A History of the English-Speaking Peoples Since 1900

A HISTORY

OF THE

ENGLISH￾SPEAKING

PEOPLES

S WCLéà

M

ROBERTS

$35.00

"Andrew Roberts has justly made a reputation for himself as

one of today's leading young British historians."

—Alistair Home, Wall Street Journal

I

n 1900, where Churchill ended the fourth volume of his His￾tory of the English-Speaking Peoples, the United States had

not yet emerged onto the world scene as a great power. Mean￾while, the British Empire was in decline but did not yet know

it. Any number of other powers might have won primacy in

the twentieth century and beyond, including Germany, Russia,

possibly even France. Yet the coming century was to belong

to the English-speaking peoples, who successively and success￾fully fought the Kaiser's Germany, Axis aggression and Soviet

Communism, and who are now struggling against Islamic fun￾damentalist terrorism.

Andrew Roberts brilliantly reveals what made the English￾speaking people the preeminent political culture since 1900,

and how they have defended their primacy from the many as￾saults upon them. What connects those countries where the

majority of the population speaks English as a first language—

the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zea￾land, the West Indies and Ireland—is far greater than what sep￾arates them, and the development of their history since 1900

has been a phenomenal success story.

Authoritative and engrossing, A History of the English￾Speaking Peoples Since 1900 is an enthralling account of the

century in which the political culture of one linguistic world￾grouping comprehensively triumphed over all others. Roberts's

History proves especially invaluable as the United States today

looks to other parts of the English-speaking world as its best,

closest and most dependable allies.

0207

ANDREW ROBERTS is the author of Napoleon and Welling￾ton, Eminent Churchillians and Waterloo. His writing appears

regularly in The Sunday Telegraph. He lives in London. His

website can be found at www.andrew-roberts.net.

Jacket design by Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich

Front photograph © Matty Zimmerman/Associated Press

Back photograph © Corbis

Author photograph © Bolla Denehy

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ADVANCE PRAISE FC3R ANDREW ROBERTS'S

A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING

PEOPLES SINCE 1900

"Thought-provoking, erudite and opinionated in the best sense of the term, Andrew Roberts

boldly picks up where Winston Churchill left off and provides a sweeping history of the

great struggles of the last century. Always unabashed and interesting, Roberts is one of

Britain's most talented young historians, and in these pages, American readers will delight

in discovering him." —Jay Winik, author of April 1865

"Engaging, entertaining and opinionated, Andrew Roberts's new book is a brisk tour through

the epic years of the twentieth century. Churchill would have approved of Roberts's style,

which is anything but bland. Readers will find much to think about in these pages."

—Jon Meacham, author of Franklin and Winston

"With passion and scholarship, Andrew Roberts embraces the faith of Winston Churchill

that the English-speaking peoples are 'the last best hope of mankind.' He has Churchillian

courage. He marches vigorously into minefields of controversy, marshaling his evidence and

his sequences with great skill. Throughout he is cogent in argument and lucid in his prose.

Here is a history that is as timely as it is valuable."

—Harold Evans, author of The American Century

"The so-called special relationship between the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zea￾land and the United Kingdom is alive and well in this elegantly written interpretive history.

By focusing on why English has become the dominant language in the world, British histo￾rian Andrew Roberts shines a fresh light on today's geopolitical realities. A truly smart and

important book." —Douglas Brinkley, author of The Great Deluge

ISBN 978-0-06-087598-5

5350 0

A History of the

English-Speaking Peoples

Since 1900

By the same author

'The Holy Fox': A Life of Lord Halifax

Eminent Churchillians

The Aachen Memorandum

Salisbury: Victorian Titan

Napoleon and Wellington

Hitler and Churchill

What Might Have Been (editor)

Waterloo

A History of the

English-Speaking Peoples

Since 1900

ANDREW ROBERTS

YlarperCollinsPublishers

A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING PEOPLES SINCE IÇJOO. Copyright © 2OO7

by Andrew Roberts. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No

part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written

permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

For information address HarperCollins Publishers, 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY

10022.

HarperCollins books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales promo￾tional use. For information please write: Special Markets Department, HarperCollins

Publishers, 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022.

First published in Great Britain in 2006 by Weidenfeld & Nicolson.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Roberts, Andrew, 1963-

A history of the English-speaking peoples since 1900 / Andrew Roberts.—1st ed.

p. cm.

Continues Winston Churchill's A history of the English-speaking peoples.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN: 978-0-06-087598-5

ISBN-IO: 0-06-087598-4

1. Great Britain—History—20th century. 2. Commonwealth countries—

History—20th century. 3. English-speaking countries—History—20th century.

