ABSTRACT
The simple strategy of maintaining a balance of power in Europe, and the need for Britain to prevent any one nation becoming predominant, was bedevilled by the great political and ideological growths of Communism and Fascism. If forced to choose between these two creeds which denied the fundamental tenets of Christendom, and submerged the individual in the body of the Corporate State, Churchill would have reluctantly chosen Fascism. In the Mediterranean, Britain allowed herself to be frightened by Mussolini’s air force, and permitted the Italian dictator to lay the foundations of his ‘Roman Empire’. The failure of the Western democracies in the years between was the failure to make peace, and because of that the embers of war smouldered, subject to postponement, but never to be avoided. Churchill was among those who appeared to admire the new War Minister and to welcome his deeds, but in his position he must have been fully aware of fate in store for him.
