I think that Churchill probably felt that the turning points of WWII were:
a) his ascendancy to Prime Minister, e.g. "I felt as if I was walking with
destiny..."; and, b) Hitler's declaration of war against the United States
after the bombing of Pearl Harbour. Churchill may have slept the sleep of
the saved and thankful after being informed of Pearl Harbour, but what if
Hitler had not declared war on the US? It seems to me that Adolf Hitler
should be credited with precipitating many of the 'turning points' that
ultimately turned in the Allies favour by virtue of his erratic and often
bizarrely irrational thinking and absolute control over military strategy.
He wasn't just a sociopathic megalomaniac. He was a monumental nut job who
might have had many more military successes if he hadn't been so
fundamentally idiotic.
Stan
----- Original Message -----
From: "Major McKinley" <[email protected]>
To: "ChurchillChat" <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, August 03, 2010 10:16 AM
Subject: [ChurchillChat] Re: When did the tide turn?
Here's an interesting article I read recently on the fantastic
HistoryNet.com website, publishers of various history magazines.
What Was the Turning Point of World War II?
http://www.historynet.com/what-was-the-turning-point-of-world-war-ii.htm
Not exactly your question, but it goes with it. I was surprised nobody
cited the Battle of Britain as the war's turning point. I think it's
part of the historian bias against the Western Powers and feeling that
with all the blood spilled in the East, that Russia deserves the
title. But without Britain holding on, there would have been no aid to
the Soviets and no victory at Stalingrad. Since Churchill said,
"Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this Island or lose the
war," I'd argue that's what started lifting spirits, although there
was much hard fighting ahead. The failure to sweep the RAF from the
skies forced the Germans to postpone Operation Sea Lion indefinitely.
Although people continued predicting swift victory throughout the
later years, Churchill warned it would be a long slog and managed to
predict the war's end correctly much farther out down the line. (I
don't have the exact details handy, if anyone wants to add them.)
On Aug 2, 10:52 pm, EvanQ <[email protected]> wrote:
When did people in England feel that World War II had turned in the
Allies' favor? I'm reading the Official Biography, and the Documents and
yes, all the footnotes. What I wonder about is the people who had
survived the Great War and died during WWII. Some of them would have died
with England hanging on by a thread, and others with the feeling that
England would eventually triumph again. What date/year/battle would that
have been?
Also, I've been struck by the number of people who were very anti-Winston
in the post World War I years, but who served in his Government during
WWII. Can anyone point me to a book or article discussing this?
Thanks,
Evan
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