DA 16 .R46 2007

909/.097521081 2 2

2006050123

07 08 09 10 11 •/RR D 1098765 4

To Leonie Frieda

CONTENTS

List of Illustrations ix

Acknowledgements xi

INTRODUCTION A Portrait of the English-Speaking Peoples at the i

Dawn of the Twentieth Century

ONE Shouldering'The White Man's Burden': 1900-4 18

TWO America Arrives: 1905-14 55

THREE The First Assault: Prussian Militarism 1914-17 87

FOUR Peace Guilt: 1918-19 136

FIVE American Energy: 1920-9 165

six Capitalism at Bay: 1929-31 192

SEVEN The Second Assault: Fascist Aggression 1931-9 211

EIGHT Divided and Faltering: 1939-41 253

NINE United and Conquering: 1942-4 299

TEN Normandy to Nagasaki: 1944-5 334

ELEVEN The Third Assault: Soviet Communism 1945-9 380

TWELVE Cold War Perils: The 1950s 410

THIRTEEN Civis Americanus Sum: The 1960s 447

FOURTEEN The Long, Dismal, Drawling Tides: The 1970s 486

FIFTEEN Attritional Victory: The 1980s 523

SIXTEEN The Wasted Breathing Space: 1990 - 11 September 561

2001

SEVENTEEN The Fourth Assault: Islamicist Terrorism and its De 599

Facto Allies: 11 September 2001 - 15 December 2005

CONCLUSION 634

Notes 649

Maps 666

Bibliography 668

Index 693

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Between pages 242 and 243

Queen Victoria visits Dublin, April 19001

Italian immigrants on Ellis Island, New York, 20052

Richard Seddon, founder of modern New Zealand2

Kaiser Wilhelm II and his generals prepare for war3

Anzac Cove, Gallipoli, April 19154

The sinking of the Lusitania, May 19153

Men of the British West Indies Regiment during the Somme offensive,

Septemebr 19165

Treaty of Versailles, 28 June 19192

The Empire State building, New York3

The Hoover Dam2

The British Empire goes to war, 19393

British troops surrender to the Japanese in Singapore, February 19422

The Canadian disaster at Dieppe, August 19426

The Quebec Conference, August 19433

Between pages 498 and 499

Dresden, before and after the Allied bombing raids of February 1945

7&8

Celebrating the death of Adolf Hitler, May 19452

Discoveries and an invention: Alexander Fleming (penicillin), John Logie

Baird (television) and Jonas Salk (polio vaccine)3

The removal of Queen Victoria's statue from the Dublin parliament, 19489

The destruction of the Nelson pillar, Dublin, March 19662

Edmund Hillary, the conqueror of Everest7

The first moon landing, July 196910

The resignation of the US President, Richard Nixon, August 1974"

The American evacuation of Saigon, April 197512

The end of Soviet communism, 199112

Saddam Hussein quits Baghdad, April 200312

The aftermath of 9/11 "

X LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

The author and publishers thank the following for permission to reproduce

the illustrations in this book:

'Illustrate London News Picture Library

2

Getty Images

3

Bridgeman Art Library

4

Bridgeman Art Library (Imperial War Museum)

5

Imperial War Museum

6

Weidenfeld and Nicholson Archive

7

Topforo

8

AKG London

9

G.A. Duncan Photographs

IONASA

11

Getty Images (Time/Life)

12

REX Features

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This book is emphatically not intended to be a comprehensive history of the English￾speaking peoples, which would be impossible to write in one volume and anyhow probably

rather dull to read. Instead of a textbook, this is a series of snapshots taken rather arbitrarily,

episodically and idiosyncratically from the life of the English-speaking peoples since the

dawn of the twentieth century, through whose shared experience I believe certain common

themes emerge, almost unbidden.

For my purposes, the English-speaking peoples hail from those places where the majority

of people speak English as their first language: the United States, the United Kingdom and

her dependencies, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the British West Indies and Ireland.

The English diaspora has of course extended far further, such as to South Africa, Rhodesia

(present-day Zimbabwe), Singapore, Hong Kong, and so forth, but I have confined myself

to the places where the English language is spoken by the numerical majority as their first

language today.

D-Day saw the supreme expression of the English-speaking peoples working together

for the good of Civilisation, and I should like to thank the irrepressible Paul Woodadge of

Battlebus Tours for conducting me on battlefield tours of Omaha beach, Beuzeville-au￾Plain, La Fière, Utah beach, Les Mézières, Sainte-Marie-du-Mont, Bréville, Angoville-au￾Plain, Merville Battery, Strongpoint Hillman, Sword beach, Pegasus Bridge, Juno beach,

Sainte Mère Eglise, Lion-sur-Mer, Gold beach and Crépon, as well as to the Ryes Com￾monwealth War Cemetery at Bazenville and the Normandy American Cemetery at Col￾leville-sur-Mer. Paul's encyclopaedic knowledge of Normandy in 1944 has been invaluable

in offering me insights into the campaign that represents the greatest single service made

by the English-speaking peoples to the cause of Freedom.

My thanks also go to Mrs Esin Oktar for conducting me around several battlefields and

cemeteries of the Gallipoli campaign, including Anzac Cove, 'V Beach, The Nek, Lone

Pine, Plugges's Plateau and Chunuk Bair, as well as the Kabatepe Museum. My under￾standing of that campaign has also benefited greatly from my contact with Prof. Ian Beckett

of Northampton University, whom I should also like to thank.

This book has benefited from my conversations with people interested in the subject,

and I would particularly like to thank the following for their thoughts, ideas and help: Carol

Adelman, Rupert Allason, Joan Bright Astley, Jed Babbin, John Barnes, Michael Barone,

Prof. Ian Beckett, Alan Bell, James C. Bennett, Mrs Benazir Bhutto, Robin Birley, Lord

Black, Geoffrey Blainey, Philip Bobbitt, John Bolton, Sen. George Brandeis, Jung Chang

and Jon Halliday, Robert Conquest, Alistair Cooke, Sir Zelman Cowen, Peter Day, Prof.

David Dilks, Prof. Clement H. Dodd, Alexander Downer, Douglas Feith, Prof. Niall

Ferguson, Alan Forward, Sir Martin Gilbert, Hon. Newt Gingrich, Dean Godson, Michael