Five Days in London: May 1940 [Paperback]

John Lukacs (Author)

Book Description

Series: Yale Nota Bene | Publication Date: September 1, 2001

The days from May 24 to May 28, 1940, altered the course of the history of this century as the members of the British War Cabinet debated whether to negotiate with Hitler or to continue the war. The decisive importance of these five days of Lukacs's magisterial new book. illustrations.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In his six-volume history of World War II, Winston Churchill deemed the year 1942 as "the hinge of fate," the year in which the German and Japanese armies began to be turned back. John Lukacs suggests that the last days of May 1940 were more important still in turning the tide of war in democracy's favor, for it was in those few days that Churchill convinced his cabinet that Britain should fight on, alone, if need be, against Adolf Hitler's regime. Even as a quarter of a million British troops were being evacuated from Dunkirk, Churchill struggled to reverse the British government's policy of appeasement. In this, he faced opposition from several quarters, including prominent figures within his own Conservative Party. Writing with evident admiration for Churchill--who, he points out, was not well liked, and who had been prime minister for only two weeks when war broke out--Lukacs gives his readers a fly-on-the-wall view of the heated conferences between such well-known participants as Harold Nicholson, Lord Halifax, Neville Chamberlain, and Alexander Cadogan.

"Churchill understood something that not many people understand even now," Lukacs writes in the closing pages of his book. "The greatest threat to Western civilization was not Communism. It was National Socialism. The greatest and most dynamic power in the world was not Soviet Russia. It was the Third Reich of Germany. The greatest revolutionary of the twentieth century was not Lenin or Stalin. It was Hitler." By convincing his government that his view was correct, Churchill afforded Western civilization a slim chance at survival--no small achievement, and one well worth honoring with this fine study. --Gregory McNamee --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Eminent historian Lukacs (Thread of Years, etc.) delivers the crown jewel to his long and distinguished career with this account of five daysAMay 24-28, 1940A"that could have changed the world." Lukacs posits that it was during those five days in London "that Western civilization, not to mention the Allied cause in WWII, was saved from Hitler's tyranny." A grand view, to be sure, but the consequences are not in dispute: "Had Britain stopped fighting in May 1940, Hitler would have won his war," writes Lukacs. "Thus he was never closer to victory than during those five days in May 1940." A quarter-million British troops were trapped by the Germans at Dunkirk. The British public, ill-informed about this reality, remained apathetic, and the War Cabinet was divided over what action to take. Neither the United States nor the Soviet Union had yet entered the war, but Churchill resolved to fight "till Hitler is beat or we cease to be a state." Lukacs draws heavily on newspapers and public opinion research of the time to re-create the rapid series of events that turned the tide, swaying both the citizenry and the War Cabinet to rally behind Churchill. Though Churchill did not win the war in May 1940, as Lukacs puts it, he "did not lose it" then. Lukacs covered some of the same turf in The Duel, yet this new work focuses on these five days with a microscopic view. It is the work of a man who lives and breathes history, whose knowledge is limitless and tuned to a pitch that rings true. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press; 3rd edition (September 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300084668
• ISBN-13: 978-0300084665
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (66 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #143,981 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

111 of 114 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More than history -- decision - makers under pressure, January 3, 2000

By 

Jack Kessler, [e-mail] (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Five Days in London, May 1940 (Hardcover)

This book is a thrill to read: the crucial five day period during which a very small group of determined people, led by one particularly - determined man, persuaded England and The West to hold the line against Hitler, and at least arguably saved The World...

The story is not new, but this presentation of it is. A generation -- or so, now -- raised on Wheeler - Bennett and AJP Taylor, and Nicolson and Namier and all the very many others, knows very well the story of Winston Churchill and his country's lonely stand against the Axis just following the Fall of France.

What never has been presented as dramatically as John Lukacs now presents it are the machinations, and the political follies and wisdom, and the ultimately very personal story of just how Churchill and a few others convinced the British at the time to do what they did: not in broad brushstrokes -- those are far easier to paint, as so many have on this topic -- but in the meticulous details which, alone, can show the individual frustrations, fears, jealousies, and uncertainties which characterize any truly historic human situation.

