Churchill, Chamberlain and appeasement /

There are few more contrasting historical reputations than those of Winston Churchill and Neville Chamberlain. On the one hand, there is the hero who led Britain in its finest hour when it stood alone against Nazi Germany in 1940. On the other, there is the man of Munich who attempted to appease Hit...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Peden, G. C. (Author)
Format: Book
Language:English
Published: Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, [2023].
Subjects:
Table of Contents:
  • Chamberlain : guilty man?
  • Why historians differ on appeasement
  • Two contrasting personalities
  • Who was who in Whitehall
  • The intelligence services
  • Churchill and Whitehall in the 1930s
  • Measuring power
  • Sea power
  • Air power
  • Land power
  • Defence industries
  • The wider economy
  • Public opinion and national morale
  • Collective security
  • Intelligence and perceptions of power
  • Dealing with the great depression
  • The war debts controversy
  • Manchuria and the end of the ten year rule
  • Disarmament and defence requirements, 1932-34
  • Reshaping grand strategy, 1934
  • Anglo-Japanese relations
  • The German threat increases
  • The Ethiopian crisis
  • Drawing up the rearmament programme
  • The Rhineland crisis and after
  • Rearmament and the role of the army
  • Financing rearmament
  • Relations with the United States and Japan
  • Seeking a general settlement in Europe
  • The Inskip defence review
  • Eden's resignation
  • First reactions to the threat to Czechoslovakia
  • From May 'crisis' to September crisis
  • Berchtesgaden and Godesberg
  • Munich
  • The aftermath of Munich
  • Towards a continental commitment
  • Chamberlain still hoping for the best
  • The end of Czechoslovakia
  • The guarantee to Poland
  • Negotiations with the Soviets
  • Secret contacts with Germans
  • The decision for war
  • The 'phoney war'
  • Norway and the fall of Chamberlain's government
  • Finest hour
  • The limits of British power
  • What would Churchill have done?
  • Would it have been better to fight in 1938?
  • Concluding reflections.