Post by 2nd Bat on Dec 26, 2014 14:39:44 GMT -5
Neville Chamberlain is the much maligned Prime Minister of England who is best known for his myopic concessions to Hitler and unwillingness to take a stand against him as he increasingly took ever bolder and aggressive acts in Western Europe. The most common narrative was that he was weak and naive and his weakness encouraged Hitlers actions.
As is usually the case with such things, the facts might provide another explanation. In the 30s Englands military was tiny and for the most part obsolete. Her economy was coming out of the depression and her industrial capacity to adjust to wartime production was virtually non existant. A prewar study started in 1934 that was top secret at the time and of course available to Neville stated quite soberly that if a full out effort was extended immediately it would be 1939 before the United Kngdom could begin to have a chance against Germany let alone an Axis of Italy, Japan and Germany.
Prime Minister Chmberlain received unhesitant critisism and is ridiculed in History books as leading England like a lamb to slaughter but in fact he may have simply been trying to delay what he knew to be inevitable in a bid to buy England some precious time. Once Prime Minister Churchill took over England. His defiance became legendary and the extreme differences in the two mens persona and actions couldn't have been more pronounced. Neville took over the adurous and critical task of ramping up her industry for military production with primary focus on the RAF which proved to be quite providential.
It is sad that the great dupes of history are often seen in one demension when in fact we are all far more complex than labels and text books might suggest.
As is usually the case with such things, the facts might provide another explanation. In the 30s Englands military was tiny and for the most part obsolete. Her economy was coming out of the depression and her industrial capacity to adjust to wartime production was virtually non existant. A prewar study started in 1934 that was top secret at the time and of course available to Neville stated quite soberly that if a full out effort was extended immediately it would be 1939 before the United Kngdom could begin to have a chance against Germany let alone an Axis of Italy, Japan and Germany.
Prime Minister Chmberlain received unhesitant critisism and is ridiculed in History books as leading England like a lamb to slaughter but in fact he may have simply been trying to delay what he knew to be inevitable in a bid to buy England some precious time. Once Prime Minister Churchill took over England. His defiance became legendary and the extreme differences in the two mens persona and actions couldn't have been more pronounced. Neville took over the adurous and critical task of ramping up her industry for military production with primary focus on the RAF which proved to be quite providential.
It is sad that the great dupes of history are often seen in one demension when in fact we are all far more complex than labels and text books might suggest.