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1940: Myth and Reality
It was the year of the glorious Battle of Britain, of the heroic evacuation of Dunkirk. It was the time when the mighty British empire declared its intention to fight the Nazis―alone if necessary―to the bitter end. It was, as Churchill dubbed it, Britain's "Finest Hour." In 1940: Myth and Reality , Clive Ponting reveals that it was nothing of the sort. Britain was broke in 1940 and utterly dependent on the United States for economic aid. The government fabricated German casualty figures after the Battle of Britain, suppressed knowledge of the complete fiasco that led to Dunkirk, and actually tried secretly to sue for peace that year. The British people were at best grimly resigned to the war; at worst they suffered appalling privations. Without denigrating the heroism of individuals, Mr. Ponting offers a startling account of the ineptitude and propaganda that marked much of 1940: Britain's stormy relations with France, its bizarre attempts to force a united Ireland, and the unpopularity of Winston Churchill. While he made rousing speeches in the House of Commons, Churchill rarely broadcast to the nation: his stirring "we shall fight on the beaches" speech was in fact broadcast by the actor who played Larry the Lamb on Children's Hour.
273 pages, Paperback
First published May 3, 1990
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 18, 2013
ROLLED OVER THE BARRELS
Appeasement gets a bad press for quite comprehensible reasons, Hitler's Nazi Germany was a monstrous regime whose crimes included the barbaric war against the Slavic East as well as the Holocaust. Clive Pontings excellent history of Britains 1940 makes clear why appeasement was the policy of choice for the majority of Britain's Elite during the 1930's: if it came to a war with Nazi Germany, Britain's primary, though diminishing, role in the world would come to an end. In 1940 Britain found itself very definitely not appeasing the Nazi Regime which had conquered Western Europe. Everything the appeasers feared was in fact happening: Britain was short of Allies, short of Dollars and short of resources to defend its Global Empire. Churchill's Government, cap in hand, went to the United States for aid and for all his talk of "English speaking peoples" - "Defence of Democracy" - "Shared values" the reality was that the Americans had the British over the proverbial barrel and made the most of Britain's unedifying position before giving them it.
Pontings book has the relationship between the United States and Britain as its central theme and identifies the second half of 1940 as the point when Britain essentially became a client state of the U.S. for the duration of the war and beyond. It's to Churchill's credit that he took that course when other voices preached for an accommodation with Nazi Germany. It is hardly surprising that the British Government should dress this up as an equal and (to quote Churchill) "unsordid" relationship for the duration of the war. What is less reasonable is that the mythical story of 1940 was able to echo on right through the post-war era, and though it is a little more threadbare today it still has a bit of life in it yet.
Other topics that Ponting looks into are The Battle of Britain for which he apportions credit for victory between pre-war Politicians who over-ruled a Bomber obsessed RAF in favour of a Fighter Defence for Britain and the lack of a well thought strategy by the Luftwaffe. A few myths regarding the Blitz are also punctured. He also accounts for Churchill's rise to the position of Prime Minister, the botched campaign in Norway, relations between the British and the French during the German invasion of Western Europe, the situation vis-à-vis Japan in the Far East as well as relations between Britain and Eire where the British floated the idea that Ireland would be re-united in exchange for the use of Naval bases in Southern Ireland.
An excellent book that packs a good deal of information and analysis into 230 pages. Some of the information is probably a bit dated, for example the figures he quotes for bombing casualties in Dresden and Hamburg have been superseded by more recent scholarship and it was Dennis the Dachshund and not Larry the Lamb that Norman Shelley (the usual stand-in for Churchill on BBC radio) voiced in Toytown. These faults aside I still feel that Pontings analysis holds well twenty years down the line and have no problem recommending this book as well as Pontings general history "Armageddon. the Second World War".
Appeasement gets a bad press for quite comprehensible reasons, Hitler's Nazi Germany was a monstrous regime whose crimes included the barbaric war against the Slavic East as well as the Holocaust. Clive Pontings excellent history of Britains 1940 makes clear why appeasement was the policy of choice for the majority of Britain's Elite during the 1930's: if it came to a war with Nazi Germany, Britain's primary, though diminishing, role in the world would come to an end. In 1940 Britain found itself very definitely not appeasing the Nazi Regime which had conquered Western Europe. Everything the appeasers feared was in fact happening: Britain was short of Allies, short of Dollars and short of resources to defend its Global Empire. Churchill's Government, cap in hand, went to the United States for aid and for all his talk of "English speaking peoples" - "Defence of Democracy" - "Shared values" the reality was that the Americans had the British over the proverbial barrel and made the most of Britain's unedifying position before giving them it.
