In his History of the Second World War, Churchill expressed his opposition to the United Nations post-war order promoted by Roosevelt and supported by Stalin. This would , of course, be a re-militarised Europe, confirmed by his support for war with the Soviet Union in 1945, Operation Unthinkable, and the fact that this proposal formed the seed of NATO. Of course, this NATO-to-be did contradict the UN, contrary to what he claimed in this speech, since NATO institutionalised the Nazi-“iron-curtain” also championed by Churchill, paralysing the workings of the global body. Not enough has been made of the rift between Churchill and Roosevelt. Whereas Roosevelt was surprisingly pro-Soviet, perhaps due to the impact on him of the oligarchical pro-fascist coup attempt against him in 1934 Churchill by his actions enabled Hitler and obviously sought through him the destruction of the Soviet Union. Neither of the two maritime powers, the USA and the UK, was capable of winning without sponsoring one of the great land powers but crucially they chose different ones. Roosevelt also sought the dismantling of the British Empire in direct conflict with Churchill who continued to champion it. Roosevelt sought a partnership with the Soviet Union as the central axis of the post-world order. As well as his virulent hostility to the Soviet Union Churchill also sought to instrumentalise the USA towards the fulfilment of his own goals. Roosevelt made derisory reference in his correspondence with Churchill to the State Department which he sought to bypass as a nest of pro-British elements, a sort of pro-British deep state. 1944 saw both Churchill’s attack on pro- Soviet, Greek partisans and the election of Truman to the vice-presidential candidacy in place of the pro-Soviet Henry.A.Wallace, both events foreshadowing the Cold War. The death of Roosevelt before the end of the war left Churchill as the most influential voice within the West. On the one hand, Roosevelt’s four pillar UN , to become five with the addition of France, remained in place but NATO emerged as a counterpoint to it representing the Western hegemony which the war itself had failed to bring about. That fundamental conflict remains with NATO now superceeding UN in it’s “peace-keeping” role in such far-flung corners as Afghanistan. Under cover of covid there has been a push to extend and intensify NATO influence notably with an Asian NATO based on the Quad grouping of India, Japan and Australia. Ironically, Brexit does not aim for the withdrawal of Britain from Europe but, rather, for the reframing of Europe as a military alliance against Russia, just as Churchill would envisaged it. This is seen in the E-3, the UK, France and Germany to be constituted in the European Security Council. The London-Washington conflict of the war years is back in the form of the anti-Trump campaign run from London and seems set to continue under Biden who has already disappointed Western militarists. Perhaps the best way to look at the global situation today is that WW2 never finished and that the nature of the world order to come, be it based on diplomacy and partnership or wars and regime change operations , is yet to be resolved.

International Churchill Society

Read speech