Five Days in London, May 1940

Five Days in London, May 1940 PDF Author: John Lukacs
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300180918
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 389

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Book Description
A “gripping [and] splendidly readable” portrait of the battle within the British War Cabinet—and Churchill’s eventual victory—as Hitler’s shadow loomed (The Boston Globe). From May 24 to May 28, 1940, members of Britain’s War Cabinet debated whether to negotiate with Hitler or to continue what became known as the Second World War. In this magisterial work, John Lukacs takes us hour by hour into the critical events at 10 Downing Street, where Winston Churchill and his cabinet painfully considered their responsibilities. With the unfolding of the disaster at Dunkirk, and Churchill being in office for just two weeks and treated with derision by many, he did not have an easy time making his case—but the people of Britain were increasingly on his side, and he would prevail. This compelling narrative, a Washington Post bestseller, is the first to convey the drama and world-changing importance of those days. “[A] fascinating work of historical reconstruction.”—The Wall Street Journal “Eminent historian Lukacs delivers the crown jewel to his long and distinguished career.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) “A must for every World War II buff.”—Cleveland Plain Dealer “Superb…can be compared to such classics as Hugh Trevor-Roper’s The Last Days of Hitler and Barbara Tuchman’s The Guns of August.”—Harper’s Magazine

Five Days in London, May 1940

Five Days in London, May 1940 PDF Author: John Lukacs
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300180918
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 389

Get Book Here

Book Description
A “gripping [and] splendidly readable” portrait of the battle within the British War Cabinet—and Churchill’s eventual victory—as Hitler’s shadow loomed (The Boston Globe). From May 24 to May 28, 1940, members of Britain’s War Cabinet debated whether to negotiate with Hitler or to continue what became known as the Second World War. In this magisterial work, John Lukacs takes us hour by hour into the critical events at 10 Downing Street, where Winston Churchill and his cabinet painfully considered their responsibilities. With the unfolding of the disaster at Dunkirk, and Churchill being in office for just two weeks and treated with derision by many, he did not have an easy time making his case—but the people of Britain were increasingly on his side, and he would prevail. This compelling narrative, a Washington Post bestseller, is the first to convey the drama and world-changing importance of those days. “[A] fascinating work of historical reconstruction.”—The Wall Street Journal “Eminent historian Lukacs delivers the crown jewel to his long and distinguished career.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) “A must for every World War II buff.”—Cleveland Plain Dealer “Superb…can be compared to such classics as Hugh Trevor-Roper’s The Last Days of Hitler and Barbara Tuchman’s The Guns of August.”—Harper’s Magazine

May 1940

May 1940 PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004187278
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 496

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Book Description
In May 1940, the Netherlands were overrun by German armed forces. The five-day campaign might seem to be a prime example of Blitzkrieg, which led shortly afterwards to the rapid and unexpected overthrow of France. This book, based on the newest scholarly research, argues that this is too simple a view. Even though the German assault on the Netherlands made use of tanks, aircraft and airborne troops, it was still a classic campaign against a weak opponent in a theater on the margins of Fall Gelb. In many instances, artillery and infantry were the decisive factors and it is debatable whether the bombing of Rotterdam can be seen as a precursor to the aerial terror campaigns against civilian populations that marked the later stages the Second World War. Contributors are H. Amersfoort, H.W. van den Doel, P.H. Kamphuis, P.M.J. de Koster, C.M. Schulten and J.W.M. Schulten.

Churchill

Churchill PDF Author: John Lukacs
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 9780300103021
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 222

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Book Description
"Each chapter of this book provides an essential portrait of Churchill at the height of his powers. In addition to vividly depicting his relationships with Stalin, Roosevelt, Eisenhower, and other world leaders, Lukacs reflects on Churchill's ability to foresee the coming of World War II and the Cold War; he weighs Churchill's stature as a historian looking backward at the conflicts of which he was so much a part; and he examines the often contradictory ways Churchill has been perceived by critics and admirers alike. The last chapter is a powerful and deeply moving evocation of the three days Lukacs spent in London attending Churchill's funeral in 1965, and it offers a final assessment of Churchill's place in history through the prism of the varied individuals who came to honor him after his death. In Churchill: Visionary. Statesman. Historian., Luckacs sets forth the essence of this towering figure with consummate mastery."--BOOK JACKET.

