The Hinge Of Fate (The Second World War)

Winston Churchill was remarkable, as much as for any other reason, for the sheer volume of words he produced. In a long life, during which he was often preoccupied by both family matters (he had four children) and matters of state, he nevertheless found the time to compose an inordinate number of books. I say compose, because he perfected a system during the first war, which revealed its efficacy more than ever in the second, of working through secretaries. There are many odd anecdotes told about Churchill, not the least of which is that his secretaries, sometimes working in rotation throughout much of the night, were obliged to attend to him and take down what he said, even in the bath. This way of getting the material down in print proved to be very effective, as the tens of thousands of published pages of his work amply demonstrates.
His long history of the Second World War continues with "The Hinge of Fate." Although he was personally assured that the American entry into the war meant the ultimate defeat of Germany, he still had to see to the day to day running of the war machine, and counter the perverse effects of both German victories and British pessimism. Now began, as well, the long battle with Stalin about opening up a second front in France, to take some of the heat off the Russian armies in the East. In fact, his relationship with the Russian leader is one of the most interesting sources of anecdotal references throughout this series.
This is history being well told by a man who was, while perhaps not a trained historian as such, so steeped in the history of his family and his country, that he an utterly unique point of view. The fact that he was also a central figure in the war itself, means that we have, if you like, a one in a million chance victory on our hands, as though we had just won a lottery of sorts, by being able to read him.

Because he was writing for a population that had lived through World War II and knew its facts, Churchill's 6-volume history of that time can be more than a little daunting for contemporary readers. His is a kind of top-down history that approaches unconscious autobiography: Churchill seems to feel that reproducting his memos, letters, and "minutes" -- in painfully small type -- will provide the reader with all the info necessary to completely know and understand the war. Of course we know it ain't so; Cornelius Ryan, John Toland, and Stephen Ambrose, just for starters, have written far more accessible and comprehensive histories that present a variety of viewpoints and don't gloss over difficult or unsavory moments. Instead, one should read Churchill in order to read Churchill-- in order to enjoy the company of that most remarkable statesman, in order to savor his impeccable prose and snicker at his wicked humor, in order to marvel at a life that began in mid-Victorian times and ended in the heyday of the Rolling Stones. The man's prescience was uncanny, not only in recognizing the evils of Hitler long before any other world leader, but in comprehending the nature and extent of what was then a genuine Soviet menace. Despite his anachronistic attitudes about people of color, Churchill was no racist; he simply lived in his world as we live in ours, and his story is an object lesson for the present. How much of what we now revere as received truth will be questoned, even debunked, 50 or 60 or 70 years from now? Yet authenticity and honesty will always last longer than glibness and flash, and Churchill has more a & h on one page than the easy-to-read historians have in their entire oevre. I'm afraid our puny and wan little world, so beset with its infantile fears and carefully nurtured insecurities, gooey with political correctness, dizzied with the hoohaw and the yelping of the media, is now far from capable of producing such a giant. Young Winston would be given Ritalin in school today and taught that white males like him are born evil. To paraphrase "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," he saved the world -- a lot -- and he did it with the English language.

Churchill's fourth book, `Hinge of Fate', covers the time period from January 1942 to June 1943. The Japanese, after Pearl Harbor, were advancing through the Malaya peninsula and onwards towards Singapore. With bold offensive strokes Hong Kong, Burma and Singapore were soon in Japanese hands. In the Atlantic, U-boats were taking high tolls in allied shipping and soon the British, Dutch and Americans were being run out of the Pacific. The gains in the African desert were soon lost as Rommel regain the offensive and retakes Benghazi. Churchill now faced censure at home and soon he needed to reorganize his Generals. Hitler was pushing forward on the Eastern front towards Stalingrad and many setbacks were shifting the balance.

