ABSTRACT

History has not looked kindly upon Neville Chamberlain. Despite a long and distinguished political career, his trip to Munich in 1938 and the 'appeasement' of Hitler have forever overshadowed his many other achievements and blighted his reputation, his name now synonymous with the futility of trying to reason with dictators and bullies. Yet, as this biography shows, there is much more to this complex and intriguing character than is generally supposed, and even the infamous events of 1938 are open to more charitable interpretations than is usually the case. Appeasement brought the British government crucial time in which to rearm, and in particular allowed the RAF to drastically increase the number of fighter aircraft it could muster for the Battle of Britain during the summer of 1940. Based on the study of over 150 collections of private papers on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as exhaustive exploration of British government records held in the National Archives, it is no exaggeration to say that the author has surveyed virtually all the existing archival material written by or to Chamberlain, as well as a high proportion of that referring to him. As such, this volume will no doubt establish itself as the definitive account of Chamberlain's life and career, and provide a much fuller and fairer picture of his actions than has hitherto been the case.

chapter 1|18 pages

The Chamberlain Enigma

chapter 5|18 pages

A Rising Star, October 1922–October 1924

chapter 9|36 pages

Depression and Recovery, 1931–1935

chapter 11|26 pages

Foreign and Defence Policy, 1934–1937

chapter 13|36 pages

The Road to Munich, March–September 1938

chapter 14|24 pages

Betrayal, October 1938–March 1939

chapter 15|32 pages

The Coming of War, March–September 1939

chapter 17|20 pages

Decline and Fall, February–May 1940

chapter 18|22 pages

Epilogue, May–November 1940