was in the political wilderness. This was because of the
abdication crisis of King Edward VIII which was a constitutional catastrophe. He was a ‘neurotic’
prince who led a playboy lifestyle and was very much interested in parties and amusing events. This
playboy lifestyle led him to meet second divorcee Wallis Simpson in America. His obsession with her
grew over time until he wished to marry her, and obviously, this caused a critical obstacle for him
provided the fact that she was divorced twice, which the public looked down upon. Since the King
was also the Head of the Church of England, it was expected of him to lead a moral life and after the
first world war, the value of kingship rose to its peak. When Simpson was divorced for the second
time, Edward asked Lord Beaverbrook, the head of the Daily Express, to produce a news blackout,
which would pave the way into their marriage. This was successful, however, rumours of their affair
leaked into American newspapers and so the King’s Party was formed. This consisted of Edward VIII,
Churchill and Lord Beaverbrook who campaigned against the crisis and as a result, a ‘morganatic
marriage’ was the solution. This stipulated that they would marry, but Wallis Simpson wouldn’t be
the Queen of England. When Stanley Baldwin was informed of this, he believed this wouldn’t work to
appease the public as he thought he was more aware of public opinion. As a result, he was proved
correct, and King Edward VIII abdicated the throne. This severely damaged Churchill’s reputation
because he lost all his political credibility at a time of the rearmament struggle. He was mocked and
shouted down in the House of Commons.
Churchill’s view on India was seen as outdated. He believed Empire in India was beneficial and that
Britain helped India e.g. the tensions and conflict between different religious groups and cultures,
and that India helped Britain such as through trade and status. However, the public was much more
sympathetic towards India, and so were the Labour and Conservative leader Stanley Baldwin. They
believed it was time to grant India dominion status, whereby they would be self- governed due to the
work of Gandhi and the salt march in 1930 as well as Nehru and the fact that Britain granted self-
governance to the Irish Free State in 1922 meant that it was harder to deny India dominion status.
Churchill fell out with his own party members and even his leader and PM over the 1935
Government of India Act where India gained dominion status. These differing views meant he was
out of office, and his views were seen as outdated, which wasn’t helpful during the changing political
landscape.
From the start of the 1930s, Churchill was consistently condemning German expansionism and
rearmament process. This first began in 1933 when Germany left the League of Nations which was
devoted to peace and not war. In 1935, the Rhineland is remilitarised, which resulted in the 1935
Anglo- German naval treaty, which stated that Germany could have a naval fleet, provided it was 35%
, of Britain’s. Hitler was devoted to his rearmament programme as he restarted military conscription
so that all young men have to serve a period in the army and by 1939, 1.36 million men were in this
programme. In 1935, 5.4 billion marks were spent on rearming, and this doubled to 10.2 billion
marks in 1936 which covered the cost and manufacturing of airplanes, submarines and war fleets.
Britain, France and Italy formed the Stresa Front to condemn German rearmament.
Although Churchill campaigned for rearmament in the 1930’s this was at the time of the Ten-Year
Rule (1919,1928) where the army didn’t expect to fight in another war for the next 10 years. This was
extended in 1928. The Great Depression meant that the GDP fell by 5% which meant that funding for
the army was very little and not a priority. Growing external threats were present such as Spain (Civil
War), Italy invading Abyssinia and Japan’s invasion of Manchuria which made rearmament difficult to
impose. As well as this, the public didn’t want another war due to the trauma of WW1. Thus, the
Defence Requirements Sub- Committee was formed which made reports delivered to the Cabinet,
however it was difficult to impose since the Treasury limited the funds and there was little skilled
labour.
Then, Germany aimed to hold Sudetenland which would have made them defenceless since this land
had allies with the USSR and France. Thus, the Munich Conference in October 1938 was formed by
Mussolini which Chamberlain – British PM- negotiated with Hitler. If he held Sudetenland, then there
had to be a promise of peace. “Peace in our time” as he called it. Germany broke the Munich
Conference by invading Bohemia and Moravia and drafting up the Nazi Soviet Pact to invade Poland
without any interference.
Britain then declares war on Germany forming the allies with France and later, Russia, USA. Axis
forces included Germany, Japan and Italy.
Churchill is promoted back to the First Lord of the Admiralty, in charge of the army and a crucial
figure in WW2.
Even though war was declared, the Second World War was initially referred to as the Phoney War
because there was little activity on land and in the air. Little in the way of actual fighting which
seemed unrealistic for a World War.
A year later in 1940, Norway was proved strategically important to both the Allies and Germany
because of the huge iron deposits in Norway and northern Sweden. Whoever obtained these
deposits would definitely have the advantage of winning the war. Allies agreed to violate Norway’s
neutrality to stop Hitler from getting these deposits so they agreed to mine German waters, and
France would move its forces into Sweden. On the 9 th of April 1940, Germany prevented an Allied
move by invading Norway and launching attacks on Belgium, France, Luxembourg and the
Netherlands. Germany invaded Norway by land and sea and quickly occupied Oslo, Bergen,
Trondheim and Navik. It was a failure that revived memories of Gallipoli in WW1.
Unit 1: Churchill’s view of events
Churchill was out of office from 1929-1939 due to a various list of reasons. These include:
Previous reputation
Views on abdication
Outdated view on India
Opposition to appeasement
Campaigning for rearmament
These range of factors help contribute to why Churchill was voted out of office.
