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10. The Man who Declared War on Germany and that was Neville Chamberlain.

People forget Chamberlain was Prime Minister when Britain went to War in 1939. His speech about "peace in our time" was a simple statement for the press, but in reality what France and Britain were doing was buying time, neither were ready for war in 1938, and in fact would NOT have been ready for war till 1941. Germany was much stronger then Britain and France in 1938, 1939 and can be seen in the French Campaign of 1940, still stronger in 1940. One ENGLISH observer made the point, that the Battle of Britain was won by the French holding out till the end of June, that gave Britain the time to have enough Spitfire and Hurricane Fighters AND to have their radar system installed so they could defeat the German Air Offensive of the Summer of 1940. In fact, Britain was about to admit defeat in the Battle of Britain for the British had decided to withdraw its remaining fighters to Northern England when the Germans decided to switch to bombing cities (The previous German Air Attacks were aimed at air bases and air planes to gain Air Superiority). That switch gave Britain more time, but it shows how close the Germans came to Victory, and the difference was the six weeks of Air Plane production provided by the French Army tying up the German Forces, thus delaying the Battle of Britain till Britain had that extra six weeks of fighter production.

The six weeks the French Army held out in 1940 after the battle of Dunkirk, was the six weeks of Fighter Production that permitted Britain to win the Battle of Britain. That air production was Chamberlain's baby, Churchill only became Prime Minister on May 10th, 1940, as German Tanks stormed into France. Churchill did NOT become the leader of the Conservative Party till November 1940 (When Chamberlain died).

The reason for the Switch is complicated, various stories have been told, the best and most logical was the Labor Party refused to work under Chamberlain do to Chamberlain's relationship with the Labor Party during the 1927 General Strike. In 1940, everyone wanted a coalition government of the three parties then in Parliament, but Labour was NOT about to work under Chamberlain do to Chamberlain's actions during the 1927 General Strike. Chamberlain could remain head of the single largest party in Parliament and be Prime Minister for the Conservative parties held over 1/2 of the seats in Parliament, but Labour would NOT work with him and it was decided that Labour had to be part of the Government, not in opposition. Thus Chamberlain had to go, NOT because of Munich, but the General Strike of 1927. Churchill had been almost supportive of Labor during the General Strike and thus acceptable to Labour as Prime Minister of a Government Labour was part of.

Please note, Churchill being made Prime Minster was not something applauded at the time, it was almost "Churchill? That is the best we can do?" The Conservative party actually OPPOSED Churchill's nomination, but when Chamberlain said he supported Churchill as Prime Minster the Conservative Party voted with their leader, which remain Chamberlain till in died in November 1940.

Please note, Churchill FIRST election as Prime Minster was in 1945, which Churchill LOST by more then 194 seats. Churchill lost again in 1950, but by only 33 seats but also by 1.7 million votes out of 28 million votes casted. Churchill did lead the Conservatives to Victory in 1951, but it was a case where the Conservatives won more seats, but the Labour ended up with over 200,000 more votes. Thus Churchill, when he was head of the Conservative party NEVER received more votes then Labour, the Conservatives managed to win more seats but NOT more votes.

Churchill has always been more popular in the US, then he was in Britain, but that is a problem with many foreign politicians.