WWII During the UK Prime Minister Churchill, US President Roosevelt and Soviet Council Chairman Stalin were called the "three giants" of the allies in World War II. But what is very interesting is that the victory of the Allies in World War II was a foregone conclusion, but in the few months before the war ended, both of these three giants had changed.
World War II "Big Three" group photo
First, in April 1945, US President Roosevelt died. The leader of the United States was replaced by Truman . Although the time point of this incident is very sensitive, it is due to an irresistible natural reason, so it is still normal.
The real unexpected happened on July 5, 1945. On this day, Churchill, who had been leading the UK during World War II, suffered a crushing defeat in the British general election. The British Conservative Party led by him only received 36.2% of the vote in the British general election, and only 197 seats were won in the House of Commons, which decided on the rulers. The opposition British Labor Party won 393 seats, almost twice that of the Conservative Party . This led to Churchill being forced to step down when the European War II had just won the European War and the Asian battlefield was not yet fully over. So what happened in Britain at that time, and why was Churchill immediately abandoned after leading the country to win the War of the Century? Is it really that the British people are "ungrateful"?
Is Britain really the "victory country" of World War II?
It should be said that Churchill was immediately "abandoned" after his victory, but one of the important reasons actually have a lot to do with the significance of the victory of World War II to Britain. The Peach Blossom Stone Miscellaneous said this because although Britain was one of the main victorious countries in World War II and thus gained the status of a permanent member of the United Nations, in fact, Britain's losses in World War II far outweighed the benefits.
Scene of Churchill and Roosevelt negotiating on the Atlantic Charter
1940, Britain has been lobbying the United States, hoping that it will send troops to participate in the war against Germany. However, although US President Roosevelt was willing to provide assistance to the UK, he had always been vague about sending troops directly. It was not until August 1941 that the United States and Britain signed the Atlantic Charter, forming a political alliance with Britain, which meant that the United States opened its doors to send troops in principle. This change in the United States is related to the major concessions made by Britain in the Atlantic Charter.
The Atlantic Charter clearly states that all ethnic groups have the right to form governments according to their own wishes, and the meaning of this word is actually very connotation. During World War II, it can be interpreted as the United States and Britain trying to help countries occupied by Germany during World War II restore sovereignty. But if the United States wants, it can also be interpreted as the United States demands that Britain give up its overseas colonies and continue to maintain the British Empire after defeating Germany.
In fact, in the negotiations between the two sides, the United States had already made this clear, that is, it required Britain to take decolonization actions around the world after defeating Germany, that is, to give up overseas colonies. The United States did this mainly to enable itself to intervene in various affairs of the former British colonies after the war, including being able to enter its market. This also contains huge benefits, because the British overseas colonies at that time were more than 30 million square kilometers.
At its peak, the British Empire occupied the area
But this clause was a life-threatening for Britain, but because Britain was already in a state of great danger at that time, it was already in a panic for Britain to send troops, so it was impossible to refuse the United States' request, so it could only accept this condition.
In addition, in the early days of World War II, because Britain was under heavy pressure on a series of battlefields, it had to recruit a large number of soldiers from India, the most important colony of Britain, but this aroused strong opposition in India. In 1942, the Indians launched a protest called "Exit India" and demanded that they refuse to cooperate with their recruitment plan unless the UK agrees to India's independence. Although Britain rejected India's request for immediate independence at that time, in order to appease the Indians, it was forced to promise that India would allow independence after the war.
The disintegration of the British Empire was basically finalized during Churchill's administration
In the subsequent World War II, millions of troops from India also played an important role in Britain's war efforts. So in 1945, although India had not yet been independent, its independence after the war was basically a foregone conclusion. The loss of India, the most important British colony, and coupled with the pressure from the United States mentioned above, the disintegration of the British Empire has basically become a foregone conclusion. Although Britain became a nominal victorious country, it lost the British Empire, which made Britain's decline from a world-class power before the war to a second-rate country.
The decisions of the United States to give up colonies after the war and India's independence after the war were actually made during Churchill's rule. Therefore, in 1945, the joy of victory in World War II was actually intertwined with the loss of the British Empire, and the latter emotion was even stronger. Then it would be normal that they did not thank Churchill too much.
What exactly did the British want at that time?
In addition to the decline of the British Empire, some of the internal affairs of Britain also led to the abandonment of Churchill by ordinary British people, which has a certain relationship with the decline of the British Empire.