Pontings book has the relationship between the United States and Britain as its central theme and identifies the second half of 1940 as the point when Britain essentially became a client state of the U.S. for the duration of the war and beyond. It's to Churchill's credit that he took that course when other voices preached for an accommodation with Nazi Germany. It is hardly surprising that the British Government should dress this up as an equal and (to quote Churchill) "unsordid" relationship for the duration of the war. What is less reasonable is that the mythical story of 1940 was able to echo on right through the post-war era, and though it is a little more threadbare today it still has a bit of life in it yet.
Other topics that Ponting looks into are The Battle of Britain for which he apportions credit for victory between pre-war Politicians who over-ruled a Bomber obsessed RAF in favour of a Fighter Defence for Britain and the lack of a well thought strategy by the Luftwaffe. A few myths regarding the Blitz are also punctured. He also accounts for Churchill's rise to the position of Prime Minister, the botched campaign in Norway, relations between the British and the French during the German invasion of Western Europe, the situation vis-à-vis Japan in the Far East as well as relations between Britain and Eire where the British floated the idea that Ireland would be re-united in exchange for the use of Naval bases in Southern Ireland.
An excellent book that packs a good deal of information and analysis into 230 pages. Some of the information is probably a bit dated, for example the figures he quotes for bombing casualties in Dresden and Hamburg have been superseded by more recent scholarship and it was Dennis the Dachshund and not Larry the Lamb that Norman Shelley (the usual stand-in for Churchill on BBC radio) voiced in Toytown. These faults aside I still feel that Pontings analysis holds well twenty years down the line and have no problem recommending this book as well as Pontings general history "Armageddon. the Second World War".
January 23, 2015
I'm not normally one for revisiting the last unpleasantness, I had more than enough of that as a child when every Sunday afternoon had a film in which John Mills, Noel Coward or Jack Hawkins stoically endured appalling hardships whilst saving the Free World. However, I gave it a try and was surprised to find out how much I didn't know about the origins of the war and how close we came to losing it. Actually 'we' is a bit of a stretch as I wasn't even born then, so I can neither take credit nor criticism. This is a well researched book which gives some real insights into the reality of the UK position - which was basically that we were broke and could only hope to hang on grimly and wait for the U.S. to join in the fun. Obviously it is necessary to be aware of the particular political slant that all historians apply to their research but this is an interesting, if not exactly uplifting, book.
June 1, 2014
History with a journalistic tone. Now 23 years in print, this book stands as a pioneer in debunking a number of widely held myths about the origins and early period of World War II. Unpleasant truths revealed or explored in new detail include:
-Capitulation to Germany was seriously discussed a number of times at the highest levels of the UK Government.
-By the end of 1940 the UK was literally broke and the US essentially dictated all important UK actions from 1941 onward.
-There was extensive desertion on the part of soldiers newly-returned from Dunkirk to England in the Spring of 1940.
-Capitulation to Germany was seriously discussed a number of times at the highest levels of the UK Government.
-By the end of 1940 the UK was literally broke and the US essentially dictated all important UK actions from 1941 onward.
-There was extensive desertion on the part of soldiers newly-returned from Dunkirk to England in the Spring of 1940.
September 21, 2020
Incisive analysis of what really happened in 1940 and how Britain ceased to be a world power. Well worth reading.
September 6, 2011
One can find "muddle[s] of ineptitude and propaganda" in any war. The fact that Ponting has chosen to do so for Britain's role in the early stages of World War II may make him unusual among writers covering that period, but it doesn't necessarily make his treatment of that conflict particularly remarkable or his arguments compelling. While his viewpoints and data are interesting, to go any further with Ponting's analysis invites a venture into speculative fiction.
November 18, 2017
A good overall book about the aspects of 1940. 1940 wasn't England best year, sure it escaped occupation but it became a bankrupted vassal of the USA. Churchill was even considering sending peace feelers to Italy. Chruchill was prime minister because Lord Halifax didn't want the job because he wasn't a mp
December 28, 2020
Clive Ponting passed away in 2020, and it was his obituary that alerted me to his post-civil servant career as an historian. Being a keen student of British history in the pre-war and WWII era, I was intrigued to read Ponting's 1940: Myth and Reality.
