Troublesome Young Men: The Rebels Who Brought Churchill to Power and Helped Save England

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A magnificient recounting of cowardice and heroism

"Speak for England, Arthur!"

History repeats itself

Good look at the war before The War

Britain's descent into WWII from a non-Churchillian viewpoint

Troublesome Young Men: The Rebels Who Brought Churchill to Power and Helped Save England
Lynne Olson
Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0374179549
Release Date: 2007-04-17

Book Description

A riveting history of the daring politicians who challenged the disastrous policies of the British government on the eve of World War II

On May 7, 1940, the House of Commons began perhaps the most crucial debate in British parliamentary history. On its outcome hung the future of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s government and also of Britain—indeed, perhaps, the world. Troublesome Young Men is Lynne Olson’s fascinating account of how a small group of rebellious Tory MPs defied the Chamberlain government’s defeatist policies that aimed to appease Europe’s tyrants and eventually forced the prime minister’s resignation.

Some historians dismiss the “phony war” that preceded this turning point—from September 1939, when Britain and France declared war on Germany, to May 1940, when Winston Churchill became prime minister—as a time of waiting and inaction, but Olson makes no such mistake, and describes in dramatic detail the public unrest that spread through Britain then, as people realized how poorly prepared the nation was to confront Hitler, how their basic civil liberties were being jeopardized, and also that there were intrepid politicians willing to risk political suicide to spearhead the opposition to Chamberlain—Harold Macmillan, Robert Boothby, Leo Amery, Ronald Cartland, and Lord Robert Cranborne among them. The political and personal dramas that played out in Parliament and in the nation as Britain faced the threat of fascism virtually on its own are extraordinary—and, in Olson’s hands, downright inspiring.

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A magnificient recounting of cowardice and heroism.......2007-09-27

In her introduction to this magnificient history, Lynne Olson gives a hint as to her person politics when she says "[u]sing tactics that have striking resonance today, Chamberlain and his subordinates restricted journalists' access to government sources . . ." She then goes on to tell a story - - - a truly wonderful and great story - - - of how a few dedicated Britons battled hundreds of devoted political party hacks and the press that was enslaved to them in order to save Britain and Western Civilization. Olson's sttempted dig at today's White House actually turns out to be a tale about our present U. S. Congress and how the majority puts party loyalty above the safety and security of the nation.

Regardless of contemporary politics, "Troublesome Young Men" is a masterpiece. Olson painstakingly recounts how a very few, amazingly few Members of Parliament, sensing the danger of Neville Chamberlain's policy of appeasement to dictators, tried to get the nation to listen and then, finally, to topple Chamberlain's government from power.

The student of histroy will be reminded by Olson's book that one of the great difficulties of studying history is that there is so much of it!

For those few American public school students today who are still taught anything of the run up to World War II, which killed a mere 55 million and might well have been avoided if only European politicians weren't so stupid, the name Neville Chamberlain might bring to mind the image of a decidedly old fashioned gentleman holding a furled umbrella and a piece of paper and the words "peace in our time". And that's the sum total of their knowledge.

In fact, Chamberlain came as close to being a dictator in a parliamentary government as anyone since Cromwell in the 17th Century. But Chamberlain's power was assured by a rigid party system that essentially destroyed any Tory who did not do the party's will. This couple with a large majority in Parliament rendered Chamberlain essentially invulnerable. regardless of how threatening Chamberlain's policy of appeasing Hitler was. Chamberlain, like so many of today's American politicians, believed he could negotiate peaceful resolutions with Hitler and other tyrants.

There was also another set of circumstances that made Britons likely to look away from looming danger: Britain had lost a million dead in WWI, with another million or so permanently disabled. Two million British women were unable to find husbands. The terror of war had touched virtually every household and no matter how great the danger, ordinary citizens and hack party politicians alike wanted to avoid war.

So Britain moved deliberately toward its own destruction ... save for a few, relatively young Members of Parliament who risked their political careers to sound a warning.

It is these men, some of whose names became familiar in later years (Anthony Eden, Harold Macmillan, etc.) who became thorns in the side of the party establishment and tried to warn of the dangers of appeasement.

