1940: Myth and Reality [Paperback]

Clive Ponting (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1566630363 | ISBN-13: 978-1566630368 | Publication Date: September 1, 1993

It was the year of the glorious Battle of Britain, of the heroic evacuation of Dunkirk. It was the time when the mighty British empire declared its intention to fight the Nazis—alone if necessary—to the bitter end. It was, as Churchill dubbed it, Britain's "Finest Hour." In 1940: Myth and Reality, Clive Ponting reveals that it was nothing of the sort. Britain was broke in 1940 and utterly dependent on the United States for economic aid. The government fabricated German casualty figures after the Battle of Britain, suppressed knowledge of the complete fiasco that led to Dunkirk, and actually tried secretly to sue for peace that year. The British people were at best grimly resigned to the war; at worst they suffered appalling privations. Without denigrating the heroism of individuals, Mr. Ponting offers a startling account of the ineptitude and propaganda that marked much of 1940: Britain's stormy relations with France, its bizarre attempts to force a united Ireland, and the unpopularity of Winston Churchill. While he made rousing speeches in the House of Commons, Churchill rarely broadcast to the nation: his stirring "we shall fight on the beaches" speech was in fact broadcast by the actor who played Larry the Lamb on Children's Hour.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In a radical new look at Britain's "finest hour," Ponting ( The Right to Know ) reviews the mythology that grew up around the dramatic events of 1940 (Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain, the Blitz, Churchill's inspiring leadership) and concludes that it was also the most painful year in British history. Due to an overextended empire, too many enemies and too few allies, and inadequate military, industrial and economic resources, the outlook for England was bleak indeed as the Germans threatened a cross-Channel invasion. As the country's strategic position collapsed, the only way to avoid a humiliating compromise peace with Hitler was to beg for major assistance from the United States. But the Americans drove a hard bargain, and once U.S. material began to flow eastward across the Atlantic, Washington used its financial power ruthlessly to keep Britain in a state of dependence through the rest of the war. Britain's contribution to final victory, in the author's harsh view, was marginal. The country's great achievement was to survive the year 1940 and preserve for the Americans a base from which to launch the D-Day invasion of the Continent. Ponting's argument is compelling, his reasoning sure, his conclusions jarring.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

He brings everything together with enviable clarity and with an unusually sharp eye...He plots convincingly the processes by which decisions were made, or not made. (New Statesman )

Outstanding...masterful...Ponting strips away the myths that have clouded a realistic approach to British problems in World War II. (Choice )

Required reading for anyone with a serious interest in World War II. (William L. O'Neill )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 273 pages
• Publisher: Ivan R Dee (September 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566630363
• ISBN-13: 978-1566630368
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,118,300 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Finest Hour" or Milepost on the Route to Oblivion?, April 22, 2000

By 

Barbara Reedhead - See all my reviews

This review is from: 1940: Myth and Reality (Paperback)

British journalist Clive Ponting squares off against Winston Churchill's version of the Second World War and, on balance, gives a credible portrayal of an island nation under siege. Where Churcill depicted Britain's survival from the onslaught of mechanized warfare and the blitz in terms of sheer heroism, Ponting describes a second-rate power simply muddling through in the expectation of deliverance from abroad. On balance, Ponting's account seems more consistent with human nature and thus, more authentic. Churchill's heroes are larger than life, suitably draped with the Union Jack, while the actors in "1940 Myth and Reality" are real people, exhibiting occasional vanity, pettiness and pigheadedness. Those who history has later villified (such as Chamberlain, Halifax, Joseph P. Kennedy and others) appear in his pages as ordinary public servants serving in extraordinary times under impossible economic and political constraints.Those whose leadership is immortalized by statutory found everywhere in contemporary London (Roosevelt, DeGaulle, George VI, and of course, Sir Winston)were of no greater character. They were, however, far luckier. And their timing was better. Those left standing after the ordeal of 1940-42 were not "heroes"; they were simply "survivors". And of the two, they (like most people under similar circumstances) would have preferred the latter. While Ponting finds few heroes in Britain in 1940, the most revealing aspect of his book is his description of the pre-Pearl Harbor financial dealings between Washington and London by which the former intentionally sought to subjugate the latter. Mr Ponting's 235 pages of lucid reporting ought to be required reading in both countries.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating debunking of British war propaganda, October 22, 2006

By 

J. Michael (Now Born) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 1940: Myth and Reality (Paperback)

This is a gripping history detailing the disconnect between the actual events of 1940 and the officially promulgated British government mythology which has persisted to this day in the popular mind and in the accounts of transatlantic court historians. Of particular interest to me were the U.K.'s horrific financial straits and its inability to prosecute the war without American aid, the low level of British morale, and the debates in the cabinet about how and when to seek peace terms with Germany after the fall of France. Despite the fact that Churchill claimed in his useless memoirs that the British government never considered a negotiated peace, Ponting shows that it was a consensus in the British cabinet that a negotiated peace was almost a foregone conclusion after the fall of France. Some ministers wanted to seek terms immediately but Mr. "Never Surrender" Churchill wanted to fight on for a few more months only in order to get better terms from Germany. In exchange for British independence, Churchill was willing to hand over Gibraltar, Malta and the Suez Canal to Italy and recognize German domination of Eastern Europe and the Balkans. Another interesting indicator of British desperation was Churchill's willingness to cede the Falklands to Argentina and Ulster to the Irish State in order to gain certain marginal military benefits. This is a great book. My only criticism is that it was too short. The myriad half-truths, distortions and lies surrounding the Second World War would have afforded Mr. Ponting sufficient material for multiple volumes.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exciting history, December 9, 2007

By 

Derek Law (Shanghai, China) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 1940: Myth and Reality (Paperback)

I seek out this book as I enjoy reading books by the historian Clive Ponting, the author of "World History: A New Perspectives" among other works.

As the other reviewers have already given the gist of how Clive Ponting tries to de-bunk the British war-time propaganda that have persisted more or less unquestioned till today. What I want to add are two points:

1. With all that is said by Ponting regarding how Churchill was not as much of a hero as his memoirs suggested, Ponting gave credit to Churchill's appointment of a non civil servant to be in charge of Aircraft Production, an appointment with such phenomenal success in accelerating production which turned out to be critical to Britain's war efforts against the Germans. So Ponting's narrative is not as one-sided as some of the prior reviews may suggest.

2. As I read this book, I cannot help seeing how UK near WWII fits with the "hegemonic decline" model as described by those "World System Theorists" such as Wallestein, Arrighi & Frank. As such, I would recommend this book to those of us who are interested not only in "history-as-happened" but also in "history-as-social-science."

Enjoy!