US politician puts blame on Churchill for Second World War

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Peter Dominiczak12 April 2012

The row over responsibility for the Second World War broke out again last night at the Evening Standard and Intelligence Squared's joint debate on Winston Churchill.

American Republican politician Pat Buchanan argued that the wartime prime minister was a leading proponent of the conflict and that had he not entered the war, the impact of the Holocaust would have been lessened.

About 1,800 people attended the debate at the Methodist Central Hall in Westminster on the 70th anniversary of Britain's declaration of war on Germany.

Almost 1,200 members of the audience agreed with the panellists opposing the motion that Britain's wartime prime minister was more of a liability than an asset to the free world.

Just 181 agreed with those for the motion. Before the exchanges had even started one audience member shouted: "How dare we even debate this motion."

Speakers at the debate included historians Antony Beevor and Andrew Roberts and Mr Buchanan, a former adviser to President Richard Nixon. Questions from the audience were conducted by journalist Joan Bakewell.

After the debate, Mr Beevor said: "I never expected to hear Pat Buchanan backing up Vladimir Putin's idea that somehow the Brits were responsible for World War Two.

"Pat Buchanan's arguments during the debate were quite bizarre. At times people didn't know whether he was sympathising with Hitler or just being anti-British."

Historian Richard Overy said: "I thought what Pat Buchanan said was a load of historical nonsense that was all completely out of context."

In a week in which the dignity of ceremonies to mark the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of war in Poland was marred by furious spats between Russia and Eastern European states over their respective wartime roles, panellists also criticised Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin.

Mr Roberts said: "The Putin government is playing an extremely sinister game with the 70th anniversary.

"They know as well as everyone that the real trigger for war was not the Munich agreement but the Nazi-Soviet pact."

Mr Roberts said the debate was an overwhelming success, adding: "You have to be 76 years old to have voted for Winston Churchill in a general election.

"This was a very special night which enabled a lot of people who previously couldn't to vote for Churchill."

FOR
Pat Buchanan
Former senior adviser to three US presidents, twice candidate for the Republican presidential nomination and author of Churchill, Hitler and The Unnecessary War.

"Hitler started the war, but Britain and France declared war on Germany to honour an agreement with Poland that they could not honour. Eastern Europe was always going to be decided by Germany and Stalin's Russia. For the life of me, I believe Hitler did not want war in the west. Churchill was the leading proponent of taking his nation into those wars and turning them into World Wars."

AGAINST
Andrew Roberts
Historian, author of The Storm of War: A New History of the Second World War.
"Winston Churchill was not just an asset to the free world, he was its champion. Using his sublime oratory, he articulated the British people's will to fight fascism. He formulated the great strategy that drew Germany into north Africa and France for Operation Overlord. It is rare for one man to show such service to the free world. Had it not been for Churchill, there might not be a free world. Did he make mistakes? You bet he did. But they are pimples on the mountains of his genius."

FOR
Nigel Knight
Political scientist and economist. Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge.
"It was Churchill's disastrous decision to go on to the Gold Standard which weakened the economy severely. That meant when the Wall Street Crash occurred, the consequence for Britain was worse than it would have been otherwise. World War Two was won by a concentration of forces by the Soviet Union and by western powers from Normandy onwards. In the last year of the war, 10 million lives were lost in Europe. It was delay that cost those lives, and that is what Churchill did."

AGAINST
Antony Beevor
Historian, author of D-Day: The Battle for Normandy.
"We have heard again the facile argument that if Churchill had not delayed the invasion of France, then the western Allies could have launched D-Day in 1943 and reached Berlin and central Europe well before the Red Army. But this argument is absolute rubbish. We did not have sufficient landing craft in 1942, the Luftwaffe was not effectively destroyed until 1944, the U-Boat menace had not been eliminated in the spring of 1943. Winston Churchill was not a liability to the free world. He was our greatest asset."

FOR
Norman Stone
Historian and professor at Bilkent University, Ankara.
"The myth of Winston Churchill is dangerous. Was it a sensible strategy in 1944 and 1945 to bomb Germany to bits? It was very bad realpolitik, whatever its moral purpose. It was a war against tyranny which ended up with Europe under worse tyranny than Hitler's. Something went wrong. Britain got a privileged existence out of the war while the Continent was wrecked. Let us not fall for this smug veneration of Churchill. Yes, there was a moment in 1945, but the rest - I've got my doubts."

AGAINST
Richard Overy
Professor of History at the University of Exeter.
"Churchill recognised his own limitations. He was driven by a historical vision which few other leaders enjoyed. The core of his vision was liberty and freedom. What Churchill was driven by was a deep hatred of tyranny. He had an old fashioned view of English liberty that was about fundamental freedom. Churchill was a warrior for the liberal age and we need to remember that the liberal age was in deep crisis. A man committed to the survival of these core values and a man hostile to tyranny can surely only be an asset."

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