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Churchill, Hitler and "The Unnecessary War"

How Britain Lost Its Empire and the West Lost the World

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Churchill, Hitler and "The Unnecessary War"

By: Patrick J. Buchanan
Narrated by: Don Leslie
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About this listen

 Were World Wars I and II–which can now be seen as a thirty-year paroxysm of slaughter and destruction–inevitable? Were they necessary wars? Were the bloodiest and most devastating conflicts ever suffered by mankind fated by forces beyond man’s control? Or were they products of calamitous failures of judgment? In this monumental and provocative history, Patrick Buchanan makes the case that, if not for the blunders of British statesmen–Winston Churchill first among them–the horrors of two world wars and the Holocaust might have been avoided and the British Empire might never have collapsed into ruins. Half a century of murderous oppression of scores of millions under the iron boot of Communist tyranny might never have happened, and Europe’s central role in world affairs might have been sustained for many generations.

Among the British and Churchillian blunders were:
• The vengeful Treaty of Versailles that mutilated Germany, leaving her bitter, betrayed, and receptive to the appeal of Adolf Hitler • Britain’s capitulation, at Churchill’s urging, to American pressure to sever the Anglo-Japanese alliance, insulting and isolating Japan • The greatest blunder in British history: the unsolicited war guarantee to Poland of March 1939–that guaranteed the Second World War

Certain to create controversy and spirited argument, CHURCHILL, HITLER AND “THE UNNECESSARY WAR” is a grand and bold insight into the historic failures of judgment that ended centuries of European rule and guaranteed a future that no one who lived in that vanished world could ever have envisioned. Europe Germany Great Britain Military Politicians Politics & Activism War Royalty England Winston Churchill Imperialism British Empire Interwar Period Soviet Union Russia Holocaust Africa Middle Ages Thought-Provoking United Kingdom Franklin D Roosevelt Refugee Socialism Self-Determination
All stars
Most relevant
A great summary of critical world events and every bit as apt today as when written nearly twenty years ago.

Insightful and Standing the Test of Time

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The reader does an excellent job. This is easy to listen too with no attempt to act out a drama. Though the content deals with dramatic stuff what we hear is historical interpretation.
It is pretty obvious at times Buchanan is politically on the right wing of American conservatism, eg his views on communism and fascism in the post war era show a blindness to how weak the former is in the USA and how strong the later is today and then.
However he sees the subject matter in a more objective manner and sustains his arguments well. In a nutshell Hitler did not want a world war in the late thirties and early forties but Churchill did. Hitler would have ended the war early if he could have found a way out. Churchill was determined to carry on at terrible costs if necessary. Churchill thought the British Empire could win (with a little help from it's friends). Hitler new Germany could not. The whole thing was avoidable and the consequence of the errors on all sides and much less to do with German aggression than is often claimed. Yes he makes it clear Hitler was a monster and Nazism is evil, but also shows Churchill as an amoral manipulator with poor judgment, a war monger with contempt for neutrality and an imperialist willing to use the clothes of a democrat as the disguise that would help get him the aid he needed from the USA. Czech and Polish stupidity contributed to their own downfalls. I'm British but see that the British politicians do not come out of this well but nobody else does either. German, Czech, Polish, French, American, Italian Politicians, and others all make serious errors
If you swallow your politics and national bias, and make allowances for Buchanan's you will find this book factually well sustained and thought provoking.

Excellent interpretation

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A valuable book. It would be better without the occassional paragraphs which contradict the central argument. They read as if they were inserted grudgingly, maybe at the insistence of the publisher.

The Churchill cult

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The most insightful book on the background of both world wars. Addresses and brings to light facts which are not taught or ever mentioned in academia. This book reinforces the saying "history is written by the victors"

Fascinating

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If you want to listen to a history book that deviates off the well known ‘sanitised’ versions that are written, then I highly recommend this book. As an Englishman I am filled with an overwhelming feeling of sadness at how England in particular, and the West as a whole, have declined due to catastrophic decisions being made by the past leaders of our Nations.

Excellent read/listen

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