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During the 1930s "Tombstone" cabinets were very popular in the United States.
This 1937 Philco model is a typical example. Printed on the tuning dial are
the names of many cities, representing shortwave stations of the time.
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Most of the sound files on this page are in Real Audio
format. If you don't already have a Real Player, you can download a free copy
from www.real.com. The player is
also often available on the CD Roms supplied free with Internet monthlies.
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Neville Chamberlain
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Neville Chamberlain (1869-1940),
British prime minister from May 28, 1937, to May 10, 1940,
whose name is identified with the policy of "appeasement" toward Adolf Hitler's
Germany in the period immediately preceding World War II.
The son of the statesman Joseph Chamberlain and younger half brother of Sir Austen
Chamberlain, he managed his father's sisal plantation on Andros Island, Bahamas, and
then prospered in the metalworking industry in Birmingham.
Chosen lord mayor of that
city in 1915, he organized in 1916 a municipal savings bank, the only one in Great
Britain. In December 1916 he joined David Lloyd George's World War I coalition
government as director general of national service, but, having insufficient powers,
he resigned in August 1917.
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A Conservative member of the House of Commons from
December 1918, Chamberlain served as postmaster general (1922-23), paymaster general
of the armed forces (1923), minister of health (1923, 1924-29, 1931), and chancellor
of the exchequer (1923-24, 1931-37). He became prime minister on May 28, 1937.
In a futile attempt to sway Fascist Italy away from German influence, he agreed
(April 16, 1938) to recognize Italian supremacy in Ethiopia and kept Great Britain
out of the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), in which Italy was deeply involved.
A few days later (April 25) he also undertook to abandon British naval bases in
Ireland, a move opposed by some as weakening Britain's defense capability.
On three occasions in September 1938, Chamberlain went to Germany in efforts to
prevent the outbreak of a general European war over Hitler's demand that
Czechoslovakia cede the Sudetenland to Germany. By the Munich Agreement of
September 30, he and Premier Édouard Daladier of France granted almost all of
Hitler's demands and left Czechoslovakia defenseless. He returned to England a
popular hero, speaking of "peace with honour" (echoing an earlier prime minister,
Benjamin Disraeli) and "peace in our time." Nonetheless, he immediately ordered the
acceleration of the British rearmament program. When Hitler seized the rest of
Czechoslovakia (March 10-16, 1939), Chamberlain definitely repudiated appeasement,
and he soon published Anglo-French guarantees of armed support for Poland, Romania,
and Greece in the event of similar attacks. The next month, peacetime military
conscription was instituted for the first time in British history.
The Soviet-German nonaggression treaty (Aug. 23, 1939), frustrating Chamberlain's
plan for a mutual assistance agreement among Great Britain, France, and the U.S.S.R.,
was followed by an Anglo-Polish pact (August 24). When the Germans attacked Poland
(Sept. 1, 1939), Chamberlain countered with a British declaration of war (September 3). He remained prime minister during the "phony war" period of sporadic military action, taking into his war Cabinet his foremost critic, Churchill, as first lord of the admiralty.
After the failure of a British expedition to Norway in April 1940, Chamberlain lost
the support of many Conservatives in the House of Commons, and he resigned on May 10,
the day of the German invasion of the Low Countries. In Churchill's coalition
government he served loyally as lord president of the council until Sept. 30, 1940,
when ill health forced him to resign that office and the Conservative Party
leadership. He died a few weeks later.
Reference: Encyclopaedia Brittanica, 1994-1999.
Listen (1 min. 58 secs.) now to his famous radio broadcast made on
September 3. 1939 stating that Britain was at war with Germany. 1 min. 58 secs. in RealAudio.
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