This volume is well named as there is much offensive and defensive struggles going on in the Pacific theater, the African desert and the Eastern front. All three Allied countries were up to their necks in trouble, and the Axis forces still had the upper hand. It wasn't until Alamein, on the African coast that the hinge turned in favor of the Allies. Churchill states that "Before Alamein we never had a victory. After Alamein we never had a defeat." Some of the most interesting parts of the book are Churchill's relationships with Stalin and FDR. Much has been written about these and it is nice to get Churchill's views and opinions about these men and the struggles they faced. Churchill acted, in many ways, the diplomat and statesman greasing the way between the Allied powers and paving the way for Torch (French North Africa), Bolero (Administrative preparations for invasion of France) and soon Overlord (France liberation 1944). Stalin wanted the Western front cross channel attack, of German held France in 1943 as planned, but because of the efforts on the African desert it wasn't until 1944 that Overlord was able to take place. Churchill needed great diplomacy and FDR's help to convince Stalin of the inability to make Overlord work in 1943.

It is great to read Churchill's rendition of this time and place. He was right in the middle, and at this time, still in command of the allied war effort. Well worth reading and adding to the history shelf.

As Hinge fo Fate opens in early 1942, The Japanese had just destroyed most of the American fleet at Pearl Harbor; Japan was about to drive Britain from Southeast Asia and (perhaps) invade Australia; German and Italian troops under Romel were about to invade Egypt, and Stalin's Russia was under attack by the German Army, which had completed itsoccupation of virtually all of Europe, from France to Norway, Lithuania to Greece. Parliament was calling for Churchill's head. This was a true world war (contrast, Bush's War on Terror)--and Britain was losing.

Churchill's reaction--the entry of America and Russia into the war as Britain's allies guaranteed that the Allies would ultimately win--Britain, US, and USSR simply had greater resources than Germany, Japan and Italy. Thus it was only a matter of time.

The attack by Parliament was a sign of a healthy, strong democracy--as Churchill said, how many countries had strong enough political institutions to allow this type of no holds barred debate while under attack, and still survive.

And survive they did. The first half of Hinge of Fate describes a series of worldwide disasters, unbroken by a single significant Allied victory. Then came the legendary battle of Alamein--where General Montgomery beat Rommel, the Allied landing on the north coast of Africa, the US Naval victories at Midway and in the Coral Sea, and Russia's effective resistance against the German Army at Stalingrad and in the Caucasus Mountains.

By the end of 1942, it was not yet clear that tha tAllies would win, but they looked a whole lot batter than they did at the beginning. Along the way, Churchill gives us his impressions of the politics involved--both internal British, within the larger Commonwealth, among the Allies--and particularly his relationship and struggles with Stalin--and the tension between the British (focused on Europe) and the Americans (pushing for more resources to fight the Japanese in the Pacific).

Hinge of Fate continues Churchill's inimitable style, mixing contemporaneous, detailed, memos, telegrams, letters, and directives he wrote, the responses he received, connected by new (in 1950) commentary by Churchill himself. This makes no pretesne at being an "objective" or multi-focused history of WWII. It is clearly, and exclusively, the war from Churchill's unique perspective. But, what a perspective!

that it should have been called The Second World War: From the British Perspective. Ms. Sylvia Wendall has written a superb review here and I agree with her comments wholeheartedly and which she expressed so well. The fact is that even when Churchill gets a little bogged down in chapters and passages that are less than fascinating, the joy is to share the experience as he tells it. His is a perspective like no other, in addition to being an extraordinarily gifted storyteller who will tell it like it was.

Why not give WC 5 stars - how dare I even critique such a giant?! - but here goes: As I make my way through the series, I find the lion's share of the story is from the British point of view. We've been in the desert campaign for all or almost all of the books. Here are only 2 - 3 pages in Vol IV describing the fall campaign 1942 in Russia and ending with Stalingrad. Next chapter, we're back to the desert again. I'm not happy about that, particularly since I find the desert theater the least interesting of all.

There is disproportionate emphasis to all things British as opposed to contemporaneous events in other countries and other events of greater significance. I would read anything WC wrote about WW2 but I don't think this is the defining or best account of WW2 due to the British slant at the expense of the USA, Russia, etc.

About six years ago I began my re-read of Winston S. Churchill’s Second World War and now with “Triumph And Tragedy” I have now completed the work. We have come full circle to the point that the Great Democracies were able to resume the follies which had son nearly cost them their life.