In 1935, Stanley Baldwin was Conservative leader and PM of Britain. The following year in December
1936 was one reason why Churchill was in the political wilderness. This was because of the
abdication crisis of King Edward VIII which was a constitutional catastrophe. He was a ‘neurotic’
prince who led a playboy lifestyle and was very much interested in parties and amusing events. This
playboy lifestyle led him to meet second divorcee Wallis Simpson in America. His obsession with her
grew over time until he wished to marry her, and obviously, this caused a critical obstacle for him
provided the fact that she was divorced twice, which the public looked down upon. Since the King
was also the Head of the Church of England, it was expected of him to lead a moral life and after the
first world war, the value of kingship rose to its peak. When Simpson was divorced for the second
time, Edward asked Lord Beaverbrook, the head of the Daily Express, to produce a news blackout,
which would pave the way into their marriage. This was successful, however, rumours of their affair
leaked into American newspapers and so the King’s Party was formed. This consisted of Edward VIII,
Churchill and Lord Beaverbrook who campaigned against the crisis and as a result, a ‘morganatic
marriage’ was the solution. This stipulated that they would marry, but Wallis Simpson wouldn’t be
the Queen of England. When Stanley Baldwin was informed of this, he believed this wouldn’t work to
appease the public as he thought he was more aware of public opinion. As a result, he was proved
correct, and King Edward VIII abdicated the throne. This severely damaged Churchill’s reputation
because he lost all his political credibility at a time of the rearmament struggle. He was mocked and
shouted down in the House of Commons.
Churchill’s view on India was seen as outdated. He believed Empire in India was beneficial and that
Britain helped India e.g. the tensions and conflict between different religious groups and cultures,
and that India helped Britain such as through trade and status. However, the public was much more
sympathetic towards India, and so were the Labour and Conservative leader Stanley Baldwin. They
believed it was time to grant India dominion status, whereby they would be self- governed due to the
work of Gandhi and the salt march in 1930 as well as Nehru and the fact that Britain granted self-
governance to the Irish Free State in 1922 meant that it was harder to deny India dominion status.
Churchill fell out with his own party members and even his leader and PM over the 1935
Government of India Act where India gained dominion status. These differing views meant he was
out of office, and his views were seen as outdated, which wasn’t helpful during the changing political
landscape.
From the start of the 1930s, Churchill was consistently condemning German expansionism and
rearmament process. This first began in 1933 when Germany left the League of Nations which was
devoted to peace and not war. In 1935, the Rhineland is remilitarised, which resulted in the 1935
Anglo- German naval treaty, which stated that Germany could have a naval fleet, provided it was 35%
, of Britain’s. Hitler was devoted to his rearmament programme as he restarted military conscription
so that all young men have to serve a period in the army and by 1939, 1.36 million men were in this
programme. In 1935, 5.4 billion marks were spent on rearming, and this doubled to 10.2 billion
marks in 1936 which covered the cost and manufacturing of airplanes, submarines and war fleets.
Britain, France and Italy formed the Stresa Front to condemn German rearmament.
Although Churchill campaigned for rearmament in the 1930’s this was at the time of the Ten-Year
Rule (1919,1928) where the army didn’t expect to fight in another war for the next 10 years. This was
extended in 1928. The Great Depression meant that the GDP fell by 5% which meant that funding for
the army was very little and not a priority. Growing external threats were present such as Spain (Civil
War), Italy invading Abyssinia and Japan’s invasion of Manchuria which made rearmament difficult to
impose. As well as this, the public didn’t want another war due to the trauma of WW1. Thus, the
Defence Requirements Sub- Committee was formed which made reports delivered to the Cabinet,
however it was difficult to impose since the Treasury limited the funds and there was little skilled
labour.
Then, Germany aimed to hold Sudetenland which would have made them defenceless since this land
had allies with the USSR and France. Thus, the Munich Conference in October 1938 was formed by
Mussolini which Chamberlain – British PM- negotiated with Hitler. If he held Sudetenland, then there
had to be a promise of peace. “Peace in our time” as he called it. Germany broke the Munich
Conference by invading Bohemia and Moravia and drafting up the Nazi Soviet Pact to invade Poland
without any interference.
Britain then declares war on Germany forming the allies with France and later, Russia, USA. Axis
forces included Germany, Japan and Italy.
Churchill is promoted back to the First Lord of the Admiralty, in charge of the army and a crucial
figure in WW2.
Even though war was declared, the Second World War was initially referred to as the Phoney War
because there was little activity on land and in the air. Little in the way of actual fighting which
seemed unrealistic for a World War.
A year later in 1940, Norway was proved strategically important to both the Allies and Germany
because of the huge iron deposits in Norway and northern Sweden. Whoever obtained these
deposits would definitely have the advantage of winning the war. Allies agreed to violate Norway’s
neutrality to stop Hitler from getting these deposits so they agreed to mine German waters, and
France would move its forces into Sweden. On the 9 th of April 1940, Germany prevented an Allied
move by invading Norway and launching attacks on Belgium, France, Luxembourg and the
Netherlands. Germany invaded Norway by land and sea and quickly occupied Oslo, Bergen,
Trondheim and Navik. It was a failure that revived memories of Gallipoli in WW1.
