Winston Churchill, arch-pragmatist

Painting the wartime premier only as an heroic anti-appeaser overlooks the many diplomatic ploys he used to disarm a dangerous world.

 
What does it mean, exactly, to be ‘Churchillian?’ It is a question we in the West evidently take seriously, to judge from the public appetite for Churchilliana in films, books and as a general reference point. If Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has confirmed one thing about Anglo-American collective memory, it’s that we regard Winston Churchill, British prime minister and hero of the Second World War, as an emblem of unyielding, belligerent defiance to the end. Many of those who revere him, like those who despise him as a warmonger, take at face value the image that Churchill crafted of himself in his schemingly edited memoirs, as the resolute anti-appeaser. But is it true?

Appeasement is the policy of making concessions, often unilaterally, to render an adversary more peaceful. It is a strategy of accommodation that can come at others’ expense. We identify it with Churchill’s predecessor, Neville Chamberlain, and the Munich Agreement of 1938 that he helped negotiate, to prevent or postpone war by ceding Czech territory to Adolf Hitler. Above all, talk of appeasement is a charge of immorality, extended to behaviour that limits commitment. It works as the equal and opposite to kneejerk claims that all wars are Vietnam and all supporters are warmongers. Its core proposition? That the only virtuous and safe posture is strength. ‘Strength’ means being unbending, militarily robust, and maximal about war aims. Its record as a strategy is mixed. In our folklore, though, it is history’s supreme lesson of war and peace.

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Πηγή: engelsbergideas.com