Churchill: The Unexpected Hero

321 Pages·2006·1.48 MB·English

by  Paul Addison

Churchill
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CHURCHILL
The Unexpected Hero
PAUL ADDISON
1
3
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP
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© Paul Addison 2005
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First published 2005
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ISBN 0–19–927934–9
3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4
Typeset by RefineCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk
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For Rosy
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Acknowledgements
This book originated with an invitation from the late Colin
Matthew to write the article on Churchill for the new Oxford
Dictionary of National Biography. I owe a debt of gratitude to
him, and also to his successor Brian Harrison, and the staff of the
DNB, for all their encouragement and support. Having com-
pleted the article, which ran to about 30,000 words, it occurred to
me that it could be expanded into a short book in which I would
be able to give more space to the analysis of Churchill’s character
and career. I am grateful to Ruth Parr at OUP for supporting the
initial proposal, to Bonnie Blackburn for impeccable copy-
editing, and to Kay Rogers and Anne Gelling for seeing the book
efficiently through the press. My agent Bruce Hunter has been an
unfailing source of wisdom and encouragement.
I am grateful to the University of Edinburgh for granting me
the study leave in which to complete this book. Dr Jeremy Crang
and Dr David Stafford, my colleagues at the Centre for Second
World War Studies, have been the most supportive of colleagues
and friends. My thanks are also due to many others for their
generous assistance or advice, and especially Professor Geoffrey
Best, Dr Angus Calder, Professor Antoine Capet, Mr Sebastian
Cox, Dr Frances Dow, Mr Owen Dudley Edwards, Sir Martin
Gilbert, Professor Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones, Dr Richard Macken-
ney, Professor James McMillan, Dr Nicholas Phillipson,
vii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Professor John Ramsden, Dr Victor Rothwell, Professor George
Shepperson, and Mr Ian S. Wood. As ever my greatest debt is
to Rosy, James, and Michael.
Paul Addison
October 2004
viii
Contents
Abbreviations xi
Prologue 1
1. The Youngest Man in Europe, 1874–1901 7
2. The Renegade, 1901–1911 29
3. The Lilliput Napoleon, 1911–1915 57
4. The Winstonburg Line, 1915–1924 82
5. Respectability Won and Lost, 1924–1939 112
6. The Making of a Hero, 1939–1945 153
7. Climbing Olympus, 1945–1965 216
8. Churchill Past and Present 246
Notes 255
Bibliography 275
Index 287