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Y113: Britain 1930–1997

Enquiry: Churchill’s view of events 1929–1940 and Churchill as wartime Prime Minister

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Overview

Recall questions on why Churchill was out of office 1929–1939, his attitude to the Abdication Crisis, attitude towards Germany after 1933, why Churchill became Prime Minister, stance in 1940 and style of leadership.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Evaluation

Why did Churchill become Prime Minister in May 1940?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Why was Churchill out of office from 1929 to 1939?

    Model answer

    He resigned from the Conservative leadership's front bench in 1931 over India and spent the decade attacking his own party, and he was widely distrusted as an erratic adventurer because of Gallipoli, his return to the gold standard as Chancellor, his belligerence in the General Strike and his having changed party twice.

  2. 2

    Summarise Churchill's views about Empire and India.

    Model answer

    He believed British rule was a civilising trust and a source of world power, so he fought the grant of dominion status and campaigned through the India Defence League against the Government of India Act of 1935, ridiculing Gandhi and dismissing Congress as an unrepresentative elite.

  3. 3

    How did the Abdication Crisis damage Churchill?

    Model answer

    He championed Edward VIII and urged delay so the King could find a way to keep his throne, and when he tried to press the case in the Commons in December 1936 he was shouted down; it confirmed the impression of poor judgement just as he needed to be heard on Germany.

  4. 4

    How did Churchill respond to German rearmament after 1933?

    Model answer

    He warned repeatedly that Germany was building an air force that would soon outmatch the RAF, using figures fed to him privately by officials such as Desmond Morton and Ralph Wigram, and demanded faster British rearmament, a Ministry of Supply and collective security through the League to contain Hitler.

  5. 5

    Why did Churchill oppose appeasement?

    Model answer

    He argued that concession only fed Hitler's appetite and destroyed the balance of power, so he condemned the Munich agreement of 1938 as a total and unmitigated defeat that abandoned Czechoslovakia and its strong army, though most MPs and much of the public still preferred peace.

  6. 6

    Why did Churchill become Prime Minister in May 1940?

    Model answer

    Recalled to the Admiralty in 1939, he emerged as the one senior figure identified with resistance; the Norway debate in May 1940 slashed the government's majority, Labour refused to serve under Chamberlain, and Halifax judged that a peer could not lead in wartime, so Churchill took over on the day Germany invaded the Low Countries.

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