History OCR A-Level British period study and enquiry: Britain 1930—1997.
Complete revision notes on Churchill 1930—1951, written by a straight A* student. Summarised and well organised notes of the official OCR textbook and in order. Includes collated information from class, the textbook and o...
Churchill’s view of events 1929–1940
Why was Churchill out of office 1929-39
• Churchill supported many unpopular causes in Britain and spoke about them in a very
hasty way
• He became an isolated gure
• His way of speaking seemed very old-fashioned and he was 60yrs old which made his
ideas seem out-dated
• Many of his campaigns in WW1 were seen as reckless and his decisions were
questionable (Gallipoli campaign, reintroducing the gold standard)
• The Wall Street Crash wiped his investments and savings
• Even though he was one of the most experienced and eminent politicians of his day, his
views about some issues such as India, rearmament, foreign policy and the abdication,
were too controversial in a time when dangerous situations at home and abroad needed
men of experience
• He didn’t believe in negotiating with Ghandi and the Indian Nationalists
• Churchill supported Edward VIII even though he wanted to marry a woman twice-
divorced
• He wanted rearmament even when the economy was weak after WW1
• He opposed the appeasement policy
His attitude to the Abdication Crisis
• The new king was the symbol of modernisation but was known as a playboy who was
neurotic and unstable
• He was crowned on 22nd January 1926
• King Edward VIII had been having an a air with the once divorced and married Wallis
Simpson but marrying her would go against his duties as head of the Church of England
• In Nov 19036 Baldwin (the Prime Minister) told Edward that he needs to set high
standards and that the public would not accept Wallis as Queen
• He wanted a morganatic marriage where she was simply Consort, but this would
have required the government’s approval but they did not give it
• On 11th December 1936, Edward said that he didn’t want to be King without the love
and support from Wallis and gave a speech of his abdication
• Some believe this was the best thing for the country as he may have been a
domestic danger due to his naivety
Churchill and the abdication
• He gave a speech in parliament on 10th Dec 1936 about the abdication to which he was
warm and patriotic towards the King and gave a sense of mentorship to which he was
shot down as he misjudged the mood in the House of Commons
• He held many aristocratic values and old-fashioned beliefs which were the minority view
• He was part of “The King’s Friends” who were very rooted in the part and supported the
monarchy for personal loyalty and chivalry
His views about Empire and India and clashes with his party
• He believed that India was the highlight of the British Empire and that it had to be
protected, also that British rule was the thing that prevented the domination of Hindu
elites
Page 1 of 22 A Level History
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, Churchill 1930-1951
• He believed it meant social and economic progress in India and that it ensured a good
government and prevented corruption
• He believed in the WASP’s and their superiority
British rule in India
• Throughout the 20s and 30s, Britain was facing increasing pressure from an Indian
population who wanted self-governance and representation
• They responded by repression and reform
• Ghandi dressed like a poor peasant to lead himself to the pursuit of freedom through
non-violent protest
• The Rowlatt Act of 1919 increased police powers by allowing imprisonment without trial
but the 1919 Montague-Chelmsford measures gave locally elected councils a measure
of control over some internal matters
• In 1919, Ghandi led a mass campaign against the Rowlatt Act at Amritsar to which
troops opened re killing 400 and wounding 1200 people
• This gave Indian nationalism many new supporters
• Ghandi was arrested but released from jail to attend conferences in London in 1930 and
1931 to try and end the con ict
• Britain allowed India self-government in 1933 which Churchill was opposed to
• They introduced the Government of India Act of 1935 to which the electorate
expanded to 35m and elected legislatures were set up to deal with local a airs
Churchill’s reaction to the independance movement
• To oppose India’s independance movement would look like an Act of prejudice as noun
tries such as Australia, New Zealand and South Africa had self-government within the
empire
• He decided to launch a personal crusade to separate the moderate Indians from the
radical movement
• He went against the Conservatives, supporting eccentric and racist organisations,
making him isolated
• He made bitter attacks on government ministers
• His former supporter Leo Amery MP said it was Churchill’s “unique achievement to
stir up a hornets’ nest where there were no hornets”
• When the Government of India Act was passed stopped and even invited a close friend
of Ghandi’s to lunch
Attitude towards Germany after 1933
• Churchill was very much for disarmament of Britain and supported the idea of Britain
becoming defensive after WWI and therefore, only worrying about domestic matters
• The tone of aggressors was set in Europe as the USA wouldn’t get involved in Europe’s
a airs and there was the invasion of Manchuria
E ects of the war
• The threat of Germany controlling Europe was destroyed
• Britain became a major military power and became oil-rich from the middle-east, even
thought it didn’t feel; like a victory because of all the casualties and losses from the war
• Stanley Baldwin openly admitted that rearmament would have meant the loss of the
1935 election
Page 2 of 22 A Level History
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, Churchill 1930-1951
His views about rearmament and appeasement
Churchill’s view on rearmament
• He saw the new German regime as brutal as he didn’t like its racism and violence
• He saw it as a repeat of WWI when Germany had been a threat to the peace of Europe
• Churchill had been part of the Treaty of Versailles which Hitler now wanted to break
• He feared that Britain would be defenceless as Germany was building up its air force
Problems with Churchill’s stance
• Critics pointed out that Churchill was actually responsive for disarmament (10 hear rule)
• An arms race in Germany would need great persuasion after the nancial crisis causing
deep cuts in expenditure
• Many believed that Hitler wasn’t unreasonable as Germany should be able top build up
its defences after the Treaty of Versailles
• Churchill’s credibility was reduced due to his tendency to exaggerate gures
German rearmament in the 1930s
• Hitler remilitarised the Rhineland in March 1936 after rearming between 1933-35
following his walking out of the disarmament conference in 1932 and leaving the league
of nations in 1933
• He was disobeying the terms of the Treaty of Versailles but the French felt too weak
to respond and the British were too concerned with stopping the French action
• The Stresa Front was created in April 1935 got limit German in uence between Britain,
France and Italy, but Mussolini now felt betrayed over the Abyssinian crisis
• The Treaty of Versailles and Locarno Pact were broken further when Britain allowed
Germany to have a navy of 35% the size of Britain’s
• They still limited the number as they wanted to ensure Britain still ruled the seas
• Churchill was horri ed by this
Chamberlain and appeasement
• He didn’t approve of British policy and saw reacting to events and gradual negotiation
as dangerous
• He wanted to create a negotiated agreement with Germany to allow time to build up
defences, recover economically and decrease chance of war
• The navy wasn’t strong enough for home defence and worldwide war and the air force
couldn’t support anything
• This was worrying due to possible war with Japan, Italy and Germany
• He wanted to negotiate proactivity with Germany
• He wanted to build up defences but Labour didn’t support rearmament
• Labour supported collective security
• Those who opposed Appeasement were a minority (including Churchill)
German expansion
• Germany massively exceeded their aircraft production allowed which annoyed Churchill
• No obvious threat was believed to be posed to Britain for Germany wanting to regain its
lost territories from the Treaty of Versailles
• At this point, Germany was seen as a normal country (helped by holding the Olympic
Games in 1936) and hadn’t put itself outside normal relations with Britain
• The abdication crisis was also a distraction for Britain in 1936
• Anschluss with Austria occurred in March 1938 and Hitler became con dent, stirring up
unrest among German-speaking Czech’s - further going against the Treaty of Versailles
Page 3 of 22 A Level History
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