Winston Churchill who led England during the six years of WWII was not a prime mover among these "troublesome young men". In fact, many of the dissidents - and there were less than two dozen for most of the time - didn't want Churchill.

The story has been largely untold and in recent years not told at all.

Olson's approach is flawless. Her 46 pages of notes and bibliography attest to the depth and meticulousness of her research. She paints excellent, detailed portraits of each of the troublesome young men, most of whom have been lost to history. Who, for example, knows of Ronald Cartland? This young, newly elected Member of Parliament was the first to speak out against Chamberlain - and he suffered for it. How many of us know that Harold Macmillan, who acheived a modicum of fame in his own right as a Prime Minister, shared his wife with another man for nearly forty years? Macmillan and his wife lived together and she was the perfect political wife, but her love and lover was Robert Boothy, a friend and politicl ally of her husband.

On the pivotal day of May 8, 1940, Olson's surprisingly plain text almost makes real the heavy air of Parliament as hundreds of members crammed the benches to hear the speeches for and against Chamberlain. You can also smell the tobacco smoke clinging to the clothes, the odor of liquor on the breath of members and perhaps the occasional whiff of cologne or perfume from the few women in Commons and those in the gallery.

The event itself was dramatic, of course, but using her plain, but well constructed language, Olson squeezes out every drop of drama. It is, frankly, a breathtaking exhibition of prowess in prose.

This is not a book about Churchill, but truly a book about those who made it possible for him to come to power.

These few rebels, fighting against the lethargy and stupidity of their party were frightened for the future of Britain, indeed for all Western values. As Leo Amery so eloquently put it: " Somehow or other, wer must get into the Government men who match our enemies in fighting spirit, in daring, in resolution and in thirst for victory . . . It may not be easy to find these men. . . ."

If only we had such "troublesome young men" today in the halls of our Congress, our civilization would not once again be in danger because of those who put party allegiance ahead of the nation's well-being.

Lynne Olson has written a masterpiece. The left-wing may deride it for being about "dead white men", a male-dominated society, war and the like, but every intelligent, reasoning person owes it to themself to read it and ponder the lessons of the past as a guide for the future.

Jerry

"Speak for England, Arthur!".......2007-09-20

This book should put to rest forever the mistaken notion that Churchill's ascension to be Prime Minister was a foregone conclusion in 1940. In great detail, the author has laid out all of the work done by many (the "troublesome young men" of the title) Tory backbenchers, and also some opposition party leaders, that led to the fall of Chamberlain. Even then, there was no clear cut successor, and the book implies that, if Anthony Eden had been a bit more agressive, he might have been PM. We are treated to thumbnail biographies of all of the major players, and that helps in seeing how they acted (or didn't act) in the late '30s. It's also astonishing to see how Churchill, when he became PM, stayed with the Chamberlain loyalists in his cabinet, and almost effectively shut out of power those who gave that power to him. This book has eerie parallels to today's political scene, where a large number of politicians and their media followers wish to appease those who would seek to do us harm, while a smaller but determined band of folks are attempting to keep the country safe from further terrorist attacks. There's no question on which side Churchill would be if he were still alive.
Ede

History repeats itself.......2007-09-15

While reading this outstanding book I was struck by the polemics surrounding World War II and how similar they are to the current Iraq War/War on Terrorism debates. British party loyalty rather than country loyalty ruled the day and provided an environment for Hitler to unfold his war plans. As I read this book I wondered if we were doing the same thing.

Good look at the war before The War.......2007-09-12

I started skimming this book in the bookstore and couldn't stop thinking about it after I had left. I bought it and practically devoured each word. It's not perfectly written - sometimes the timetable was confusing and histories were concluded too early for my taste. However, I found myself growing desperate to know the outcome of all their machinations - beyond the obvious - and increasing appalled at the blindness of so many people. The author doesn't suffer from hero worship for any of these chaps (save one, Cartland) which is refreshing in a book of this sort.

If you think Chamberlain was given a bad rap, you'll hate this book (actually, you might want to read this book). If not, you might find it as enthralling as I did.