This sixth and final volume begins with D-Day and ends with Churchill’s defeat in the 1945 national elections. On these pages the reader becomes acquainted with the Prime Minister’s views on the invasion of Normandy, V-1s and V-2s, Hitler’s military inflexibility, Mulberry harbors, the invasion of southern France, the Battle of the Bulge, the final assault on Germany, victory and plans for the final assault on Japan. While not ignoring the war in Asia and the Pacific, this series focuses heavily on the European Theatre and the British involvement.

I usually value the insights of people who were characters in the great dramas being studied. Churchill is the premier historian of the summit level of allied planning. We are taken into the conferences and controversies that united and divided the Big Three. Many controversies arose from differing British and American war aims. While the Americans’ overriding goal was the defeat of Germany, Churchill, like a good chess player, was thinking several moves ahead. Roosevelt gave priority to working out an agreement with Stalin whereas Churchill tried to push the meeting of GI Joe and GI Ivan as far to the east as possible. These differing aims lead to debates on what to do with the Armies in Italy, whether to try to capture Berlin and what direction offensives should take. The U.S. insisted that some of the troops in Italy be transferred to Southern France to aid the Normandy invasions despite Churchill’s urging of a continued effort in Italy followed by landings in the Balkans to try to beat the Russians to Vienna. Supportive of the ultimate decision but never reconciled, the Prime Minister lamented an opportunity lost.

Conferences at Yalta and Potsdam are depicted as contentious negotiations over post-war governments, particularly that of Poland whose independence was Britain’s casus belli. Potsdam gave Churchill his first opportunity to size up Harry Truman and his last hand at Big Power politics during the war.

I picked up some facts that I had missed previously, such as that V-2s were used against continental targets and the uproar over Eisenhower’s letter to Stalin. What I really like about this series in general and this book in particular is Churchill’s personal perspective on events and people. He could see FDR’s frailty when others could not, he could foresee future rivalries with Russia when others looked forward to continued harmony and gives us his assessment of Stalin and Truman.

While in college or law school I took my father’s advice to read all six volumes of “The Second World War” and now, 40 years later, I have re-read.it. He gave me good advice in then and it is still good advice. For World War II reading this is the best advice I can give you is to read Churchill’s six volumes from cover to cover.

All six volumes are excellent.

Still reading it.

The "Hinge" refers to the direction of continuous defeats changing into winning. Just before the hinge point people in Britain had gotten so fed up with bad news that a motion of censure was presented in parliament. If it had passed Churchill would have had to leave. The motion was presented by important members of parliament. To survive Churchill faced the challenge of making a speech to turn the tide. One of the many interesting aspects of his speech is, that it was built around the concept of responsibility. He started with the responsibility of Parliament and ending with his own responsibility as Prime Minister, Chairman of the War Cabinet and Minister of Defense. He said that parliament should be the basis of stability in the country. The members of parliament were probably flattered by that idea , even though in parliament the members of the opposition try to bring the government down. Of course the situation was unusual in that the government was a coalition government with members of the conservative and labour party. Churchill presented in a very clear way which organizations carried what kind of responsibilities, the role of the war cabinet , of the central military staffs staffs, of the commanders in the field. Lincoln won the vote on the censure overwhelmingly.
Churchill's book is especially interesting because he describes in equal detail the political action and the military action and how these interact.

Winston plods along with the hostilities in the Pacific theater such as they are. The British embarrassment of the fall of Singapore along with the loss of the Dutch East Indies send the signal that Great Britain is no longer the Empire of old. The American sea victories of the Coral Sea and Midway Island seems to solidify the proceedings in the Pacific Theater. The travel of Winston to Russia to pacify Stalin provides a period of calm for the Allies to proceed with their plans for the invasion of the European continent.
The essence of the Casablanca Conference was the terms of the Allies determination of "Unconditional Surrender". This ultimately led to the final brutal Battle of Berlin in May, 1945.
We are told of the siege of Stalingrad and the victory at Sea in the Atlantic Ocean by the British and American Navies. It was at this time that Mr. Churchill knew that the war would be won.
Winston tends to ramble to show his side of the proceedings. However I still give him 5 Stars. His research of course is first rate. However many passages were long and dragged out. He could have used more appendices.