This is the third installment of my Winston Churchill biography. This page deals with the inter-war years (1918-1939) and covers events such as Churchill's time out of politics, his purchase of Chartwell, the "Wilderness Years" when Winston was no longer listened to, Hitler's rise to power and Britain's appeasement of the Nazis culminating in the Munich "agreement".
For links to Winston's earlier or later life please scroll to the foot of the page. Enjoy.
Post War
The First World War ended on 11th November 1918. In Lloyd George's post war Cabinet Churchill became Secretary of State for War and Air. The Bolshevik revolution had taken place in Russia and Winston was concerned that their was trouble brewing. Churchill was all for intervening but was overruled by Lloyd George who saw this as a problem for Russia and one that a war-weary Britain should stay out of. Over the next few years Churchill was to be heavily involved in Middle east politics (a thankless task for generations of public servants) and negotiations with Irish Nationalists.
Out of parliament
The general election of 1922 saw Churchill lose his seat in parliament. He had been too ill (with a appendicitis) to effectively campaign and he was generally viewed as something of a warmonger and loose cannon. His chances weren't helped when he insulted D.S. Thompson a highly influential newspaper proprietor in Dundee (Churchill was by now MP for the Scottish town), Thompson in turn was scathing of Winston and Churchill trailed in 4th in the election!
Painting, Writing and Chartwell
"Out of office, without a seat, without a party and without an appendix" meant that Churchill was able to devote more time to his writing, painting and his and Clemmie's new home in Kent Chartwell. Chartwell is a large country home in the beautiful Kent countryside. Despite being less than 30 miles (50km) from Westminster it sits in its own valley with fabulous views of the surrounding country. Winston Churchill loved it. Clemmie on the other hand (who was always more practical about such matters) recognized at once the enormous expense necessary to modernise it. Nonetheless they moved in and began work on the house and grounds. Winston himself laid many of the bricks during the works.
Back in parliament as a Conservative and as Chancellor
The disintegration of both Churchill's relationship with Lloyd George and of the Liberal party itself meant that when the new Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin offered Winston a safe Conservative seat in 1924 Winston accepted.Baldwin (wisely) believing it was better to have Winston close to him than sitting on the back benches sniping decided to appoint Churchill his Chancellor of the Exchequor. Churchill introduced 5 budgets between 1924 and 1929. Churchill was neither a great mathematician nor economist - so he followed the advice of the treasury officials.
The Gold Standard
With treasury officials, the press and the Prime Minister advocating returning Britain to the gold standard, Churchill, with some doubt, fell into line. History was to prove them all wrong. Other than this economic error, Churchill's budgets were fairly uneventful - though he did bring in many social reforms: pensions for all at age 65 and for widows and orphans at the moment of their bereavement and he also dropped the rates of income tax for the lower paid.
Wilderness Years
When the labour party swept to power in 1929, Winston found himself out of office. With more free time he travelled and lectured widely. After losing a large sum of money in the stock market crash of that year he began writing even more prolifically to earn back his cash. In 1930 Churchill once again differed in opinion from his party leaders - this time over their idea for moves towards self rule for India. The great imperialist, Winston resigned from the shadow cabinet on the issue. For the next few years Winston's career languished on the back benches.
Hitler
While Winston's career appeared to be in terminal decline another European politician's career was taking off. On 30th January 1933, Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany - within weeks his opponents were rounded up and the German nation began re-arming. Churchill didn't like what he was hearing from his contacts in the security services.In 1936 Hitler's forces marched into the Rhineland - the demilitarized zone between France and Germany set up after the first world war. Churchill continued to warn that this was just the beginning - his nation's leaders preferred to give Germany the benefit of the doubt. Many British military leaders were now also concerned about the German threat - and turning to Winston to lobby harder for more arms. Eventually and slowly the British government began to construct arms and munitions. Too slowly and too late - so it would turn out. Churchill seemed to be winning the argument, albeit at a pace that frustrated him.
Abdication
The Prince of Wales succeeded his father and became Edward VIII in January 1936. The new King was already linked to a married (and already previously divorced) American woman: Mrs Wallis Simpson. Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin informed the King that he would have to choose between the throne and the woman he loved - to which the King replied that if so be it, he would choose Mrs Simpson. Churchill tried to persuade the King not to jump to too hasty a decision. The King (though in reality had already made up his mind) suggested to Winston he would give it more time. When the King did indeed announce his abdication - many thought that Churchill's support of his monarch and of the British constitution was in fact an attack on Baldwin. Once again, the press and popular opinion turned on Churchill, seeing him as a loose cannon and opportunist. And his political influence waned.
Appeasement
Baldwin's successor in 1937, Neville Chamberlain was even more concerned about improving relations with Germany - not from a position of military strength - than Baldwin had been. And while Britain did continue to rearm, it was still too slow for Churchill who continued to warn from the backbenches. In 1938 Germany annexed Austria - and Churchill warned that Czechoslovakia would be next on the Nazi hit list. Churchill pushed that Britain should stand alongside the French in their support for the Czechs. Chamberlain, realising Britain's weak military position decided that appeasement would be the better option. Chamberlain flew to meet Hitler 3 times over the space of a fortnight and they agreed that Britain would not declare war if Hitler only annexed the Sudetenland part of Czechoslovakia. This agreement was cheered by the British public when Chamberlain announced it on his return from Munich.