Britain's descent into WWII from a non-Churchillian viewpoint.......2007-08-31

This was an informative and insightful book. So much of the history of this period is known to us today from Churchill's perspective that it is interesting to view the events from the perspective of others who were key players in them. For much of the book, Churchill is the looming presence off-stage. Only as the troublesome young men become disenchanted with the vascillating Eden does WSC move to the center.

The author's description of the period of the "phony war" (September 1939 -- May 1940) was quite interesting. She includes not only the significant events but also the small ones that provide a complete picture. Stories about children being evacuated are common, but I had not read before about the number of Londoners who had their pets put down when the war began. The comment by an American about the weirdness of walking streets with no children or dogs was telling.

I was startled by an error also noted by another reviewer. The sinking of Royal Oak at Scapa Flow by a U-boat was a noteworthy event. However, it would not have been particularly noteworthy if, as the author states, Royal Oak had been a destroyer. The ship was an R-class battleship -- virtually obsolete by 1939, but still a capital ship. No destroyer that ever sailed has had a crew as large as the 800 sailors who were lost. Who was responsible for this mistake?

Lastly, I enjoyed the way the author traced the lives of the young men as they became old men. The portrait of Super Mac was especially good. I began the book expecting it to end in 1940, but I was pleased to find that completed the stories of the main characters.

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Watching History Repeat Itself
An Indispensable History of Failed British Diplomacy

The Appeasers
Martin Gilbert , and Richard Gott
Manufacturer: Phoenix Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1842120506

Book Description

Gilbert and Gott, as two young Oxford historians in 1963, wrote this compelling account of how a whole important branch of foreign policy was developed, how it was carried out, and why it was misconceived. The pre-war administration of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain ignored its advisors and pursued a policy of appeasement in the mistaken belief that it would cause an end to Hitler's plans.

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Watching History Repeat Itself.......2006-08-28

Gilbert -- in one of his earliest books -- gives a detailed analysis of how the world appeased the great dictators, the missed opportunities and the willingness to abandon allies in the face of adversity. What is particularly relevant is the extent to which history seems to be repeating itself today with the way in which Europe (and others) handle Iran. The tactics are the same -- on both sides.

An Indispensable History of Failed British Diplomacy.......2006-08-15

Many students of World War II and the interval between World War I and World War II have wondered how British diplomatic policy could have been so disastrously wrong about Hitler and Nazi Germany, and how that policy could have been maintained and pursued in the face of so much evidence that Hitler was an evil, dishonest and unprincipled negotiating partner, and bent on war, despite his protestations to the contary.

Martin Gilbert and Richard Gott set out to answer that question in 1963, at a time when the immediate passions of World War II had cooled, but when the question, then unanswered, was fresh and vital, and they succeeded brilliantly. What they show is Neville Chamberlain and his ministers in close detail, what they thought and why they thought it. This book achieves what it sets out to accomplish: it explains in careful detail the origins and practice of British appeasement in the run-up to World War II.

The authors make two primary points, one obvious and one more subtle. The obvious point is that Chamberlain's government (and the Conservative Party more generally) was so eager to avoid another war that it simply ignored the abundant evidence that Nazi Germany was pursuing policies that were abhorrent to any constitutional democracy and that were bound to lead to another major European war. And in their ultimately unsuccessful effort to stave off war in Europe, there was virtually no step that Chamberlain's government would not take to attempt to mollify and curry favor with Nazi Germany.

The more subtle point is that, as the decade of the 1930s progressed, and particularly after Munich, the Chamberlain government either removed from government or ignored dissenting voices, and it also began to conduct its diplomacy almost in secret, bypassing the House of Commons and public opinion to the fullest extent feasible. And the more the Chamberlain government and its ministers pursued a go-it-alone, hothouse mentality, the more it became isolated from public opinion. No wonder that Chamberlain was unseated in 1940; the surprise is that it didn't happen sooner.

This sad story is all laid out it in great depth, literally on an hour-by-hour basis in the case of some of the major crises, such as Munich, and the Danzig negotiations of 1939. Beyond merely providing a chronology of these events, however, the authors provide the social and political context for the various events as they occurred, plus biographical sketches for some of the major actors within the Chamberlain Government.

For any student interested in the origins of World War II, this is, quite simply, an invaluable book.