Five Days In Philadelphia

Five Days In Philadelphia PDF Author: Charles Peters
Publisher: PublicAffairs
ISBN: 9781586481124
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
There were four strong contenders when the Republican party met in June of 1940 in Philadelphia to nominate its candidate for president: the crusading young attorney and rising Republican star Tom Dewey, solid members of the Republican establishment Robert Taft and Arthur Vandenberg, and dark horse Wendell Willkie, utilities executive, favorite of the literati and only very recently even a Republican. The leading Republican candidates campaigned as isolationists. The charismatic Willkie, newcomer and upstager, was a liberal interventionist, just as anti-Hitler as FDR. After five days of floor rallies, telegrams from across the country, multiple ballots, rousing speeches, backroom deals, terrifying international news, and, most of all, the relentless chanting of "We Want Willkie" from the gallery, Willkie walked away with the nomination. The story of how this happened — and of how essential his nomination would prove in allowing FDR to save Britain and prepare this country for entry into World War II — is all told in Charles Peters' Five Days in Philadelphia. As Peters shows, these five action-packed days and their improbable outcome were as important as the Battle of Britain in defeating the Nazis.

Never Surrender

Never Surrender PDF Author: John Kelly
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1476727996
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
“WWII scholar John Kelly triumphs again” (Vanity Fair) in this remarkably vivid account of a key moment in Western history: The critical six months in 1940 when Winston Churchill debated whether England should fight Nazi Germany—and then decided to “never surrender.” London in April, 1940, is a place of great fear and conflict. The Germans have taken Poland, France, Holland, Belgium, and Czechoslovakia. The Nazi war machine now menaces Britain, even as America remains uncommitted to providing military aid. Should Britain negotiate with Germany? The members of the War Cabinet bicker, yell, and are divided. Churchill, leading the faction to fight, and Lord Halifax, cautioning that prudence is the way to survive, attempt to usurp one another by any means possible. In Never Surrender, we feel we are alongside these complex and imperfect men, determining the fate of the British Empire, and perhaps, the world. Drawing on the War Cabinet papers, other government documents, private diaries, newspaper accounts, and memoirs, historian John Kelly tells the story of the summer of 1940. Kelly takes readers from the battlefield to Parliament, to the government ministries, to the British high command, to the desperate Anglo-French conference in Paris and London, to the American embassy in London, and to life with the ordinary Britons. We see Churchill seize the historical moment and ultimately inspire his government, military, and people to fight. Kelly brings to life one of the most heroic moments of the twentieth century and intimately portrays some of its largest players—Churchill, Lord Halifax, Hitler, FDR, Joe Kennedy, and others. Never Surrender is a fabulous, grand narrative of a crucial period in World War II and the men and women who shaped it. “For lovers of minute-by-minute history, it’s a feast” (Huffington Post).

The Battle of Britain

The Battle of Britain PDF Author: James Holland
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 0312675003
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 736

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Book Description
"First published in Great Britain by Bantam Press"--T.p. verso.