First of all, before the war, there were still great differences between Britain and other countries such as the United States and France. This difference is mainly reflected in the fact that in Britain at that time, the nobles still had great power and the social hierarchy was relatively strict. However, during the war, in order to prevent civil unrest due to the worsening of the living conditions of the poor in the war, the British government has also taken a series of extraordinary measures, such as providing quantitative food supply to all British people, and the government comes forward to ensure their employment to prevent large-scale unemployment.
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But in the view of the Conservative Party represented by Churchill, this series of policies are extraordinary policies implemented in wartime and may not be implemented after the war. But in fact, for the vast majority of the lower classes of society in Britain, these "extraordinary policies" in wartime have actually improved their living standards to some extent than in non-wartime. If these "extraordinary policies" were abolished after the war, then Britain would return to the previous state of strict class hierarchy and lack of security in the lower class life, which most British people cannot accept.
And before the war, because Britain had a large number of overseas colonies, under the support of the colonies, although the living standards of the lower classes in the native British society were significantly different from those of the wealthy class, they were still much better than most other countries. However, it was a foregone conclusion that Britain lost a large number of colonies after the war. In this case, if all the safeguards during the war were abolished, then the living standards of ordinary people could still be reversed compared to those before the war, which made most British people even more unacceptable.
Scenes of British civilians evading air strikes during World War II
And the British Labor Party proposed a comprehensive social reform proposal to address this public willingness, and to establish a normalized social security, medical insurance and employment security system in the UK so that the living standards of ordinary British people can be basically guaranteed. But because Churchill and the Conservatives strongly opposed these reforms, these claims of Labour were strongly criticized during the campaign. In a radio speech on June 4, 1945, he said that these social reforms advocated by the Labor Party were only possible through the Nazi-style Gestapo (Nazi Secret Police ), that is, comparing the Labor Party and its supporters to the Nazis.
Because the war was not over at that time, and many British people who supported Labour policy at that time were still fighting bloody on the battlefield, and in several years of war, many Labour supporters had even sacrificed their lives on the battlefield.As soon as Churchill's remarks on these people were made so disrespectful, it immediately aroused public outrage in British society, and even Churchill's family showed such an excessive attitude. In this kind of social opinion, many people naturally gave up their support for Churchill's Conservative Party.
British propaganda poster during World War II: Britain and Russia joined hands to fight against the Nazis
In addition, the European war had just ended during the election. The British who had personally experienced World War II were very clear about the core role of the Soviet Union in turning the situation of World War II. Therefore, unlike the modern Western Europe and the United States who were keen to deny the achievements of the Soviet Union in World War II, the public opinion in Britain was generally moved by the great sacrifices and backbone role of the Soviet Union during the war, so they generally had a good impression of the Soviet Union. There was an example at that time that was actually very telling.
In November 1945, the Soviet football team Moscow Dynamo came to the UK to conduct a visiting game. After the announcement of this news, it immediately sparked a keen pursuit among London citizens, and the tickets to the competition were sold out within a few hours. When Dynamo Moscow came to London to compete with British football powerhouses such as Chelsea and Arsenal , the stadium was not only full, but most of the audience actually turned against him and cheered for Dynamo Moscow, making it the "home team" of these games. Among this high favorable impression of the Soviet Union, many people also love the house and Ukraine, and developed a favorable impression of the British Labor Party, which nominally advocated socialism, further increasing the support rate of the Labor Party.
Partner Party leader Attley and the King of England, who succeeded Churchill as Prime Minister, finally, under the combined effect of these factors, Churchill and his Conservative Party suffered a crushing defeat in the general election on July 5. Churchill himself was obviously not mentally prepared for such a crushing defeat. Some records left at that time show that he fell into depression after learning of his failure, and later left Britain for a time and went to southern France to live in seclusion, spending time by painting and laying bricks. Even when the British King later wanted to award him the Guard Medal , which represents the highest honor in the UK, he refused to accept it, saying that he had received the "boot medal" from the people (meaning that he had been kicked away). After the British Labor Party came to power, it did implement a large number of reforms, including the establishment of a national medical service system (NHS), which had a far-reaching impact on Britain, which can be said to have played a foundation for the British system after the war. (The picture is from the Internet, please inform us to delete the infringement)
