EVEN IF BLOGGING had existed in the 1940s, I doubt Winston Churchill (1940 photo at left) would have blogged the last days of May 1940 because the archival records showed he was increasingly despondent. "There is no doubt that had I at this juncture faltered at all in leading the nation, I should have been hurled out of office," he wrote years later. Of all the military campaigns and hard-fought battles, the moments during which the war was not lost rank as some of the most significant. One of those defining moments came dujring the last five days of May 1940, at a time when the fate of Europe and Western civilization were hanging precariously in the balance. My Irish-German-American family felt more allegiance to the emerging German nation, without understanding the machinations of the Third Reich. The United States and Russia had yet to enter the war and Britain faced the possibility of standing alone in the fight against Nazi Germany. These last five days of May 1940 are the days when Adolf Hitler came the closest to achieving the total victory he sought over Europe.
Five Days in London is a compelling study of the crucial days during which Winston Churchill rose to the challenge and gave Europe a fighting chance at survival by convincing his War Cabinet that Britain must continue fighting on, even if it meant fighting alone. Author John Lukacs provides a dramatic hour-by-hour account of a stressful period in modern history. Had Churchill blogged these days, we would have read first-hand how close Britain came to losing WWII.
John Lukacs -- Five Days in London: May 1940 ISBN 978-0300084665
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