ABSTRACT
Winston Churchill is a complex figure, as the contrast between his public statements on nuclear weapons and his private fears, his apparent belief in deterrence and his dread that England might not survive another war makes plain. During his long political career, Winston Churchill was successively one of the leading exponents of the attempt to reach an agreement with Germany to limit warship construction before the First World War, and the man who, as Prime Minister from 1951 onwards, presided over one of the most active periods of British disarmament policy. There is a strong case for arguing that the period from 1951 to 1956 was the halcyon age of British disarmament policy. Before 1914, Churchill would have opposed any agreement with Germany, which tended to equalise the British and German navies, though he would have welcomed the ending of the Anglo-German naval race.
