Churchill Documents - Volume 14 (ePub)

Volume 14 of The Churchill Documents, the product of considerable research at the Churchill Archives, the British National Archives, and many private archives, chronicles Churchill's story from the outbreak of World War II on 3 September 1939 to his election to the Premiership on 10 May 1940. A member of the War Cabinet as First Lord of the Admiralty, Churchill was concerned with every aspect of war policy at home and abroad, including rationing, censorship, morale, relations with the United States, the fate of Poland, the future of France, and the urgent acceleration of Britain's war effort. Churchill was elected Prime Minister as Hitler's invasion of France, Holland, and Belgium dispelled the Parliamentary crisis that threatened both Churchill and the Chamberlain government of which he was a senior member.

In the writing of the official biography of Sir Winston Churchill, Randolph Churchill-and later Sir Martin Gilbert, who resumed the work following Randolph's death-had full access to Sir Winston's letters and papers, and also many hundreds of private archives. The work spans eight volumes, detailing Churchill's youth and early adventures in South Africa and India, his early career, and his more than fifty years on the world stage. No other statesman of modern times-or indeed of any age-has left such a wealth of personal letters, such a rich store of private and public documentation, and such vivid memories in the minds of those who worked closest to him. Through these materials, assembled over the course of more than twenty years, one is able to know Churchill in a way never before possible. Churchill's personal papers are so extensive that it was only possible to include in the narrative volumes a part of the relevant documents. The volumes titled The Churchill Documents run parallel with the narrative volumes, and with them form a whole. The letters, documents, and correspondence contained within are drawn from the Churchill Papers, now at Churchill College, Cambridge, and from many other archival sources, both private and public.