Ministers At War

Author : Jonathan Schneer
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 352 pages
File Size : 53,6 Mb
Release : 2015-03-19
Category : History
ISBN : 9781780746142

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Ministers at War by Jonathan Schneer Pdf

After the defeat of France in May 1940, only one nation stood between Nazi Germany and total domination of Europe – Britain. This is the gripping story of Winston Churchill’s wartime government, an emergency coalition of Conservatives, Labour, Liberals and men of no party, assembled to see Britain through the war. A chronicle not only of their successful efforts to work together but also of quarrels, power plays, unexpected alliances and intrigue, it is an account of the most important political narrative of our time. With a cast of characters featuring some of the most famous names in twentieth-century British history, including Bevin, Attlee, Chamberlain, Beaverbrook, Morrison, Eden, Cripps – and of course Winston Churchill – this magisterial work provides a unique view of the inner machinations of Britain’s wartime cabinet. Dispelling that the War Cabinet constituted an unbreakable 'band of brothers', award-winning historian Jonathan Schneer reveals that this ensemble of political titans were in fact a ‘team of rivals’ that included four Prime Ministers – past, present and future. Both illuminating and engrossing, Ministers at War is the first work to draw upon original research to present a previously unseen perspective of British politics during and after World War II. Schneer shows us that just as the war had kept them together, the prospect of peace saw this supposedly unbreakable band fall apart, thus providing a fascinating insight into the birth of the Welfare State.

Author : Jonathan Schneer
Publisher : Basic Books
Page : 352 pages
File Size : 54,8 Mb
Release : 2015-04-14
Category : History
ISBN : 9780465040582

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Ministers at War by Jonathan Schneer Pdf

In May 1940, with France on the verge of defeat, Britain alone stood in the path of the Nazi military juggernaut. Survival seemed to hinge on the leadership of Winston Churchill, whom the King reluctantly appointed Prime Minister as Germany invaded France. Churchill's reputation as one of the great twentieth-century leaders would be forged during the coming months and years, as he worked tirelessly first to rally his country and then to defeat Hitler. But Churchill -- regarded as the savior of his nation, and of the entire continent -- could not have done it alone. As prize-winning historian Jonathan Schneer reveals in Ministers at War, Churchill depended on a team of powerful ministers to manage the war effort as he rallied a beleaguered nation. Selecting men from across the political spectrum -- from fellow Conservative Anthony Eden to leader of the opposing socialist Labor Party Clement Attlee -- Churchill assembled a War Cabinet that balanced competing interests and bolstered support for his national coalition government. The group possessed a potent blend of talent, ambition, and egotism. Led and encouraged by Churchill, the ministers largely set aside their differences, at least at first. As the war progressed, discord began to grow. It reached a peak in 1945: with victory seemingly assured, Churchill was forced by his Minsters at War to dissolve the Government and call a General Election, which, in a shocking upset, he lost to his rival Attlee. Authoritatively recasting our understanding of British high politics during World War II, Schneer shows that Churchill managed the war effort by managing his team of supremely able yet contentious cabinet members. The outcome of the war lay not only in Churchill's individual brilliance but also in his skill as an executive, and in the collective ability of men who muted their personal interests to save the world from barbarism.

Author : Damien Lewis
Publisher : Quercus
Page : 372 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 2015-09-08
Category : History
ISBN : 9781623659196

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The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare by Damien Lewis Pdf

