Another enthusiastic review in Book Page

-
https://tinyurl.com/yx38ruju

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Eighty years ago the obituary of Britain as a financial superpower is tucked in the small print of the US bail-out loan agreement

-
Image
  The US Senate approved the bail-out loan to Britain and it was granted. Not only had US law-makers been at odds over the loan but the State and Treasury Departments had been opposed. The $3.75bn (£2.2bn) loan was presented as cheap money given the 1.62% rate of interest, but, unremarked at the time, one of the terms set the headstone on the grave of Britain's status as a financial superpower. Britain agreed to allow "sterling balances" held in London to be converted freely into other currencies after a year. This money totalled  £3.5bn and had mainly been deposited by the countries of the British Empire, notably India and Egypt. Within twelve months Britain faced the prospect of having to pay out in foreign currency (in practice US dollars) one and a half times what it had just borrowed. Intentionally or otherwise, US largesse worked hugely to the benefit of Britain's former possessions. The US accepted the British proposal to the conference on the German peace trea...
Read more
-
Sunday, 2nd February 1936 The Dean of Windsor delivered his first public sermon in St. George's Chapel since the funeral.  He had been in office since 1917 and had practically grown up in Queen Victoria's court, but he was alert and not hostile to the way in which the world had changed over the years. He began with a conventional enough tribute to George V, emphasizing his simplicity. It was when he turned to the new King, that his sympathies became clearer. Edward should not an "imitation" of his father and it would be wrong to criticize him for this. His father had grown up in an atmosphere of "settled faith" whilst Edward was "plunged into the turmoil of war" and "grew up in a generation of unsettled faith and disturbed thought." The ten years that he had spent traveling the Empire had prevented him developing home ties. At one level the sermon tried to excuse Edward for his poor church attendance and bachelor status. It also hinted...
Read more

Eighty years ago this week British intelligence refutes Soviet fictions about Hitler's fate

-
Image
  Hugh Trevor-Roper, history don turned wartime intelligence officer, published the results of the investigation that he had undertaken into the fate of Hitler at the behest of the British authorities. The investigation aimed to remove the veil of mystery cast by the Soviets who had occupied Berlin and with it the Fuehrerbunker so were thus far better placed to know the truth.  The Nazis had claimed that Hitler had died fighting . Stalin preferred to hold out the possibility that or, even claim, that Hitler had survived. The democratic states could be accused of harbouring Hitler with the intention of restoring Nazism.  Trevor-Roper had established the truth that Hitler had shot himself after Eva Braun, whom he had just married, died by poison. The Soviets did not respond in any way and it took another five years before they accepted something approaching the truth. In the meanwhile  Trevor-Roper had written a book on Hitler's last days which made h...
Read more