Radical Conservatives and the Federal Union

We like to think that we know what the Second World War was fought for: freedom, democracy and the defeat of Germany and the evils of fascism. Compared to subsequent conflicts, the aims of the war seem self-evident and straightforward. But back in 1939, none of this was clear.

Faced with a war he had desperately sought to avoid, no one was more tight-lipped about war aims than the prime minister, Neville Chamberlain. Concerned about alienating potential allies – how, for example, would a battle for ‘Christian civilisation’ sound to the atheistic Soviet Union – and fearful that bellicose demands might prevent a German domestic revolt against Hitler, Chamberlain chose a combination of silence and platitudes as his communication strategy.