Category: Winston Churchill

Churchill was better at strategy than politics

On By Marc NadeauIn Battle of Alamein, Bernard Montgomery, Erwin Rommel, History, Leadership, Military, Simon Ball, The Folio Society, Ukraine, Winston Churchill, World War IILeave a comment
Professor Simon J. Ball (University of Leeds)

I recently reviewed Professor Simon J. Ball’s revealing book about the battle of Alamein (The Folio Society). He generously accepted to answer few questions for this blog, and I take immense pleasure in sharing the content of our exchange with you today. I trust you will enjoy reading it.

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Professor Ball, I might be wrong, but I have a feeling that the Mediterranean theater during World War II has been overlooked. Why is it important to pay more attention to it? How crucial was it in the big picture of the conflict? 

SJB: The war in the Mediterranean was of central importance. It blew apart the idea of the Mediterranean as a unified zone, although all the major powers tried to engineer integration at some points. Oddly the idea of the Mediterranean as an integrated politico-economic-cultural area, “breathing with the same rhythms”, was popularized by Fernand Braudel in the late 1940s.

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Joe Biden: Leader of the Free World

On By Marc NadeauIn Chris Whipple, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Freedom, Harry S. Truman, History, Joe Biden, Leadership, Lyndon B. Johnson, Ronald Reagan, Russia, Scribner, Simon & Schuster Canada, Tyranny, Ukraine, US Politics, Vladimir Putin, Volodymyr Zelensky, Winston ChurchillLeave a comment

“To every man there comes in his lifetime that special moment when he is figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered a chance to do a very special thing, unique to him and fitted to his talents,” declared Winston Churchill. For many, that hour comes early. For some, like the heroic British Prime Minister, it comes later. For others, like US President Joe Biden, it comes even later in life.

As we commemorate today the tragic first anniversary of the murderous onslaught launched by Vladimir Putin against Ukraine, it seems fitting to write about one of the best political biographies I have read in a long time. The Fight of His Life: Inside Joe Biden’s White House (Scribner) is required reading for anyone seeking to understand the character of the 46th President of the United States.

In the summer of 2017, the events surrounding the extreme-right manifestations in the streets of Charlottesville convinced former Vice President Biden that Donald Trump “was giving evil a safe harbour”, thus contributing to the Democratic politician’s decision to run. The combat for 2020 was between good and evil. And no one was better equipped than Joe Biden to lead it.

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L’espoir renaît en 1942

On By Marc NadeauIn 1942, Amiral Yamamoto, Commandos, Cyril Azouvi, Histoire, Histoire militaire, Julien Peltier, Passés / Composés, Seconde Guerre mondiale, Winston ChurchillLeave a comment
Les auteurs Julien Peltier et Cyril Azouvi (YouTube)

Dans la foulée de ma recension de leur formidable livre 1942 – la « bissectrice de la guerre » – les coauteurs Cyril Azouvi et Julien Peltier ont aimablement accepté de répondre à quelques questions pour ce blogue. Je suis très heureux de livrer ici le contenu de notre échange.

D’entrée de jeu, avez-vous fait des découvertes qui ont suscité votre étonnement dans la rédaction de 1942?

Cyril Azouvi : Aucune « découverte » à proprement parler : l’importance de cette année charnière est connue de tous les historiens de la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Il est de notoriété publique que l’histoire a basculé en 1942 sur tous les fronts (Pacifique, Afrique du Nord, Russie), mais aussi dans bien d’autres domaines (la course à la bombe atomique, la constitution des Nations unies, la Résistance, la Shoah, etc). S’il y a eu découverte, elle a été d’ordre plus personnel : je me croyais savant que cette période, sur cette année et sur ces sujets. J’ai découvert, en plongeant dans le détail, que mes connaissances étaient somme toute assez floues et lacunaires. Ça a été une leçon de modestie! Et, du coup, un travail passionnant.

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Sauvez Zelensky!

On By Marc NadeauIn DGSE, Emmanuel Macron, Fauda, France, Ian Fleming, James Bond, Opérations spéciales, Robert Laffont, Russie, SAS Rogue Heroes, Ukraine, Vincent Crouzet, Vladimir Poutine, Volodymyr Zelensky, Winston ChurchillLeave a comment

« Volodymyr n’a pas peur de mourir. Je le sais. Il est habité par autre chose. Il est déjà ailleurs », déclare le président de la République française au colonel Coralie Desnoyers, chef du Service Action – bras armé de la Direction générale de la Sécurité extérieure (DGSE) dans les premières heures de la guerre lancée contre l’Ukraine par Moscou.