From the award-winning historian, war reporter, and author Damien Lewis (Zero Six Bravo, Judy) comes the incredible true story of the top-secret "butcher-and-bolt" black ops units Prime Minister Winston Churchill assigned the task of stopping the unstoppable German war machine. Criminals, rogues, and survivalists, the brutal tactics and grit of these "deniables" would define a military unit the likes of which the world had never seen. When France fell to the Nazis in spring 1940, Churchill declared that Britain would resist the advance of the German army--alone if necessary. Churchill commanded the Special Operations Executive to secretly develop of a very special kind of military unit that would operate on their own initiative deep behind enemy lines. The units would be licensed to kill, fully deniable by the British government, and a ruthless force to meet the advancing Germans. The very first of these "butcher-and-bolt" units--the innocuously named Maid Honour Force--was led by Gus March-Phillipps, a wild British eccentric of high birth, and an aristocratic, handsome, and bloodthirsty young Danish warrior, Anders Lassen. Amped up on amphetamines, these assorted renegades and sociopaths undertook the very first of Churchill's special operations--a top-secret, high-stakes mission to seize Nazi shipping in the far-distant port of Fernando Po, in West Africa. Though few of these early desperadoes survived WWII, they took part in a series of fascinating, daring missions that changed the course of the war. It was the first stirrings of the modern special-ops team, and all of the men involved would be declared war heroes when it was all over. The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare focuses on a dozen of these extraordinary men, weaving their stories of brotherhood, comradely, and elite soldiering into a gripping narrative yarn, from the earliest missions to Anders Lassen's tragic death, just weeks before the end of the war.

Author : John Archibald Fairlie
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 40 pages
File Size : 43,7 Mb
Release : 1918
Category : Cabinet officers
ISBN : WISC:89080099559

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British War Cabinets by John Archibald Fairlie Pdf

Author : England
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 50 pages
File Size : 53,9 Mb
Release : 1791
Category : Europe
ISBN : BL:A0019431018

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Considerations on the Approach of War, and the Conduct of His Majesty's Ministers by England Pdf

Author : Giles Milton
Publisher : Picador
Page : 368 pages
File Size : 54,8 Mb
Release : 2017-02-07
Category : History
ISBN : 9781250119049

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Churchill's Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare by Giles Milton Pdf

Six gentlemen, one goal: the destruction of Hitler's war machine In the spring of 1939, a top-secret organization was founded in London: its purpose was to plot the destruction of Hitler's war machine through spectacular acts of sabotage. The guerrilla campaign that followed was every bit as extraordinary as the six men who directed it. One of them, Cecil Clarke, was a maverick engineer who had spent the 1930s inventing futuristic caravans. Now, his talents were put to more devious use: he built the dirty bomb used to assassinate Hitler's favorite, Reinhard Heydrich. Another, William Fairbairn, was a portly pensioner with an unusual passion: he was the world's leading expert in silent killing, hired to train the guerrillas being parachuted behind enemy lines. Led by dapper Scotsman Colin Gubbins, these men—along with three others—formed a secret inner circle that, aided by a group of formidable ladies, single-handedly changed the course Second World War: a cohort hand-picked by Winston Churchill, whom he called his Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. Giles Milton's Churchill's Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is a gripping and vivid narrative of adventure and derring-do that is also, perhaps, the last great untold story of the Second World War.

Author : Robert Teigrob
Publisher : University of Toronto Press
Page : 313 pages
File Size : 42,8 Mb
Release : 2019-05-23
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9781487505509

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Four Days in Hitler’s Germany by Robert Teigrob Pdf

In 1937, Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King travelled to Nazi Germany in an attempt to prevent a war that, to many observers, seemed inevitable. The men King communed with in Berlin, including Adolf Hitler, assured him of the Nazi regime's peaceful intentions, and King not only found their pledges sincere, but even hoped for personal friendships with many of the regime's top officials. Four Days in Hitler's Germany is a clearly written and engaging story that reveals why King believed that the greatest threat to peace would come from those individuals who intended to thwart the Nazi agenda, which as King saw it, was concerned primarily with justifiable German territorial and diplomatic readjustments. Mackenzie King was certainly not alone in misreading the omens in the 1930s, but it would be difficult to find a democratic leader who missed the mark by a wider margin. This book seeks to explain the sources and outcomes of King's misperceptions and diplomatic failures, and follows him as he returns to Germany to tour the appalling aftermath of the very war he had tried to prevent.