It is quite an eye-opening read. As Ponting points out, the accepted narrative is that Britain was a mighty empire on the outbreak of the war, one that was able to survive the collapse of France in 1940, and then, under Churchill's brilliant leadership, defeat a vastly superior German air force in the Battle of Britain, leaving the island home ready to fight on to victory. In clear and convincing prose, Ponting shows the reality, that Britain simply did not have the resources to successfully fight two enemy powers (Germany since 1939, and Italy after June 1940), let alone a menacing third power (Japan after December 1941). Indeed, as Ponting demonstrates with brutal clarity, by December 1940, Britain was essentially bankrupt, and only massive loans from the United States allowed the British to go on fighting (with American arms and munitions). Similarly, Pointing illustrates the flawed reasoning behind the so-called "Phony War" period of September 1939 to May 1940, i.e., British intelligence estimates that the German economy was stretched to the breaking point on the war's outbreak, so that all the Allies had to do was stand on the defensive and essentially wait for Germany to collapse. In fact, the German economy did not reach peak war production until 1944.
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in 20th century Britain.
It is quite an eye-opening read. As Ponting points out, the accepted narrative is that Britain was a mighty empire on the outbreak of the war, one that was able to survive the collapse of France in 1940, and then, under Churchill's brilliant leadership, defeat a vastly superior German air force in the Battle of Britain, leaving the island home ready to fight on to victory. In clear and convincing prose, Ponting shows the reality, that Britain simply did not have the resources to successfully fight two enemy powers (Germany since 1939, and Italy after June 1940), let alone a menacing third power (Japan after December 1941). Indeed, as Ponting demonstrates with brutal clarity, by December 1940, Britain was essentially bankrupt, and only massive loans from the United States allowed the British to go on fighting (with American arms and munitions). Similarly, Pointing illustrates the flawed reasoning behind the so-called "Phony War" period of September 1939 to May 1940, i.e., British intelligence estimates that the German economy was stretched to the breaking point on the war's outbreak, so that all the Allies had to do was stand on the defensive and essentially wait for Germany to collapse. In fact, the German economy did not reach peak war production until 1944.
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in 20th century Britain.
March 15, 2023
Britain's "Finest Hour" is here shown to be a postwar construct, a feel-good narrative that bore little to no resemblance of the actual time and place. Ponting's revisionist accounting steps close to the mirror of history to show the cracks, chips, and distortions that lie (literally) beneath the wax and polish.
Instead of a bulldog determination to squash Hitler, there was indecision, fatalism, and unpreparedness to match big words with deeds. Rather than unity, there was rampant class division with the poor, as usual, paying the freight while the rich prepared to abandon ship. And, despite victory, Britain survived only by losing for what it fought: its empire and financial sovereignty. The US would rescue Britain only if owning it. Until "saving England" became an American interest there was no other way to sell the rescue of war to the US Congress and the big finance behind it.
As wartime nations went, Britain actually suffered the least of any combatant in Europe or Asia. It is tempting to further explore what the reaction would have been had Hitler actually invaded: violent defiance, as in Poland; or acquiescence, as in France. In light of the Dorian Gray portrait Ponting unsheets, one must sadly acknowledge the truth to lean to the latter.
This is true history in more ways than one. Other English-speaking nations could benefit from Ponting's honest approach.
Instead of a bulldog determination to squash Hitler, there was indecision, fatalism, and unpreparedness to match big words with deeds. Rather than unity, there was rampant class division with the poor, as usual, paying the freight while the rich prepared to abandon ship. And, despite victory, Britain survived only by losing for what it fought: its empire and financial sovereignty. The US would rescue Britain only if owning it. Until "saving England" became an American interest there was no other way to sell the rescue of war to the US Congress and the big finance behind it.
As wartime nations went, Britain actually suffered the least of any combatant in Europe or Asia. It is tempting to further explore what the reaction would have been had Hitler actually invaded: violent defiance, as in Poland; or acquiescence, as in France. In light of the Dorian Gray portrait Ponting unsheets, one must sadly acknowledge the truth to lean to the latter.
This is true history in more ways than one. Other English-speaking nations could benefit from Ponting's honest approach.
November 13, 2024
Interesting book with a few nuggets of new information however I have read most of the views before. This may of course due to the fact this was written in 1990 and I may have read newer books with the same information!
August 28, 2023
Excellent account of the events of 1940, written from a completely different perspective from most of the histories of that time.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews