Comments by "Keit Hammleter" (@keithammleter3824) on "Elizabeth Visits Winston | The Crown (Olivia Colman, John Lithgow)" video.
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@judithoconnor6442 : Oon what basis do you state that? He, much to the distress of the Americans, viewed war in terms of punishing the enemy people, and firebombed German residential areas and retail districts, causing great suffering to German civilians who had no say in the War, and having very little effect on German ability to fight - hardly the action of a great man. He never cared a fig about what happened in Asia, abandoning troops in Singapore to the Japanese. He appointed Mountbatten, a known idiot, as Supreme Commander SE Asia, who proceeded to split countries up thereby causing ongoing wars and distress - hardly the work of a great man.
Churchill was an effective leader who could get things done. He was the only viable wartime leader available. But that is a reflection of the weakness of the others, not a mark of a great man.
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@judithoconnor6442 So, you think the ordinary German civilian could simply vote Hitler out at elections? Hitler was a dictator, ruling by decree, having used devices such as the Enabling Law to eliminate checks and balances. Hitler and his military top brass had no mechanism to monitor what the people thought as they never intended to listen.
Yes, Hitler had to be stopped -there is no doubt about that. But read up declassified end of war reports - the decision to carpet and firebomb German civilian areas of big cities had little or no effect on German ability to fight, and only spurred Hitler on. The war was not won by the RAF, it was won by the USA and the USSR. RAF aircrew lives were simply wasted.
Your comment about the empire not to last is not relevant, except in so far as Churchill's distain helped cause it to disintegrate.
Australia had been monitoring Japanese military communications and warned Churchill that Singapore would fall. Churchill ignored the warning, leaving an incompetent in charge. When the Japanese captured Singapore their officers were amazed. They were amazed to find that the British and Commonwealth troops there greatly outnumbered the Japanese troops, and there was no good reason why they should have surrendered as they did. But the known fool Churchill left in charge did surrender, as soon as the bullets began to fly.
Yes, people die in war. But Churchill needlessly threw away lives for no good reason.
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Churchill was the only one available who could conceivably win the war against Germany - which is why the King sacked thee elected prime minister and put Churchill in charge. And in cajoling, persuading and tricking the USA into the War, he did win it.
But Britain's greatest man? No. Absolutely not.
He was a ruthless bastard who dudded the Commonwealth, particularly Australia.
He developed a personal relationship with the US president, convincing the president to impose sanctions against Japan for invading China. Sanctions never seem to work but in this case the Japanese felt backed into a corner, and like a cornered rat fights hard, they started the War in the Pacific. Churchill couldn't care less, refused to arrange a proper defence of Singapore, and would not release Australian forces to defend their own country against Japan. They had to send in new recruits who had completed only half their basic training.
Churchill was quite happy to allocate the Supreme Commander SE Asia job to the idiot Mountbatten, who proceeded to divide up countries - leading to the Korean and Vietnam wars, before going on to cause a vast number of deaths in India by mismanaging the partition of that country. Churchill would have known that Mountbatten was an idiot - and hence must be held responsible for the troubles Mountbatten caused.
Churchill met with Stalin and the US president in the closing moments of the War and the three of them agreed to divide the world up, allocating countries between the three of them - without bothering to consult the countries and people affected. Which is why we have had so many wars since, up to and including the Ukraine war today.
Churchill was a war criminal, having Bomber Harris carpet and firebomb residential and commercial areas of Germany, having little effect on Germany's willingness or capability to fight, but causing the extreme distress and death to vast numbers of civilians who had no say in the war.
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