Lloyd George and the Lost Peace

Lloyd George and the Lost Peace
Author: A. Lentin
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 200
Release: 2001-07-11
Genre: History
ISBN: 0230511481

This lively and original book critically re-examines Lloyd George's part, crucial but enigmatic, in the 'lost peace' of Versailles, 1919-1940. In a re-examination of six key episodes 1919-1940, it reviews his protean role at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919, his strategy on reparations, his abortive guarantee-treaty to France, and the emergence at the Conference of 'Appeasement'. It then reassesses his controversial visit to Hitler, and his bids to halt World War II after the fall of Poland and France.

Lloyd George and the Appeasement of Germany, 1919-1945

Lloyd George and the Appeasement of Germany, 1919-1945
Author: Stella Rudman
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 295
Release: 2011-01-18
Genre: History
ISBN: 1443827509

This book examines Lloyd George’s attitudes to Germany during the inter-war period and beyond. As Prime Minister until October 1922 and a leading player in the shaping of postwar Europe, Lloyd George maintained an active critical interest in Britain’s European policy almost until his death in 1945. After a brief survey of his role at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the book considers Lloyd George’s policy towards Germany during the rest of his premiership. It then examines his interventions across the remaining inter-war years, concluding with an evaluation of his advocacy of a compromise peace with Hitler during World War Two. In 1941 Churchill likened Lloyd George’s attitude to Germany to that of Marshal Pétain. The evidence in some ways vindicates that comparison. It shows that, after 1918, Lloyd George supported appeasement on most issues involving Germany—even during Hitler’s chancellorship, and even after World War Two began. His belief that Germany had just grievances, his suspicion of French motives, his admiration for Hitler and his growing conviction that Germany had been treated unfairly at Versailles, led him to see her as a long-suffering under-dog. The book also sheds light on the evolution of the appeasement policies of successive British governments throughout the inter-war period; and, by comparing Lloyd George’s views with those of contemporary leaders and opinion-formers, it highlights ideas for alternatives to appeasement as conceived at the time rather than by historians in hindsight.

Never Surrender

Never Surrender
Author: John Kelly
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 384
Release: 2015-10-20
Genre: History
ISBN: 147672797X

"A remarkably vivid account of a key moment in Western history: The critical six months in 1940 when Winston Churchill and his cabinet debated whether England should fight Nazi Germany and then decided to "never surrender"."--Amazon.com.

The British Attempt to Prevent the Second World War

The British Attempt to Prevent the Second World War
Author: Peter Neville
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 290
Release: 2019-01-17
Genre: History
ISBN: 152752602X

This book focuses on some new issues associated with British appeasement policy in the 1930s. It looks particularly at how the artificial split between international history and military history has led to the over-simplification of the factors involved in formulating the appeasement policy. It argues that, contrary to anti-appeasement mythology, Britain was not left defenceless in 1939, having in fact a highly sophisticated aerial defence system for which Baldwin and Chamberlain have received little credit. Conversely, the disaster of 1940 was not a consequence of the sins of the British appeasers, but the result of a seriously misconceived French strategy, and brilliant German planning. The book further argues that Anglo-Czech relations between 1935 and 1938 showed that both the Foreign Office and anti-appeasers had deep rooted anti-Slav prejudices. However, new Czech research shows a more sympathetic understanding of how, and why, Britain adopted the appeasement policy. Important new Soviet sources are also considered, such as notably the Maisky Diaries (2016), for their relevance to British policy.

Hitler and Appeasement

Hitler and Appeasement
Author: Peter Neville
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2006-01-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781852853693

Appeasement's reputation as a bankrupt policy stems from the unpredictable catastrophes of the Russo-German Pact in 1939 and the Fall of France in 1940; in fact, it was an honourable, reasonable and sensible response to an appalling and unprecedented threat.

After the Great War

After the Great War
Author: Phillip Dehne
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 311
Release: 2019-06-13
Genre: History
ISBN: 1350087580

At the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the international community came together to find a way forward in the aftermath of the First World War. The conference is often judged a failure, as the resulting Treaty of Versailles did not bring long-term peace with Germany. By following the activities of British delegate and wartime Minister of Blockade Lord Robert Cecil, this book examines the struggles and successes of the conference, as delegates from around the world grappled with the economic, political and humanitarian catastrophes overwhelming Europe in 1919. After the Great War describes, for the first time, the significant role of economic warfare at the Peace Conference and in the post-war settlement. Lord Cecil's sometimes difficult partnership with US President Woodrow Wilson forged a new, permanent, international diplomatic organization – the League of Nations – and supplied it with the power to create collective blockades against aggressive states. Leaders of the Allied economic war before the Armistice became, in Paris, leaders of humanitarian-minded international outreach to their former enemies in Germany and Austria. After the Great War promotes a new understanding of these underappreciated internationalists in Paris, many of whom transitioned into leading the League of Nations even before the Peace Conference ended. Often derided as an idealistic fantasy, international peace enforced by economic sanctions appeared a realistic possibility when the Treaty was signed at the end of June 1919.

The Great Interwar Crisis and the Collapse of Globalization

The Great Interwar Crisis and the Collapse of Globalization
Author: R. Boyce
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 623
Release: 2009-10-21
Genre: History
ISBN: 0230280765

Challenging the standard narrative of Interwar International History, this account establishes the causal relationship between the global political and economic crises of the period, and offers a radically new look at the role of ideology, racism and the leading liberal powers in the events between the First and Second World Wars.

Peacemaking, Peacemakers and Diplomacy, 1880-1939

Peacemaking, Peacemakers and Diplomacy, 1880-1939
Author: Gaynor Johnson
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 265
Release: 2020-05-22
Genre: History
ISBN: 1527553280

This book is a collection of essays by leading scholars of the international history of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that aims to explore the dynamics of the way in which diplomacy was conducted before, during and after the First World War. It is a history of the origins, nature and conduct of the so-called ‘new diplomacy,’ a phrase often used by historians of this period but not full understood. Other key themes include changes in the way war as a diplomatic tool was viewed in this period, primarily from the perspective of the British and American governments. This book also contributes to the growing literature on how the Paris Peace Conference and the peace treaties it produced were viewed from outside as well as inside Europe.

In the Wake of Empire

In the Wake of Empire
Author: Anatol Shmelev
Publisher: Hoover Press
Total Pages: 449
Release: 2021-01-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 0817924264

Even as a country ceases to be a great power, the concept of it as a great power can continue to influence decision making and policy formulation. This book explores how such a process took place in Russia from 1917 through 1920, when the Bolshevik coup of November 1917 led to the creation of two regimes: the Bolshevik "Reds" and the anti-Bolshevik "Whites." As Reds consolidated their one-party dictatorship and nursed global ambitions, Whites struggled to achieve a different vision for the future of Russia. Anatol Shmelev illuminates the White campaign with fresh purpose and through information from the Hoover Institution Archives, exploring how diverse White factions overcame internal tensions to lobby for recognition on the world stage, only to fail—in part because of the West's desire to leave "the Russian question" to Russians alone. In the Wake of Empire examines the personalities, institutions, political culture, and geostrategic concerns that shaped the foreign policy of the anti-Bolshevik governments and attempts to define the White movement through them. Additionally, Shmelev provides a fascinating psychological study of the factors that ultimately doomed the White effort: an irrational and ill-placed faith in the desire of the Allies to help them, and wishful thinking with regard to their own prospects that obscured the reality around them.