Author : Allen Packwood
Publisher : Grub Street Publishers
Page : 374 pages
File Size : 46,9 Mb
Release : 2018-10-30
Category : History
ISBN : 9781473893917

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How Churchill Waged War by Allen Packwood Pdf

An analytical investigation into Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s decision-making process during every stage of World War II. When Winston Churchill accepted the position of Prime Minister in May 1940, he insisted in also becoming Minister of Defence. This, though, meant that he alone would be responsible for the success or failure of Britain’s war effort. It also meant that he would be faced with many monumental challenges and utterly crucial decisions upon which the fate of Britain and the free world rested. With the limited resources available to the UK, Churchill had to pinpoint where his country’s priorities lay. He had to respond to the collapse of France, decide if Britain should adopt a defensive or offensive strategy, choose if Egypt and the war in North Africa should take precedence over Singapore and the UK’s empire in the East, determine how much support to give the Soviet Union, and how much power to give the United States in controlling the direction of the war. In this insightful investigation into Churchill’s conduct during the Second World War, Allen Packwood, BA, MPhil (Cantab), FRHistS, the Director of the Churchill Archives Centre, enables the reader to share the agonies and uncertainties faced by Churchill at each crucial stage of the war. How Churchill responded to each challenge is analyzed in great detail and the conclusions Packwood draws are as uncompromising as those made by Britain’s wartime leader as he negotiated his country through its darkest days.

Author : Patrice Dutil
Publisher : UBC Press
Page : 541 pages
File Size : 50,8 Mb
Release : 2020-11-01
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780774864053

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The Unexpected Louis St-Laurent by Patrice Dutil Pdf

Much of Canada’s modern identity emerged from the innovative social policies and ambitious foreign policy of Louis St-Laurent’s Liberal government. His extraordinarily creative administration made decisions that still resonate today: on health care, pensions, and housing; on infrastructure and intergovernmental issues; and, further afield, in developing Canada’s global middle-power role in global affairs and resolving the Suez Crisis. Yet St-Laurent remains an enigmatic figure. The Unexpected Louis St-Laurent fills a great void in Canadian political history, bringing together well-established and new scholars to investigate the far-reaching influence of a politician whose astute policies and bold resolve moved Canada into the modern era.

Author : James A. Wood
Publisher : UBC Press
Page : 368 pages
File Size : 50,9 Mb
Release : 2010
Category : History
ISBN : 9780774817653

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Militia Myths by James A. Wood Pdf

The image of farmers and workers called to the colours endures in Canada’s social memory of the First World War. But is the ideal of being a citizen first and a soldier only by necessity as recent as our histories and memories suggest? Militia Myths brings to light a military culture that consistently employed the citizen soldier as its foremost symbol, but was otherwise in a state of profound transition. At the time of Confederation, the defence of Canada itself represented the country’s only real obligation to the British Empire, but by the early twentieth century Canadians were already fighting an imperial war in South Africa. In 1914, they began raising an army to fight on the Western Front. By the end of the First World War, the ideological transition was complete: for better or for worse, the untrained civilian who had answered the call-to-arms in 1914 replaced the long-serving volunteer militiaman of the past as the archetypical Canadian citizen soldier. Militia Myths traces the evolution of a uniquely Canadian amateur military tradition -- one that has had an enormous impact on the country’s experience of the First and Second World Wars. Published in association with the Canadian War Museum.

Author : Hermann Christlieb Matthäus von Stein
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 282 pages
File Size : 54,9 Mb
Release : 1920
Category : Cabinet officers
ISBN : UOM:39015008708292

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A War Minister and His Work by Hermann Christlieb Matthäus von Stein Pdf

Author : Keith Dowding,Patrick Dumont
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 283 pages
File Size : 45,8 Mb
Release : 2008-11-19
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781134085361

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The Selection of Ministers in Europe by Keith Dowding,Patrick Dumont Pdf