Dès les premières heures de l’invasion de l’Ukraine par les troupes russes à l’aube du 24 février 2022, le président ukrainien Volodymyr Zelensky s’élève immédiatement au-dessus de la mêlée des chefs ordinaires. Sa réaction, ses interventions, son courage attachant, le distinguent des dirigeants que l’on sait habituellement allergiques aux risques. La politique n’est-elle pas l’art de survivre? Ce logiciel est étranger au héros ukrainien.

Il refuse obstinément de quitter Kyiv, demandant des munitions au lieu d’un taxi. Dans un scénario fiction, le président français s’engage à assurer sa sécurité, notamment face à un commando du groupe Wagner (ainsi nommé « en raison de la fascination de son chef et créateur, Dmitri Outkine, néonazi russe, pour Adolf Hitler. Ce même Outkine décoré par Vladimir Poutine dans l’ordre du Courage au Kremlin ») ayant pour mission de lui offrir un billet pour l’éternité. Cette tâche échoit aux hommes et aux femmes du Service Action – des personnages qui n’ont rien à envier à James Bond.

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The Harry and Meghan episode is worse than the abdication crisis

On By Marc NadeauIn Abdication, Andrew Lownie, Edward VIII, History, King Charles III, Meghan Markle, Monarchy, Pegasus Books, Prince Andrew, Prince Harry, Prince of Wales, Princess Beatrice, Princesse Eugenie, Wallis Simpson, Winston Churchill, World War II1 Comment
There are lots of parallels between Wallis Simpson and former King Edward VIII (left) and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (right) (Insider)

Few weeks ago, I reviewed Andrew Lownie’s enthralling and fascinating book Traitor King: The Scandalous Exile of the Duke & Duchess of Windsor. The author – a disillusioned monarchist who believes in institution but feels let down by some members of it – generously accepted to answer a few questions for this blog. Below is the content of our discussion.

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Mr. Lownie, while researching Traitor King, did you make any findings that surprised you?

Lots not least the extent of the Windsors’ dealings with the Nazis which can be found in documents, the knowledge that the Royal Family and Government had of their activities and the rather bizarre relationship the couple had and their bisexuality. Also, the degree of the attempted British cover up of his treachery.

Understandably, Winston Churchill is a frequent guest in the book. I might be wrong, but I didn’t get the sense that he became a tooth-and-nail opponent of the Duke of Windsor during the war. How would you describe the evolution of the relationship between the two men?

Churchill had been one of the Duke’s strongest supporters during the Abdication, mainly because of his romantic notion of the monarchy, but the scales fell when he saw the Duke’s duplicity over the financial settlement in 1937 and the disloyalty shown during the war when Churchill had to threaten him with court martial. The relationship then became more pragmatic with Churchill trying to find him a job after the war and suppressing the embarrassing captured German documents, but he refused to join a cruise when he learnt the Windsors would be present.

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Le point de bascule de 1942

On By Marc NadeauIn Chester Nimitz, Cyril Azouvi, Deuxième Guerre mondiale, El Alamein, Histoire, Joseph J. Rochefort, Julien Peltier, Midway, Passés / Composés, Spean Bridge, Stalingrad, Winston ChurchillLeave a comment

L’année 1942 aura toujours une signification particulière pour moi. Mon défunt père est né cette année-là, pendant la bataille de Stalingrad. Il m’a initié à la Seconde Guerre mondiale par une belle collection de livres à l’intérieur de laquelle je me suis plongé le nez très jeune. Dans leur magnifique livre 1942 (Passés / Composés), Cyril Azouvi et Julien Peltier m’ont permis de découvrir toute l’envergure et la signification de cette année « bissectrice de la guerre » pour reprendre l’expression citée et empruntée à l’historien français Henri Michel.

Pour revenir à Stalingrad, il ne devait suffire que « […] d’une seule journée pour réduire en cendres cette cité moderne et pluricentenaire » selon les plans établis par les hautes sphères allemandes. À la tête de troupes mal équipées par sa faute pour un combat hivernal, Hitler avait pourtant mal évalué le coriace adversaire qui revêtait l’uniforme du soldat soviétique et qui allait payer avec son sang les erreurs stratégiques commises par Staline au début de la guerre. Quant aux soldats portant le feldgrau, ils sortiront de la ville éponyme du dirigeant soviétique la gueule cassée et promis à une rude captivité après 6 mois et 22 jours d’une bataille dont la Wehrmacht ne parviendra pas à se relever.

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The khaki presidency of Volodymyr Zelensky

On By Marc NadeauIn Battle for Kyiv, Leadership, Polity Books, Russia, Serhii Rudenko, Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, Warfare, Winston ChurchillLeave a comment
Serhii Rudenko (courtesy of himself)

After the publication of my review of his insightful biography of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, author and political analyst Serhii Rudenko generously accepted my invitation to respond to a few questions for this blog.

