5 DAYS IN MAY- PROLOGUE

 May 24-28, 1940, London, were arguably the five most important days for Western Civilization. The decisions made by England's new Prime Minister- Winston Spencer Churchill -saved democracy and freedom from Nazi oppression. It is our intention to examine those days, at times hour by hour, drawing on a detailed history from multiple sources that we have spent a good deal of our life reading and studying. England from 1930-1945 is our passion, and the hours we have spent learning about the lives of those who lived in those times, and the decisions they made, has been our joy. So now that football is over, you can expect these posts on the weekends to come. Let's dive in. 

May 24, 1940. Winston Churchill has been Prime Minister for exactly fourteen days. On this Friday things never looked bleaker for England. The decisions Churchill and his war cabinet would make would not win World War II, but they would prevent Hitler from winning the war, as Germany was never closer to winning the war than on Friday, May 24. 

There are three prime characters we must study, and a fourth outside their orbit. You can think of this as a triangle of men, with one other hoovering outside the three interconnecting lines. Those men were Churchill, former Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, and Lord Edward Fredrick Lindley Wood Halifax, often referred to as the "Reverend Holy Fox" by Churchill behind Halifax's back. 

What we first must understand is that Halifax was the King's choice to replace Chamberlain when he resigned. But Halifax was not a member of Parliament. He was a member of the House of Lords, and as such, he could not appear in Parliament and lead Parliament as a Prime Minister.  When asked, Halifax deferred to Churchill being chosen, believing that he could be the power behind the throne. He was wrong. Churchill was always a step ahead of him. Or, as we will see, almost always. 

The fourth member of this triangle plus one was...surprisingly, Benito Mussolini. It was not, as you might expect, Hitler, although his actions, and inactions were crucial to Churchill's and England's success. 

The stage in Europe was bleak. France was nearly defeated. The Germans were marching on Paris. The British Expeditionary Force, over three hundred thousand men, were trapped and retreating to the French coast. England was facing the near total loss of her army. And there was more. 

King Leopold III, the monarch of Belgium, was about to surrender his army and country to the Germans. When France and Belgium fell, England would truly be standing alone. Europe would be lost under the grip of the "odious Nazi' regime", and without her army, only the RAF and the navy would be left to protect England from invasion. The United States was eighteen months away from entering the war. President Roosevelt did not trust Churchill, and was hesitant to extend himself, especially while facing re-election for an unprecedented third term. Churchill and Roosevelt would not form their close friendship and trust for more than two years hence, and in the interim, Roosevelt plotted to take England's navy and many of her overseas bases because he and his advisors did not think England would survive. 

Halifax moved steadily and stealthily, with the support of the King and a large contingent of the Conservative party, for a peace agreement with Hitler to be brokered by Mussolini, who had not yet brought Italy into the war. Some members of the Conservative Party (of whom Churchill was also a member) did not agree with seeking peace, nor did most of the Liberal Party, whose strong support was the only reason why Churchill was chosen as Prime Minister- making him a shaky, compromise PM. 

For reasons we will discuss later, regarding some disastrous decisions Churchill made in the First World War, Churchill was not trusted. He was thought to be impetuous, stubborn to a fault; an unstable alcoholic who was not fit to lead England at this dark hour. 

So we begin our study of these five days with Churchill being undermined by his own war cabinet, with shaky support at best from Parliament, facing the loss of France, Belgium, and England's army. 

As we will see, Hitler was never closer to winning World War II than on Friday May 24, 1940. What Churchill and England did and did not do, and what Hitler did not do, shaped future events and sealed Germany's fate in a way that could not been seen nor understood during that fateful weekend. Had England fallen, the world would have been a much different place for the rest of the 20th century. And facing the loss of her army, England was about to fall. 

But one man would not let that happen, and we will be examining in the days and weeks ahead on this blog his responses to the rapidly unfolding events during those five days in May, 1940, that would test him like no other leader has ever been tested. 

The man was about to meet the moment.