The Last Thousand Days of the British Empire: Churchill, Roosevelt, and the Birth of the Pax Americana
"I have not become the King's First Minister in order to preside over the liquidation of the British Empire." Winston Churchill's famous statement in November 1942, just as the tide of the Second World War was beginning to turn, pugnaciously affirmed his loyalty to the world-wide institution that he had served for most of his life. Britain fought and sacrificed on a worldwide scale to defeat Hitler and his allies-and won. Yet less than five years after Churchill's defiant speech, the British Empire effectively ended with Indian Independence in August 1947 and the end of the British Mandate in Palestine in May 1948. As the sun set on Britain's Empire, the age of America as world superpower dawned.

How did this rapid change of fortune come about? Peter Clarke's book is the first to analyze the abrupt transition from Rule Britannia to Pax Americana. His swiftly paced narrative makes superb use of letters and diaries to provide vivid portraits of the figures around whom history pivoted: Churchill, Gandhi, Roosevelt, Stalin, Truman, and a host of lesser-known figures though whom Clarke brilliantly shows the human dimension of epochal events. The Last Thousand Days of the British Empire is a captivating work of popular history that shows how the events that followed the war reshaped the world as profoundly as the conflict itself.
1100390371
The Last Thousand Days of the British Empire: Churchill, Roosevelt, and the Birth of the Pax Americana
"I have not become the King's First Minister in order to preside over the liquidation of the British Empire." Winston Churchill's famous statement in November 1942, just as the tide of the Second World War was beginning to turn, pugnaciously affirmed his loyalty to the world-wide institution that he had served for most of his life. Britain fought and sacrificed on a worldwide scale to defeat Hitler and his allies-and won. Yet less than five years after Churchill's defiant speech, the British Empire effectively ended with Indian Independence in August 1947 and the end of the British Mandate in Palestine in May 1948. As the sun set on Britain's Empire, the age of America as world superpower dawned.

How did this rapid change of fortune come about? Peter Clarke's book is the first to analyze the abrupt transition from Rule Britannia to Pax Americana. His swiftly paced narrative makes superb use of letters and diaries to provide vivid portraits of the figures around whom history pivoted: Churchill, Gandhi, Roosevelt, Stalin, Truman, and a host of lesser-known figures though whom Clarke brilliantly shows the human dimension of epochal events. The Last Thousand Days of the British Empire is a captivating work of popular history that shows how the events that followed the war reshaped the world as profoundly as the conflict itself.
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The Last Thousand Days of the British Empire: Churchill, Roosevelt, and the Birth of the Pax Americana

The Last Thousand Days of the British Empire: Churchill, Roosevelt, and the Birth of the Pax Americana

by Peter Clarke
The Last Thousand Days of the British Empire: Churchill, Roosevelt, and the Birth of the Pax Americana

The Last Thousand Days of the British Empire: Churchill, Roosevelt, and the Birth of the Pax Americana

by Peter Clarke

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Overview

"I have not become the King's First Minister in order to preside over the liquidation of the British Empire." Winston Churchill's famous statement in November 1942, just as the tide of the Second World War was beginning to turn, pugnaciously affirmed his loyalty to the world-wide institution that he had served for most of his life. Britain fought and sacrificed on a worldwide scale to defeat Hitler and his allies-and won. Yet less than five years after Churchill's defiant speech, the British Empire effectively ended with Indian Independence in August 1947 and the end of the British Mandate in Palestine in May 1948. As the sun set on Britain's Empire, the age of America as world superpower dawned.

How did this rapid change of fortune come about? Peter Clarke's book is the first to analyze the abrupt transition from Rule Britannia to Pax Americana. His swiftly paced narrative makes superb use of letters and diaries to provide vivid portraits of the figures around whom history pivoted: Churchill, Gandhi, Roosevelt, Stalin, Truman, and a host of lesser-known figures though whom Clarke brilliantly shows the human dimension of epochal events. The Last Thousand Days of the British Empire is a captivating work of popular history that shows how the events that followed the war reshaped the world as profoundly as the conflict itself.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781596917422
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Publication date: 09/01/2010
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 592
File size: 3 MB

About the Author

Peter Clarke was Professor of Modern History and Master of Trinity Hall at Cambridge. His many books include the acclaimed final volume of the Penguin History of Britain, Hope and Glory, Britain 1900-2000, and A Question of Leadership: Gladstone to Blair. He lives in Suffolk, England, and Pender Island, British Columbia.
Peter Clarke was formerly a professor of modern history and Master of Trinity Hall at Cambridge. His many books include Keynes: The Twentieth Century's Most Influential Economist, The Last Thousand Days of the British Empire, The Keynesian Revolution in the Making, 1924-1936 and the acclaimed final volume of the Penguin History of Britain, Hope and Glory, Britain 1900-2000. He lives with his wife, the Canadian writer Maria Tippett, in Cambridge, England, and Pender Island, British Columbia.

Table of Contents


List of Illustrations     vii
Maps     ix
Preface     xiii
Broad, Sunlit Uplands
Prologue: 1941-4     3
False Summits
The Spirit of Quebec: September 1944     47
Setbacks: October-November 1944     67
Bad to Worse: November-December 1944     94
Battles of the Bulge: December 1944-January 1945     127
Awaiting the Big Three: January-February 1945     161
Yalta: February 1945     189
Hollow Victories
Faltering and Altering: February-March 1945     225
Shadows of Death: March-April 1945     259
Justice?: May 1945     293
Peace, Politics and Potsdam: June-July 1945     320
The Liquidation of the British Empire
Hopes Betrayed: August-October 1945     365
The Costs of Victory: October 1945-April 1946     392
Sabotage?: April-November 1946     425
Scuttle?: December 1946-August 1947     464
Epilogue     505
Abbreviations     514
The Diarists     515
Bibliography     516
References     521
Acknowledgements     546
Index     549
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