Italy's declaration of war is a major event in the world. All countries feel that this war is increasingly developing like that of 20 years ago. Neutral countries have begun to arm themselves on a large scale, whether to make profits in this war or to
It is a wise choice to protect your neutral status and at least make yourself look untouchable.
Compared with other countries, the ones most directly related are Britain and France. France has great opinions on Italy's declaration of war. For this reason, French Prime Minister Daladier expressed his disapproval of Britain in a diplomatic letter sent to London.
Dissatisfaction with fleet losses in the Mediterranean.
This telegram from the French Prime Minister also became the last straw that broke the Chamberlain government. The Labor Party, which was originally very dissatisfied, immediately asked the Prime Minister to resign in parliament.
What makes the situation even worse is that within the Conservative Party, there are also people who express dissatisfaction with the Prime Minister. Since the declaration of war, in just two months, Britain has suffered heavy losses both militarily and diplomatically. It is obvious that someone needs to deal with it.
For this responsibility, there is no more suitable person to occupy the position of Prime Minister than Chamberlain.
Whether it was the appeasement policy he directed or the subsequent conflict between Dro and the Soviet Union, they failed. Not to mention that under his leadership, the British Imperial Navy suffered a shameful defeat in Alexandria, which directly led to Italy's declaration of war.
.Why should a prime minister who has suffered countless failures like this not step down and stay around?
Although Chamberlain made great contributions to the recovery of the British economy, he has made mistakes before, and people no longer think that he is qualified to be the prime minister, at least he is not qualified to be the prime minister during the war.
In fact, Chamberlain knew that his time as prime minister was running out when Italy declared war, but he was still holding on temporarily for the sake of follow-up arrangements. However, his approach attracted more criticism. Some even called him a power-hungry, late-minded person.
A treacherous character who refuses to leave.
Faced with such a raging wave of opposition, Chamberlain naturally cannot ignore it. Now he gets boos whenever he goes to parliament.
Fortunately, his arrangements were almost complete. On the third day after Italy declared war, Chamberlain announced his decision to step down.
It stands to reason that after Chamberlain stepped down, the opposition Labor Party should form the government, but unfortunately the Conservative Party still dominates the parliament. Within the Conservative Party, not many people have the courage to take over the post of Prime Minister left by Chamberlain. Because of Chamberlain's
They all know the method. Even he suffered a big setback on it, and the others don't have the ability to do this job well.
At this time, Chamberlain recommended Churchill as the party's candidate to serve as prime minister.
As for Churchill, everyone in the Conservative Party knows him. But it has nothing to do with ability, but that Churchill can be called an outlier among the Conservative Party, and he is very capable of tossing people around.
Since entering politics in 1900, Churchill has been out of tune with the Conservative Party. A few years after joining the party, he claimed to be an "independent Conservative" and was expelled from the Conservative Party.
Later, he switched to the Liberal Party. After the Liberal Party came to power, Churchill was appointed as Undersecretary of the Department of Colonial Affairs. Later, Churchill was appointed as Secretary of Commerce and officially entered the cabinet. Since then, Churchill has been bouncing around in various ministerial positions, and he has been prosperous.
It was not until World War I broke out and the Dardanelle plan he led failed that he lost power and became the lowest-ranking minister in the cabinet. Churchill, who was excluded from the political circle, decided to resign and rushed to the French front to personally participate.
war.
Later, Churchill only served as battalion commander for a few months before he was recalled and appointed as Minister of Munitions. (Well, it was Churchill who promoted the invention of the tank)
After the war, the Liberal Party's successive electoral defeats made Churchill realize that this ship was unreliable, so he gradually alienated the Liberal Party and moved closer to the Conservative Party.
It's just that this period was a time when the power of the Labor Party was greatly increasing, and neither the Conservative Party nor the Liberal Party was the opponent of the Labor Party.
After World War I, everyone in Britain believed that there would never be a danger of war again and advocated disarmament. Churchill was one of the very few people in Parliament who opposed disarmament.
In the UK, Churchill is also known for his tough attitude, so Churchill is also a minority within the Conservative Party, and his relationship with the Liberal Party is even more conspicuous within the party.
However, when Chamberlain proposed Churchill as the next prime minister, although there were different opinions within the Conservative Party, there were no other suitable candidates. In the end, Chamberlain's proposal was accepted.
So on November 5, the king summoned Churchill to form a cabinet. An hour later, Churchill met with Labor leader Attlee, inviting the Labor Party to join the cabinet and gain support.
Then Churchill made a famous speech: "I have nothing but blood, toil, tears and sweat to offer to you. You ask: What is our purpose? I can answer in one word: Victory, win at all costs Victory, no matter how terrifying it is, we must strive for victory, no matter how long and difficult the road is, we must strive for victory, because without victory, we cannot survive.”
Then Churchill acted resolutely and opened up several aspects of the Admiralty as the temporary headquarters of the new cabinet. He himself also lived in the Admiralty.
It's just that even though he searched through the British family, he has no good way to deal with the current disadvantages in the country. Because the British lack new battleships, the current old Queen Elizabeth class and Revenge class are simply unable to compete with the new Italian and Roman battleships. The only thing that can compete with it is the George V class, which is just to see if the German navy can move lightly.
Moreover, the vast British colonies also need warships, so despite the fact that the British Navy still has 12 battleships, 2 battle cruisers, and 3 aircraft carriers, there are only 2 George V in service that can compete with the Axis capital ships. World class and USS Hood, the others are all old battleships.
Churchill could only order the Navy to speed up the sea trials of the two Glorious-class aircraft carriers and speed up the construction of three George V-class aircraft carriers. Yes, the British Navy is currently short of battleships. In the North Sea and even the harsh climate conditions In the North Atlantic, the role of battleships is irreplaceable. At present, the British Navy does not lack battleships, but lacks new battleships with excellent performance.
Of course, Churchill also knew that Britain alone could not compete with the Axis Group. Therefore, he attached great importance to France. On the third day after becoming Prime Minister, he personally went to Paris to discuss with France. However, this conversation was not Very happy, because France asked Britain to send naval forces to the Mediterranean to help relieve the pressure from Italy and Romania.
And it specified that battleships, battlecruisers and other battleships were needed, which made it impossible for Churchill, who planned to use heavy cruisers and the like to fool the past. How could Churchill send out the battleships at this time to blockade the German navy? We need more troops.
Germany now has a fleet of 1 battleship, 2 battle cruisers, and 3 pocket battleships. Although its strength is not worth mentioning compared to the United Kingdom, its speed is far from what the old warships can match. There are only two battle cruisers and 2 George V.
Only these four battleships could catch up with them. However, these four battleships alone could not complete the task. They could only stop these fast-running German battleships by deploying them dispersedly.
Because if it cannot be stopped, it will threaten the vital maritime transportation line for Britain. Without the maritime transportation line, Britain will not even have enough food to eat.
It is precisely because of this that Germany is so interested in breaking the war, and this is also why Britain attaches so much importance to blocking the North Sea.
Unable to get the Churchill he wanted from France, he went to Paris several times, but this time it was France that urged Britain to send an expeditionary force to facilitate joint operations between the two countries.
Churchill therefore took the opportunity to use the army as a bargaining chip to dispel France's request for naval assistance. However, it was too difficult for the French navy alone to resist Italy and Romania in the Mediterranean. After Churchill looked around, he set his sights on the American continent.
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(I recommend a domestic historical novel "Chu-Han Subversives". Interested book friends can read it)