In the aftermath of the war launched by Vladimir Putin on February 24th, the offices of the television station where he worked became a bomb shelter. He has moved to another region, which suffered the recent Russian onslaught. The coming winter will undoubtedly be extremely difficult for Ukrainians, but Mr. Rudenko’s resilience and determination to pursue his work is immensely commendable.

I consider myself privileged to be in touch with him and to present you with the content of our discussion.

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Mr. Rudenko, in your book, you depict an administration with a lack of political experience and a very high turnover level. Has the situation stabilized since the beginning of the war?

Yes, it has stabilized. In the conditions of war, Zelensky had to choose the most optimal and effective people. Now we see around the President of Ukraine a team that governs the state in the conditions of war. Hardly anyone in the world has such experience in governing the state. It is not easy.

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How Putin Saved Zelensky

On By Marc NadeauIn History, Leadership, Mikhail Gorbachev, Polity Books, Russia, Serhii Rudenko, Servant of the People, Ukraine, Vladimir Putin, Volodymyr Zelensky, Warfare, Winston ChurchillLeave a comment

The world “would hardly have heard about [Volodymyr] Zelensky if he had become an engineer, gone into the military, or became a doctor”, writes political commentator Serhii Rudenko in a recent biography of the Ukrainian President (Polity Books). Thanks to the political reality crafted by Servant of the People in which he played the role of a history teacher elected against the odds to lead the country, fiction turned into reality in 2019. And thanks to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to start a war on Ukraine before sunrise on February 24th, the actor turned President has become an icon of resilience in defense of freedom and democracy.

Serhii Rudenko paints the portrait of a leader who was not on sure footing before the war intervened.

After his election, Zelensky broke his promise to distance himself from the nepotism espoused by his predecessor, Petro Poroshenko. “[…] A year after his election, the Poroshenko family was replaced by the Zelensky family – or, more precisely, by the Kvartal 95 Studio.” In other words, those who accompanied him in his showbusiness career, including in his role as President Vasily Petrovych Goloborodko on television.

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“Justin Trudeau inspired me to enter politics” – Volodymyr Zelensky

On By Marc NadeauIn Daisy Gibbons, Justin Trudeau, Leadership, Liza Rodak, Pegasus Books, Russia, Simon & Schuster, Ukraine, Vladimir Putin, Volodymyr Zelensky, Winston Churchill2 Comments

I’m not the type who runs after books of quotations in bookstores. But I have two exceptions to that rule: Winston Churchill and Volodymyr Zelensky. Because both men decided to face the adverse winds of history at a most crucial time.

Bestselling author Liza Rogak, assisted by translator Daisy Gibbons, opens a window into the Ukrainian President’s worldview in a new book Volodymyr Zelensky in His Own Words (Pegasus Books). “You’ve never seen someone like me”, declared the statesman in April 2019. Coupled with his staunch determination to hold his ground in front of Russian President Vladimir Putin, this might be one of the reasons why he is so popular. “I don’t trust anyone at all” he said a few months later. Who could blame him, when you imagine allies hedging their bets at the beginning of the war to see if he stood a chance or not.

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Stan Andrews and the birth of the Israeli Air Force

On By Marc NadeauIn Arab-Israeli War of 1948, Craig Weiss, David Ben-Gurion, Ezer Weizman, History, Israel, Israel Defense Force (IDF), Israeli Air Force, Jeffrey Weiss, Judaism, Military, Reuven Shiloah, Simon & Schuster, Stan Andrews, Wicked Son, Winston Churchill, Yigael Yadin, Yitzhak RabinLeave a comment

Seventy-five years ago, on November 27, 1947, the United Nations adopted Resolution 181 to partition the British mandate in Palestine into two states, one Jewish and one Arab. While the new Israelis were celebrating, the leaders of the Yishuv – the organized Jewish community – were scratching their heads. The neighboring Arab states of Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Egypt and Jordan wanted to smother the newborn Jewish State in its cradle.

In their new book Fighting Back: Stan Andrew and the Birth of the Israeli Air Force (Wicked Son), authors Jeffrey and Craig Weiss write, “It became clear that a Jewish homeland would only be established by armed force. To defeat the Arabs, the Jews would need to build an army.”

Easier said than done. “On May 14, 1948, the day the government [of Israel] declared independence, Israel did not have a single combat aircraft, and all its fighter pilots were in Europe.” With ingenuity and determination, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and his team set upon the gigantic task of equipping their soldiers, notably against a U.S. embargo on weapons sales to the Middle East. At the same time, London presumably continued furnishing Egypt and Jordan.

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