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Neville Chamberlain: A Biography
Robert C. Self
Manufacturer: Ashgate Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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British Appeasement in the 1930s (Foundations of Modern History)

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British Appeasement in the 1930s (Foundations of Modern History)
William R. Rock
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Chamberlain (British Prime Ministers of the 20th Century) (British Prime Ministers of the 20th Century)
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Product Description

Neville Chamberlain, the Conservative politician, was prime minister from 1937-40. When Baldwin retired in 1937, Chamberlain was his natural successor. By then there was a single dominant issue in world affairs - the aggressive intentions of Nazi Germany. The majority in Britain hoped that a peaceful solution could be found for Germany's claims on areas of other countries with German populations, and Chamberlain was a willing spokesman for this policy of appeasement. With the agreement at Munich in 1938 he effectively abandoned Czechoslovakia, but immediately accelerated Britain's rearmament program and the following year declared that Britain would defend Poland. This commitment led, in September 1939, to the start of World War II. He brought into his war cabinet the leading opponent of appeasement, Winston Churchill. The failure of the campaign in Norway in April 1940 led to his resignation, being succeeded by Churchill.

Neville Chamberlain (Reputations Series)

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Neville Chamberlain (Reputations Series)
David Dutton
Manufacturer: A Hodder Arnold Publication
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0340706279

Book Description

Neville Chamberlain remains one of the most controversial figures of twentieth-century British politics. For many years he was admired, even revered, throughout Britain. After serving as Prime Minister, however, Chamberlain left office a reviled and disdained public figure. This book seeks to explain these extremes while offering the author's assessment of what Chamberlain's historical reputation ought to be.

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Chamberlain and Roosevelt: British Foreign Policy and the United States, 1937-1940

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Chamberlain and Roosevelt: British Foreign Policy and the United States, 1937-1940
William R. Rock
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The Neville Chamberlain Diary Letters

Manufacturer: Ashgate Pub Ltd
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Burying Caesar: The Churchill-Chamberlain Rivalry

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Superb Book & So Cheap !
Interesting Book.... Worth a Look
A watershed moment and a classical struggle brought to life
A white wash of Chamberlain
The Great Man and the Clerk From Birmingham!

Burying Caesar: The Churchill-Chamberlain Rivalry
Graham Stewart
Manufacturer: Overlook Hardcover
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1585671304
Release Date: 2001-01-29

Book Description

An important and magisterial account by England's extraordinary young historian of the epic struggle between two titans for the leadership of Britain on the eve of the Second World War.

In the 1930s, Winston Churchill and Neville Chamberlain were the two giants of the English political stage, the sons of men who had decisively shaped the politics of the previous era. Burying Caesar charts the bitter course plotted by Churchill and Chamberlain in their ambition to win the greatest prize in British politics-the primeministership that had eluded both their fathers-a struggle carried out against the darkening storm of Nazi Germany.

What were the political machinations that kept Neville Chamberlain in office during the 1930s and deliberately kept Winston Churchill out? Was Churchill the prophet of uncomfortable truths during his "wilderness years," or was Chamberlain reasonable in his appeasement of Hitler? Stewart examines the dynamics and deep-seated rivalries within the Tory party, pitting Chamberlain's partisans against Churchill's "glamour boys." While Chamberlain appeased Hitler at Munich and urged isolation at home, Churchill emerged from the wilderness with a distinctive voice of moral authority and bulldog conviction.

Burying Caesar is a gripping account of the mechanisms and motivations that underpin politics in Britain, forces that are as powerful today-on both sides of the Atlantic-as they were more than sixty years ago.

Customer Reviews:

Superb Book & So Cheap !.......2007-02-28

This book is fantastic. I found it superb. Joseph Chamberlain was one of the giants of 19th Century English politics - the family owned a business now known as GKN Plc.

In the Conservative Party his great rival was Lord Randolph Churchill, father of Winston who started out as a Conservative, became a Liberal, and switched back to Conservative.

