A different take on Sir Neville Chamberlain

[rotton50]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/books/ ... ready.html

[Moggy]

These arguments are endless. Chamberlain's burden was that he had seen the first war, lost friends and relatives in it, and wanted to do everything possible to avoid a second. Unfortunately this probably increased his determination to do a deal with Hitler despite wiser heads telling him that Adolf couldn't be trusted.

As for war preparedness in 1938, it can scarcely be laid at Churchill's feet. Yes he was a useless Finance Minister in the 1920s, but any other tory in that position would done the same because the country was not only functionally bankrupt after WWI, but heavily in debt. Churchill was out of office after the 1920s, and from the early 30s onward was warning about a revived Germany and the need for rearmament.

Meanwhile a noxious combination of a tory government comitted to cutting public spending, and a Labour opposition led by a fundamentalist pacifist, ensured that no effective rearmament took place until after the 1935 election, and little enough then.

But it still arguable whether in 1938, if there had been war over the Sudatenland, Germany, despite its crash rearmament, would have been in any better position than Britain/France to fight a Eurooean war. Hitler's advisors were telling him to hold off until 1942/43 when the running rearmament programmes would have come to fruition.

But Hitler scented weakness. Despite Chamberlain's ample experience by late 1939 of Hitler's version of diplomacy, his heart was not in fighting a war, and the same might be said of much of the French establishment who had a greater fear of Bolshevism. Had Chamberlain remained in office, or even been replaced by hus close political colleague Lord Halifax, some sort of compromise deal might gave been entered into. Once Churchill was Prime Minister, that outcome was effectively impossible.

[rotton50]

Thanks for that. Brit politics is obviously not my strong point.

I will say, I think I'll go easy on the "sniveling coward" Chamberlain narrative from now on.

[Moggy]

I will say, I think I'll go easy on the "sniveling coward" Chamberlain narrative from now on.

That's fair. He did his very best to try and avoid a war that he thought would be calimitous for all concerned.