Churchill, Hitler, and "The Unnecessary War"

Churchill, Hitler, and Author: Patrick J. Buchanan
Publisher: Forum Books
ISBN: 0307405168
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 546

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Book Description
Were World Wars I and II inevitable? Were they necessary wars? Or were they products of calamitous failures of judgment? In this monumental and provocative history, Patrick Buchanan makes the case that, if not for the blunders of British statesmen– Winston Churchill first among them–the horrors of two world wars and the Holocaust might have been avoided and the British Empire might never have collapsed into ruins. Half a century of murderous oppression of scores of millions under the iron boot of Communist tyranny might never have happened, and Europe’s central role in world affairs might have been sustained for many generations. Among the British and Churchillian errors were: • The secret decision of a tiny cabal in the inner Cabinet in 1906 to take Britain straight to war against Germany, should she invade France • The vengeful Treaty of Versailles that mutilated Germany, leaving her bitter, betrayed, and receptive to the appeal of Adolf Hitler • Britain’s capitulation, at Churchill’s urging, to American pressure to sever the Anglo-Japanese alliance, insulting and isolating Japan, pushing her onto the path of militarism and conquest • The greatest mistake in British history: the unsolicited war guarantee to Poland of March 1939, ensuring the Second World War Certain to create controversy and spirited argument, Churchill, Hitler, and “the Unnecessary War” is a grand and bold insight into the historic failures of judgment that ended centuries of European rule and guaranteed a future no one who lived in that vanished world could ever have envisioned.

Six Minutes in May

Six Minutes in May PDF Author: Nicholas Shakespeare
Publisher: Harvill Secker
ISBN: 9781846559730
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 528

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Book Description
London, early May 1940: Britain is on the brink of war and Neville Chamberlain's government is about to fall. It is hard for us to imagine the Second World War without Winston Churchill taking over at the helm, but in SIX MINUTES IN MAY Nicholas Shakespeare shows how easily events could have gone in a different direction. The first land battle of the war was fought in the far north, in Norway. It went disastrously for the Allies and many blamed Churchill. Yet weeks later he would rise to the most powerful post in the country, overtaking Chamberlain and the favourite to succeed him, Lord Halifax. It took just six minutes for MPs to cast the votes that brought down Chamberlain. Shakespeare shows us both the dramatic action on the battlefield in Norway and the machinations and personal relationships in Westminster that led up to this crucial point. Uncovering fascinating new research and delving deep into the backgrounds of the key players, he has given us a new perspective on this critical moment in our history.

Cabinet's Finest Hour

Cabinet's Finest Hour PDF Author: David Owen
Publisher: Haus Publishing
ISBN: 1910376590
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 400

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Book Description
In May 1940, the British War Cabinet debated over the course of nine meetings a simple question: Should Britain fight on in the face of overwhelming odds, sacrificing hundreds of thousands of lives, or seek a negotiated peace? Using Cabinet papers from the United Kingdom’s National Archives, David Owen illuminates in fascinating detail this little-known, yet pivotal, chapter in the history of World War II. Eight months into the war, defeat seemed to many a certainty. With the United States still a year and half away from entering, Britain found itself in a perilous position, and foreign secretary Lord Halifax pushed prime minister Winston Churchill to explore the possibility of a negotiated peace with Hitler, using Mussolini as a conduit. Speaking for England is the story of Churchill’s triumph in the face of this pressure, but it is also about how collective debate and discussion won the day—had Churchill been alone, Owen argues, he would almost certainly have lost to Halifax, changing the course of history. Instead, the Cabinet system, all too often disparaged as messy and cumbersome, worked in Britain’s interests and ensured that a democracy on the brink of defeat had the courage to fight on.

Never Give In!

Never Give In! PDF Author: Sir Winston S. Churchill
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1472527518
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 624

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Book Description
A great statesmen, a masterful historian whose writings won him the Nobel Prize for literature and a war-time leader with few peers, Sir Winston Churchill is remembered perhaps most clearly today for the sheer power of his oratory: the speeches that rallied a nation in its darkest hour and steeled that nation for victory against the might of the Fascist powers. Never Give In! celebrates this oratory by gathering together Churchill's most powerful speeches from throughout his public career. Carefully selected by his grandson, this collection includes all his best known speeches - from his great war-time broadcasts to the "Iron Curtain" speech that heralded the start of the Cold War - and many lesser known but inspirational pieces. In a single volume Never Give In! provides a powerful testimony to one of the great public figures of the 20th century.