ABSTRACT
Great Britain’s war quickly became connected to its charismatic, controversial, and intensely bellicose new prime minister, Winston Churchill. The Chamberlain government was too closely connected to the discredited policy of appeasement. The fiasco in Norway had underscored the strategic bankruptcy of that policy and had led to the collapse of the government. Consequently, King George VI asked Churchill to form a new government of national unity on May 10, 1940, the same day that Germany invaded France. In many ways, Churchill was an odd choice to lead a government, especially one of national unity. He was unpopular with many influential members of the British establishment, including many in his own party. Most people of influence, including the King, would have much preferred to see the less impulsive Lord Halifax assume the prime ministry. Moreover, the very Norway disaster that had led to the fall of Chamberlain had been largely Churchill’s idea. Now he stood to gain from it politically by being named prime minister. Many in the government and in the military remembered another Churchill brainchild turned humiliation, the failed British operation at Gallipoli in 1915. Could this man now lead Britain in its hour of greatest need?
