Cry Havoc by Joseph Maiolo

Author:Joseph Maiolo
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Basic Books
Published: 2010-08-10T16:00:00+00:00

IN LONDON, the prime minister, Stanley Baldwin, was ailing, and on May 28, 1937, Neville Chamberlain replaced him. Upon moving into 10 Downing Street, Chamberlain felt liberated. He sought to dominate his cabinet and relished the chance to put the business of government in order. He understood that the most pressing issue confronting the nation was the arms race.

Chamberlain always saw arming as a rational act, one that could be fine-tuned to have positive political effects. Building up an air force, upgrading the fleet and the regular army would be enough to convince Hitler and his generals that it was better to talk than to compete in arms. However, so far no one in Berlin seemed to get the message. Instead, with Germany setting the pace, the arms race went on. Why Berlin was not getting the message seemed clear to Chamberlain. The arms programs of 1936 needed time to complete. Once Britain was unassailable, Berlin would be responsive. And to show that London could be reasonable, someone needed to speak to Hitler. “I believe the double policy of rearmament & better relations with Germany & Italy will carry us safely though the danger period,” he wrote, “if only the Foreign Office will play up.” After March 1936, when Germany remilitarized the Rhineland, the diplomats had shown very little interest in improving relations with Germany. Vansittart foretold doom. Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden wanted to cozy up to the French and trade insults with Mussolini. On the prime purpose of diplomacy, Chamberlain sided with Hankey and Chatfield. “Without overlooking the assistance which we should hope to obtain from France, and possibly other allies,” the service chiefs argued, “we cannot foresee a time when our defence forces will be strong enough to safeguard our territory, trade and vital interests against Germany, Italy and Japan simultaneously. We cannot, therefore, exaggerate the importance . . . of any political or international action that can be taken to reduce the numbers of our potential enemies and to gain the support of potential allies.”

Diplomatically, everything hinged on Germany. “If only we could get on terms with the Germans,” Chamberlain wrote, “I would not care a rap for the Musso.” An agreement with Germany would leave Italy out on a limb and free up strength for the Far East. To negotiate a European settlement with Germany, he intended to bypass the Foreign Office as well as the small circle of Nazi radicals and conservatives that vied for Hitler’s ear—and negotiate with the Führer himself. Hitler had said he wanted the frontiers of central Europe altered to bring into the Reich the ten million Germans living in Czechoslovakia into Austria. If this could be achieved peacefully, then the steam would go out of the arms race. Arms control would follow. Trade deals would break down German autarky. A new political equilibrium would be founded on Anglo-German cooperation.45

Meanwhile, in the second half of 1937, as the arms budget continued to expand, the British economy stopped growing. Exports declined and imports rose.

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