Churchill Ascends

On the morning of May 10, 1940 the Germans invaded The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg to start the "real war" in Western Europe.  Six weeks later, all three countries were occupied, France had surrendered and Britain stood alone against the Nazis and their allies, including Italy and the Soviet Union.

That afternoon, Winston Churchill became Britain's Prime Minister. 


Beginning on May 7 a debate on Neville Chamberlain's Government (Conservative Party) occurred in the House of Commons upon a motion by the Liberal and Labour Opposition.  In the most memorable moment of the debate, Leo Amery, a Conservative backbencher, quoting Oliver Cromwell, said to Chamberlain, "You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go."

The Government survived the vote on May 8, but its support was quickly eroding.  On May 9, Chamberlain tried to form a National Government but Labour refused to participate if Chamberlain remained Prime Minister.  Early on May 10, obstinately trying to avoid Churchill becoming Prime Minister, he proposed that Lord Halifax, a close political ally, succeed him.  Labour refused, making it clear that Churchill was the only Conservative it would support.  The game was up and Churchill's time, at age 65, had finally arrived.  Until that moment he had an occasionally brilliant but often heavily flawed and sometimes erratic career that led many to consider him unreliable and of unsound judgement.  Now the man and the moment were well-matched.

These were desperate days.  Later that month, as France collapsed, Churchill faced five days of War Cabinet debates over whether to accept Mussolini's offer to mediate between Germany and Britain (Italy had not yet joined the war - that would come later in June).  Some cabinet members, including Halifax, were interested in accepting -- an acceptance that would inevitably lead to a negotiated peace with the Nazis left dominating continental Europe. Churchill prevailed. There were to be no negotiations.

When Churchill reported on the War Cabinet decision to the broader group of Government Ministers he told them:

"If this long island story of ours is to end at last, let it end only when each of us lies choking in his own blood upon the ground'"

In June, France fell and the Battle of Britain began.

Because we know the outcome of the war, we can easily believe it was inevitable.  It did not seem so to those at the time and, on reflection, it does not seem so now.  The broad strokes and trends of history are important but individuals can, and do, make a difference.  Churchill once remarked "we are all worms, but I am a glow worm".

As for Churchill, he later wrote of May 10 that:

"As I went to bed at about 3 a.m., I was conscious of a profound sense of relief . . . I could not be reproached either for making the war or with want of preparation for it.  I thought I knew a good deal about it all, and I was sure I should not fail. Therefore, although impatient for the morning, I slept soundly and had no need for cheering dreams.  Facts are better than dreams."