Churchill Notes from Richard Overy: How the Allies Won

Richard Overy

How The Allies Won

The churchill bits

Churchill’s political authority pp 323

Churchill differed from Stalin and Roosevelt in a number of ways.

•       He was the only wartime leader, on either side, who was appointed during the conflict.

•       He was a leader ‘by the grace of Parliament’ ... ‘Churchill was a chief minister, responsible to the Commons.’

“Personality carried him a long way. He was so much larger than life, it is difficult for the historian to judge the true dimensions of his leadership. Canonised as the saviour of western civilisation, vilified as the flawed commander who diminished the empire he led, Churchill defies neutrality.”

pp 323-24: Quick potted biography of Churchill.

“In 1900 he entered Parliament as a Conservative; four years later he changed sides in time to profit from the Liberal landslide of 1905. Twenty years later he switched back to his old party. In the meantime he was in and out of high office. In 1910, at the age of only 36, he became Home Secretary; a year later he was moved to the Admiralty, where he masterminded the Dardanelles campaign in 1915. The calamitous failure of the enterprise Churchill his job, and almost ended his political career.”

... Except for a brief…