In 1940 Churchill sometimes thought an invasion possible and sometimes not. But there is no excuse for people nowadays who say that were it not for victory over Hitler we'd all be speaking German.
Even in 1940 people only half feared an invasion but it created a powerful folk memory.
To quote Michael Noonan,
This is the background to the TV comedy Dad's Army. (I link to the submarine commander episode. It is comparable with the mechanics' scenes in A Midsummer Night's Dream.)
The war was one we fought for the sake of the balance of power in Europe not to defend our blessed isle.
As Professor John Charmley said
The Americans were not about to enter the war in December 1941, as Churchill's despair in November showed. They came in because they were forced to, just as the Soviets had done; only the British and the French were mad enough to volunteer for war.
To quote Michael Noonan,
Operation Sealion was the proposed Nazi landing on the South Coast with Bexhill[-on-Sea] as its nexus. With hindsight, few historians think it was ever a realistic possibility. In a hurry to destroy Russia, Adolf Hitler had expected London to sign a quick armistice in exchange for the Royal Navy's freedom of the seas and the preservation of the British Empire.
Hitler’s naval commanders doubted they could meet the challenges of supplying a cross-channel assault. His air force thought they could break British resistance on its own. His army over-simplified the realities of a combined amphibious & airborne invasion. They all reasoned that British fear of invasion alone might be enough to force a peace deal.
The truth is that England's was a Pyrrhic victory. France's was not a victory at all, of course. Only the Americans and the Bolsheviks won.
Europe, which for 300 years since the defeat of the Muslim invasion had ruled the world, was defeated.
After 1989 America became the only hegemon and shockingly wasted the opportunities.
Europe, which for 300 years since the defeat of the Muslim invasion had ruled the world, was defeated.
After 1989 America became the only hegemon and shockingly wasted the opportunities.
Meanwhile the left and far left became far more dangerous and seem to be taking over America England and via Internet the world.
Now the ex-Bolsheviks in Moscow are less threatening than the Bolsheviks ruling China and neither are as dangerous as the invasion from an older foe.
Now the ex-Bolsheviks in Moscow are less threatening than the Bolsheviks ruling China and neither are as dangerous as the invasion from an older foe.
Who is this "far left" in America?
ReplyDeleteInteresting piece, but the message is unclear. And why mention America at the beginning at all if it's not discussed (the "political myths")?
ReplyDeleteWhy not? I have written much about the myth that Lincoln was a good man when he could have avoided an unjust war to subjugate the Southern states against their will, a war that killed 700,00 people, about what a bad thing the revolution was, Woodrow Wilson, etc.
Delete