Chamberlain's eldest son Austen [his mother died 2 days after his birth] once dined with Bismarck and won the Nobel Peace Prize as Foreign Secretary. He died just as his younger half-brother, Neville became Prime Minister after a superb track record of social reform but inspired by his brother's work he found a very different Germany and dreams of peace became delusions

Interesting Book.... Worth a Look.......2006-12-22

Offers an interesting perspective on the background to the rivalry between Churchill and Chamberlain. Of course, it wasn't really a rivalry at all until Munich blew up in Chamberlain's face. Until that moment Chamberlain was utterly dominant and Churchill was a widely disliked "has been". The author demonstrates how luck played a key role in elevating Churchill from the "backbenches" to the "Treasury Bench".

In my untutored opinion, the author is far too kind to Chamberlain who was, again in my opinion, an arrogant fool. Read Martin Gilbert and Richard Gott, The Appeasers, for a better take on the enormity of what Chamberlain and Halifax (et al) perpetrated.

Don't waste your time unless you have a strong interest in the gritty details of English history.

A watershed moment and a classical struggle brought to life.......2004-10-05

In a democracy, the people have the leaders they deserve. This would seem a rather self-evident observation, but one which is often forgotten when the inadequacy of Britain's political leadership facing Hitler in the thirties is discussed. As a citizen of a country that was ultimately liberated from nazi oppression by British troops, I certainly have no wish to belittle the heroism of the British people during World War II, but you need to make a clear distinction between Churchill's Britain living out its finest hour between 1940 and 1945 and the Britain of Baldwin and Chamberlain, struck hard by the twin calamities of World War I and the great depression and seeking only peace and comfort at almost any cost. This is what Burying Ceasar brilliantly demonstrates.

With the future of mankind hanging in the balance, the drama of Britain dealing with the menace of Nazi Germany boils down to a political and personal struggle between two elderly gentlemen, Chamberlain and Churchill, both striving to fulfill the ambitions of their fathers and families: Neville Chamberlain was both a son and a brother of great men, while Churchill, allthough the scion of a great family, was in reality the son of a demented political loser whom he nevertheless adored. No materialistic approach to history here - events are shaped by individuals, their qualities and flaws have decisive influence on the course of history. Burying Caesar portrays both men in an honest and objective way, neither vilifying Chamberlain nor glorifying Churchill and this is one of the great strenghts of the book.

It has been stated that the book seeks to redeem the reputation of Neville Chamberlain, but I do not agree. Burying Caesar merely frees itself from the conventional wisdom that Chamberlain was a narrow-minded and untrustworthy coward, showing us instead a basically decent and well-meaning politician who unfortunately (not least for himself) advanced to a position that demanded greater talents than this rather mediocre personality had been provided with. Chamberlain had been a reasonably succesful chancellor of the exchequer during the worst years of the depression and had his career ended at that, he would have been remembered in a mostly positive light as a minor figure of British history rather than as one of the worst failures of world history. Still, faced with an electorate which (naturally) did not want another war and hampered by his own lack of international experience, Chamberlain no doubt tried his best to serve his country. That he was no match for Hitler is obvious but one might wonder if any other British PM could really have prevented World War II (given, for instance, the attitude of France...).

Which brings us to Churchill. A vain, self-serving man of immense personal ambition, idiosyncratic in his view of the world yet ready to compromize if it might bring him back into the corridors of power. Not a man to be trusted, not a leader for times of great crisis. Yet history proved him right about the nazi menace and he turned out to be just the right leader for Britain when war came and the British people were ready once more to demonstrate heroism in the face of terrible adversity. Burying Caesar depicts Churchill with all his flaws, yet also shows us how he held on to his basic belief that Freedom and Justice would have to stand firm against Oppression and Crime and how that very staunchness made him into the leader now revered by all mankind - a fascinating portrait of the imperfect genius among men who were merely imperfect.

Graham Stewart writes historical non-fiction in the great tradition of British scholars such as A.J.P. Taylor, Corelli Barnett, Martin Gilbert etc. More, please....

A white wash of Chamberlain.......2003-10-19

It is all well and good to make this big deal over Chamberlian's
conscience, honour etc something that history does not record that had much to do with stopping Chamberlian from breaking his word fairly fairly regularly. A leader has to take responsibilities for the decisions that he makes within the parameters that he works under. In Chamberlain's case, he totally misjudged Hitler and his regime. It is not like the Nazis made any secret of their aims. As this book points out many in his own party like Churchill were worried that his actions.