This volume discusses the formation of government cabinets within twenty European democracies, providing the institutional background to the selection and de-selection of ministers. Exploring the historical and constitutional context to cabinet formation, this volume proceeds to provide vital data on the strategic issues that affect the selection of ministers. Covering states from all over Europe, the authors examine trends from the post-war period up to the present day, with specific focus on recent decades for the newer democracies in political transition. The volume includes: pioneering new research into the hiring and firing of government ministers vital information on appointments, dismissals and resignations within government cabinets succinct constitutional data relating to ministerial selections across a number of European states The book is the first output of the Selection and De-selection of Political Elites international network of scholars (SEDEPE) and will provide a major source of information for all scholars interested in the formation, maintenance and termination of cabinets and the nature of ministerial government. The Selection of Ministers in Europe. Hiring and Firing will also be of broader interest to students of European Government and Political Institutions.

Author : Winston Churchill,Theresa May
Publisher : James Alexander
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 41,5 Mb
Release : 2018-01-10
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

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The Complete Collection of Parliamentary Maiden Speeches of the Post-war Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom by Winston Churchill,Theresa May Pdf

At time of publication, fifty four people have held the office of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, fourteen of which in the post-war period. All Prime Ministers start as a back bench Members of Parliament (MPs) and all new MPs are expected to make a maiden speech to the House of Commons. The speech is in no doubt a daunting experience. Some MPs wish to use the speech to make their mark, others want to get it over and done with. For the first time this book publishes all parliamentary maiden speeches of the post-war Prime Ministers in one volume from Winston Churchill to Theresa May and includes details of party affiliation, dates of service as Prime Minister, dates of service as an MP, date of delivery of maiden speech and the number of words contained in the maiden speech. This books gives an insight into the issues that pre-occupied these Prime Ministers as they first entered Parliament.

Author : G.W.L. Nicholson,Mark Osborne Humphries
Publisher : McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
Page : 709 pages
File Size : 43,8 Mb
Release : 2015-11-01
Category : History
ISBN : 9780773597907

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Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914-1919 by G.W.L. Nicholson,Mark Osborne Humphries Pdf

Colonel G.W.L. Nicholson's Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914-1919 was first published by the Department of National Defence in 1962 as the official history of the Canadian Army’s involvement in the First World War. Immediately after the war ended Colonel A. Fortescue Duguid made a first attempt to write an official history of the war, but the ill-fated project produced only the first of an anticipated eight volumes. Decades later, G.W.L. Nicholson - already the author of an official history of the Second World War - was commissioned to write a new official history of the First. Illustrated with numerous photographs and full-colour maps, Nicholson’s text offers an authoritative account of the war effort, while also discussing politics on the home front, including debates around conscription in 1917. With a new critical introduction by Mark Osborne Humphries that traces the development of Nicholson’s text and analyzes its legacy, Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914-1919 is an essential resource for both professional historians and military history enthusiasts.

Author : Tim Cook
Publisher : Penguin Canada
Page : 388 pages
File Size : 51,7 Mb
Release : 2012-09-25
Category : History
ISBN : 9780143186670

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Warlords by Tim Cook Pdf

Two portraits flank the doors leading into Canada's House of Commons: Sir Robert Borden to the left and W.L.M. King to the right. While each man appears flatteringly stern, wise, and charismatic, it is the portrait plaques that are of particular interest. Borden's caption reads: "World War I War Leader, 1914–1918," while King's caption is similar: "World War II War Leader, 1939–1945." No other dates are given. Perhaps that definition makes sense for Borden, who did little of note before the war; it does not ring true for King, Canada's longest serving prime minister. Yet in both cases world wars shaped their careers and legacies. They ushered in massive government changes: income tax, health care, and conscription; changes to society through industrialization, enfranchisement, and patriotic unpaid labour; and they raised enormous armed forces from a civilian base. Warlords is a fast-paced narrative that humanizes the war effort through the eyes of the prime ministers. Set against how our senior politicians governed themselves and the nation during these difficult times, it offers an invaluable perspective of war and war leaders.