Reviews of the Week
The Hinge of Fate
THE least happy thing about Mr. Churchill's fourth volume is its title. " Fate," wrote Emerson, " is a name for facts not yet passed under the fire of thought." There is plenty of thought in this book. It is, however, the hard thinking of the man of action, not the analysis of the historian. Mr. Churchill is writing memoirs not history. Occasionally there is a reference to later evidence, but the point of view is that of the event, modified to some extent by knowledge of the result. The strategic and political activities of the years 1942.43, the turning point of the war, are described with even • greater felicity and success than those of any of the previous volumes.
The book is more than a justification of the author's own conduct. It is the report of the great leader to the generation that served under him in the greatest crisis of their history. Here can be found the records of his all-important journeys abroad, the two visits to Washington, the memorable interview with Stalin at Moscow, the Casablanca Conference. We are taken behind the scenes and given those secret and intimate facts which in previous generations were only known to a select circle until long after the event. And there is much here that no other pen could have written with the same exactitude and authority. The book is thus a great contribution to the new democratic way of life, which is the distinguishing mark of our time. The task could only have been so well performed by one who is a master of words as well as of action.
This does not mean that we must always accept Mr. Churchill's judgement of men or events. Much of what he says is supported by cogent documentary evidence. But he gives us, of course, a point of view. The interviews and discussions that he recounts may look, very different when we have another record to set beside them. Every man who reports a conversation, in which he has- himself taken part, gives subconsciously a twist to it to his own advantage. And Mr. Churchill's judgements on men are sometimes very different to those made by others, perhaps more objectively. He lacks one of the distinguishing characteristics of great men—ingratitude. Nothing is more revealing than his account of his relations with Lord Beaverbrook, with whom he shared many memories of the past. There are also estimates of many other British politicians. They include the letter in which he recommended Mr. Eden to the King as his successor, if anything befell him.
Most important of all were his relations with the two other great men of the Alliance, Roosevelt and Stalin, which are revealed in letters of absorbing interest, documents indispensable to any under- standing of the war, as well as in personal touches,`given with all the mastery of a consummate artist. Those he established with the President were nearly perfect of their kind and were one reason why an uninterrupted series of successes began in the autumn of 1942 after the cruel experiences of the early part of the year. The two men had of course their differences and even their reserves from one another. " I had to work by influence and diplomacy," writes Mr. Churchill, " in order to secure agreed and harmonious action with our cherished Ally, without whose aid nothing but ruin faced the world. I did not, therefore, open any of these alternatives at our meeting." This was when the American generals had to be persuaded to accept the attack in North Africa in 1942 instead of an expedition to seize Brest or Cherbourg. This great decision was fairly easily obtained, but Mr. Churchill failed to get the other wing of the enemy's front, Norway, attacked at the same time. He was, however, as he shows, the foremost advocate at this period of an attack on France in 1943. And nearly always the minds of the President and the Prime Minister ran along the same lines. They were helped in their personal relations by the fact that each got solace and relief from their heavy burdens in a rather elementary sense of fun.
There was also some elephantine humour in the discussion with the Russians. They are the most delightful people in the world to eat and drink with, if one can stand the racket. Mr. Churchill seems to have passed this test most successfully. He had the handi- cap of being well known as a foremost interventionist in 1919-20. With great wisdom the two men dealt with this subject very frankly and passed it off at the expense of Lady Astor whose visit to Russia with Bernard Shaw was recalled by Stalin. Such confessions. are rare amongst men of such high position and responsibility, but unfortunately, in spite of all that Mr. Churchill could do, suspicion and distrust always remained. One amusing illustration of this is the behaviour of Molotov and his staff when they visited Britain. One can readily believe that they slept with pistols under their pillow when they stayed at Chequers, but not so easily that the housemaids found the pistols there in the morning when they came to make the beds—unless the evening before had been a very Russian one.
On the grand strategy of the war Mr. Churchill devotes most of his attention to Africaand- wisely-says a great deal less about Singa- pore and Burma. The most important contribution which he makes to the history of this part of the war is the correspondence in which he tried in vain to get Mr. Curtin to allow an Australian division on its way home to reinforce the Burma front. There are also interesting details about the Cripps Mission to India and the defence of the Indian Ocean.
Post-war planning is alluded to once or twice. Mr. Churchill seems to have put forth at Washington his views on the future of Europe entirely on his own responsibility, Her who was so careful in matters of strategy to receive and weigh the views of his tech- nical advisers, seems to have thought that he could solve this com- plicated problem unaided. This is one reason ,why he, who had more influence on the course of the war than any other single man, had so much less influence on the course of the peace.
The book ends with the great victory in Africa and the plans for the invasion- of Sicily, graphically and wonderfully clearly described. There follows an appendix of 110 pages of .the famous minutes, which include, in addition to many high matters, observa- tions on bees, cut flowers and eggs, made in a manner which reveals the broad humanity of the author. How fortunate we are to have this precious possession, which those who have lived through these years will read again and again and future generations turn to with
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