★★★★☆ The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Alone, 1932-40, by William Manchester
When Churchill became Churchill
The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Alone, 1932-40
William Manchester
When Churchill became Churchill
There's something striking about Volume 2 of William Manchester's massive three-volume biography of Winston Churchill, The Last Lion. Volume 1 covers the first 59 years of Churchill's life, 1874-1932 (and in addition spends considerable time on his father). Volume 3 covers his last 26 years, 1940-1965 -- these include the years when he became Prime Minister and was known world-wide. Volume 2, however, encompasses only nine years, 1932-1940. Churchill was out of power for most of this time and, apparently, did little. Why then does Manchester drill down into these years, which he calls Churchill's "Alone" years?
I think that Manchester would answer that, far from being a time of inactivity, the alone years were the most important of Churchill's life. These years, of course, were the years in which Hitler first became Chancellor (Kanzler, the chief executive) of Germany. During this time he built Germany into the almost unstoppable military power it became and began to annex other nations. As always happens, people were reluctant to believe that things would get as bad as they eventually would. Famously, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain signed an agreement with Hitler that essentially gave him a free hand to take over Czechoslovakia, famously remarking on his return to London, "I believe it is peace for our time." This was 1938.
Churchill was one of few who voted against the Munich Agreement in Parliament, calling it "a total and unmitigated defeat". He, alone among the government, knew that Hitler would inevitably make war. Manchester shows that he knew this in part because he had access to secret intelligence about Germany's arms build-up. As it became obvious to the public in 1939 and 1940 that Churchill and only Churchill had had Hitler's number all along, he was returned to power.
Although largely free of the derring-do of Volume 1 and the huge battles of Volume 3, Alone is thrilling in the quiet, more cerebral way of a person who wins a battle of ideas.
The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Alone, 1932-40 on Amazon