Neville Chamberlain
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Chamberlain's legacy is marked by his appeasement policy regarding his signing of the Munich Agreement in 1938, conceding part of Czechoslovakia to Adolf Hitler. In the same year he also gave up the Irish Free State Royal Navy ports.
Chamberlain was forced to resign the premiership on 10 May 1940, after Germany invaded the Netherlands, Belgium and France. He was succeeded by Winston Churchill but remained very well regarded in Parliament. Before ill health forced him to resign, he was an important member of Churchill's war cabinet. He had a key role in the formation of the Special Operations Executive. Chamberlain died of cancer six months after leaving office.
Neville Chamberlain in Worldwar
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While Neville Chamberlain had been dead for almost two years when the Race's Conquest Fleet arrived, certain parties among his country's allies, Vyacheslav Molotov especially, never forgave his decision to appease Adolf Hitler.[1] This was somewhat ironic as the alien invasion had forced all human powers to ally.
Neville Chamberlain in The War That Came EarlyEdit
Neville Chamberlain was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the first two years of the second European war. While he initially sought to prevent war at all costs by appeasing German leader Adolf Hitler, he was forced into a war that his country was ill-prepared for in 1938, and ultimately negotiated a bargain with the devil by making peace with Germany and then allying with her against the Soviet Union in the summer of 1940. Failing health prompted Chamberlain to resign as PM a few months later, and he did not live to see the final outcome of that "big switch" or the war.
On September 30, 1938, Chamberlain and his French counter-part, Edouard Daladier, had all but signed over the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia to Hitler at the Munich Conference when word came that Konrad Henlein, the leader of the Sudeten Germans, had been murdered by a Czech assassin. Hitler seized upon the murder as an excuse for war with Czechoslovakia. Chamberlain initially tried to convince Hitler that the Czechs would agree to more concessions, but Hitler remained steadfast. Soon, Chamberlain concluded that Hitler and the Nazis had to have been behind Henlein's death; the cause for war was too much of a coincidence for Chamberlain to swallow, and with Daladier's support, Chamberlain warned Hitler that any attack upon Czechoslovakia would lead to war with Britain and France. Hitler welcomed this wider war. Germany attacked Czechoslovakia, and Britain, France and the Soviet Union all declared war on Germany.[2]
The first few months of the war were not terribly successful for the Allies. While French troops did invade Germany while Germany was busy invading Czechoslovakia, they did not press their offensive. The BEF in turn didn't leave the borders of France. The Soviet Union did not share a land border with Czechoslovakia, and while some Soviet troops made their way inside the country, the USSR and Germany met in an aerial war over Czechoslovakia. When Czechoslovakia fell in November, 1938, both Allies suddenly found themselves at a disadvantage as they faced Germany. Soon, Germany had occupied the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium, and British troops were fighting Germany on French soil.
Chamberlain survived two confidence votes in Parliament by the beginning of 1939.[3] He was a spared a third one when a joint Anglo-French offensive halted the German drive on Paris in April of that year. The Germans began a gradual retreat, although they still remained on French soil into the Summer of 1939.[4]
Despite this, Chamberlain still faced opposition in Parliament. Even fellow Conservative Winston Churchill remained critical of Chamberlain's handling of the war.[5] This criticism did not prevent Chamberlain from appointing Churchill to the new office of Minister of War in the Winter of 1939.[6]
In the Spring of 1940, Germany's Deputy Führer, Rudolf Hess, parachuted into Scotland, where he was found by Sgt. Alistair Walsh. Walsh took Hess to the appropriate authorities. Germany called for a truce with Britain and France, and Hess began negotiations with the Chamberlain government for a new alliance among Britain, France, and Germany against the Soviet Union.[7] Churchill strongly and publically opposed this course of action[8] until he was hit and killed by a drunk driver while crossing the street in London.[9] Chamberlain saw to it that Churchill received a hero's funeral, which simply confirmed for many that he'd been murdered.[10] At the funeral, Chamberlain took the opportunity to bolster the "big switch" by reminding the British people that Churchill had opposed Bolshevism.[11]
In the Autumn of 1940, Chamberlain, suffering from ill health, resigned as PM, and hand picked his successor, Sir Horace Wilson.[12] Chamberlain subsequently died of bowel cancer.[13]
ReferencesEdit
- ↑ Upsetting the Balance, pg. 349.
- ↑ Hitler's War, pgs. 8-16.
- ↑ Ibid., pg. 213.
- ↑ Ibid., Chapter 26, generally.
- ↑ West and East, pg. 223.
- ↑ Ibid., pg. 378.
- ↑ The Big Switch, pg. 150-51.
- ↑ Ibid., pg. 197.
- ↑ Ibid., pg. 214.
- ↑ Ibid., pg. 234.
- ↑ Ibid., at pg. 238.
- ↑ Ibid., pg. 339
- ↑ Coup d'Etat, pg. 22, HC.
| Political offices (OTL) | ||
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| Preceded by Stanley Baldwin | Prime Minister of the United Kingdom May, 1937-May, 1940 | Succeeded by Winston Churchill |
| Political offices (The War That Came Early) | ||
| Preceded by Stanley Baldwin | Prime Minister of the United Kingdom May, 1937-Fall, 1940 | Succeeded by Horace Wilson |
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