Before the war and during the war, Chamberlain failed to produce the type of leadership required by his nation.

To Chamberlain credit, as the book points out, once he realized that Hitler could not be trusted his appeasement policy came to an end. I wish that other world leaders would have this sort of moral strength to admit sometimes that what they did was wrong and try to correct it.

The Great Man and the Clerk From Birmingham!.......2003-01-01

Much has been written about Churchill's wilderness years in the 1930's ranging from the lavish praise of William Manchester to the scorn of a John Charmley. I have never before seen a history covering the precise topic of this book which is the rivalry between Churchill and Neville Chamberlain during the decade which began with Churchill an ostracized outcast and Chamberlain a rising star and yet ended with Chamberlain a scorned failure and Churchill a triumphant war leader.

Young British historian Graham Stewart has put together a massive and meticulous study of just how and why events played out as they did between the two men. American readers be warned, this book is extremely British in tone, use of idiom and most of all, in its intricate discussion of British Parliamentary politics in the thirties. Stewart certainly assumes his readers are aware of the British electoral and Parliamentary system and the way it works. I myself, an American reader, am not but this was not too much of a handicap as I was able to follow the story without too much difficulty.

The first part of the book provides a good deal of background on British politics from the age of Churchill's father, Randolph and Chamberlain's father Joseph through the beginning of the twenties. Stewart describes the rise and fall of various parties, in particular the National Liberals of Lloyd George in the early twenties. While Chamberlain was not a player in national politics during the twenties (although his brother Austen was), Churchill was at the height of his influence, having left the Liberal party and slowly edging back towards the Conservatives. Stanley Baldwin would make him Chancellor of the Exchequer and Churchill became a full fledged Conservative once again in 1925. Further chapters describe the Conservative's loss to a Labour/Liberal coalition and Churchill's resignation from the shadow cabinet over the "India Bill". When he gets to the thirties, Stewart covers the Parliamentary maneuvering in incredible detail. Contrary to popular belief, Churchill, though out of favor with the party powers, maintained his supporters, known as Winstonians.

Chamberlain was quite different than Churchill as Stewart demonstrates, unlike Churchill, his primary loyalty was to the party not to any specific principles. It was not for nothing that Churchill referred to him as "that clerk from Birmingham." But this was the sort of man Baldwin was looking for. Churchill's first true breach with the party came over his demand that Britain re-arm in order to protect itself from the designs of Nazi Germany. Although his criticism of the Baldwin government was muted by his desire to regain office, Churchill consistently called for stronger defense preparation. After 1935, when it was clear he would never gain office under Baldwin, Churchill became a vocal and outspoken critic earning him the ire not only of the Conservatives but of the Labourites as well, who favored suicidal disarmament.

Chamberlain became prime minister in 1937 upon Baldwin's retirement. With no background in foreign affairs, he was immediately confronted with foreign crises caused by the growing belligerence of Nazi Germany, the Spanish Civil War and the actions of Fascist Italy. Despite the book's subtitle, there really was no rivalry between Churchill and Chamberlain until the Munich crisis of 1938. At this point Churchill moved into open opposition with his own party by delivering one of the most eloquent addresses of his career, denouncing the Munich pact before the House of Commons. This is the best part of the book. Stewart is never unfair to either man and not at all a revisionist. Nevertheless, he never hesitates to point out the fantastic assumptions upon which Chamberlain based his policy of appeasement. A most interesting point is how little Churchill actively did to maneuver himself into power. Although an outspoken opponent of appeasement, Churchill did nothing either publicly or privately to create the conditions which led to his return to office and his eventual ascension to the prime minister's office. In fact, once he joined the government and the war cabinet upon the outbreak of war, he muted his criticisms of Chamberlain and became a loyal soldier. In the end, despite his best laid plans and hopes, Chamberlain died a sad and broken man, his policy of appeasement in ruins. Churchill ascended to the ultimate heights of greatness in which he is held today. The reader of this book will learn a great deal about Churchill about whom much has been written as well as a great deal about Chamberlain about whom less has been written. Once the story begins to focus on the rising menace of Naziism, it is always riveting and frequently fascinating. The book is dense, scholarly and yet eminently readable. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend it to any serious reader of history.

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