Detailed and meticulous as it is, however -- Lukacs is a well - respected historian -- the book is very short, and very dramatic, not at all pedantic or defensive as books about the period increasingly tend to be. His writing style flows smoothly. His aim, the author says in his Preface, is to explore an idea he has held for "forty, perhaps even fifty, years" that the five days specified in the title were critical not only because of the Fall of France but also because, "Churchill's situation within the War Cabinet was much more difficult than most people, including historians at that time, thought".

The result is a fascinating, day - by - day, account of how single - minded and occasionally - brilliant but nevertheless inexorably - human politicians maneuvered, and ultimately out - maneuvered, each other into positions -- positions which can be seen to be clear and on the side of the angels, or on the other, only in retrospect. At the time, all was very murky, as it perhaps is at any truly significant historical turning point, and Lukacs the careful historian practically forces us to appreciate this.

Defenders of Edward Wood, Lord Halifax will be upset by this book, and so perhaps will be the increasing numbers of armchair revisionists of the period now making historical hay from views ranging from "World War II need not have happened" to "World War II did not happen" to "World War II was not a war". There will be arguments -- there are any time someone saves The World, or is suggested to have done so. There also are heroes, occasionally, or at least heroic actions -- and there are traitors, and cowards and fools -- and always there is foolishness, and some bravery and many errors, committed as much by the heroes as by their counterparts.

But Lukacs is not chiefly concerned in his book with such after - the - fact debates -- although he does not avoid them, and although they may engulf him when his critics take on this book simply because he has chosen this particular highly - controversial period. He instead addresses most directly a more immediate and at once a more universal theme: how do people act, and react, under enormous pressure, particularly when the "correct" decisions to make are not popular or, worse, are not clear.

Churchill, and Halifax and the others, all were operating under such conditions during these five crucial days in May in 1940. It is instructive for any of us too accustomed to comfortable certainties in history to see just how uncertain all of this was at the time; chastening to be reminded just how imperfect human decision - making processes are; breathtaking to realize how rapidly situations and events unfold for political leaders who in fact often have all too little power really to influence results.

This book is a very good read, for anyone interested in its particular war, but also for anyone interested generally in politics, power, or personality.

43 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "He saved Britain, Europe and Western Civilization" Author, December 1, 1999

By 

taking a rest - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Five Days in London, May 1940 (Hardcover)

"But in May 1940 Churchill was the one who did not loose it" This is the theme of a compact, extraordinary 5 days that decided the outcome of WWII. This is certainly not the only event that brought the allies victory, however Mr. Lukacs demonstrates that while England was never in a position to win the war alone, she was in a position to loose it, and Churchill was the individual who saw that it was not lost. I don't believe he overstates Churchill's role in the slightest. Had the War gone the other way Churchill certainly would have been given all the blame. Churchill was flawed, but during the decade of 1930, in what are often referred to as "His Wilderness Years" the same men who would later owe their existence and that of their Country's continuance to him rejected him out of hand. When he finally became Prime Minister it was when all the disasters had begun or had been completed. Churchill was given the mess that he inherited from Chamberlein and others; Alsace Lorraine gone, Austria gone, Czechoslovakia given away with Chamberlain's active participation punctuated by the "Peace In Our Time" debacle. Further, France was quickly falling apart, as were the Low Countries, Dunkirk loomed, and what is worse, Churchill had to cope with members of his own Cabinet that wanted to negotiate with Hitler as he was storming across Europe. Churchill managed to bring those in government and the public to his side, and the rest as they say is History. Mr. Lukacs provides great additional information, footnotes that are as informative as the body of the text, and an even handed description of those players involved including Churchill. Brilliantly written History, that is also readable, and demonstrates that what we may have thought of as an event that actually did take years to finish, may well have been decided in 5 days. Buy the book you will not be disappointed.

34 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating and exciting read., November 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Five Days in London, May 1940 (Hardcover)

Lukacs sets the five days up for readers like a dramatic play...Churchill, Chamberlin, Halifax, etc are fascinating characters carrying the weight of the world as well as their own political baggage. The English people seemed surprisingly unmotivated to continue fighting after the grim results at Dunkirk. The decision made on those five fateful days changed the history of the world. I am an unlikely history fan, but this book was great!