Arthur Neville Chamberlain was an English politician, member of the British Conservative Party and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1937 to 1940.
Biography and personal life
Chamberlain was born on March 18, 1869 in Edgbaston, Great Britain. His father Joseph Chamberlain was a prominent British politician. Mother - Florence Kenrick. Of the famous relatives, Neville also had a half-brother, Austen Chamberlain.
In his youth he attended rugby school. Educated at the Mason College of Science, which was later transformed into the University of Birmingham, but did not show a desire for study.
In 1890, at the age of 21, he tried to become the financial manager of an agave plantation in the Bahamas, but suffered a loss. For 7 years, his company has lost 50 thousand pounds. After 7 years, in 1897, Neville returned to Great Britain.
Chamberlain married quite late - at 32. His wife is Irish nee Anne de Vere Chamberlain, nee Cole. She encouraged and supported his entry into politics and became his constant companion, assistant and trusted colleague, fully sharing his interests in housing and other political and social activities after his election as a deputy. The couple had two children: a son and a daughter.
By the outbreak of World War II, Neville was diagnosed with late-stage rectal cancer. He did not have long to live, and on September 22, 1940, he resigned from himself.
Career in politics
In the 1900 elections in Great Britain, Chamberlain ran for the Liberal Unionist Party, whose leader was his father.
Neville began his own political career in 1911, taking the post of a member of the city council of Birmingham, which he vacated only in 1918. In the same period, from 1915 to 1916, he served as the mayor of this city. In 1918 he was elected from the Conservative Party to the "Birmingham Ledwood College". Several times he became Secretary of the Postal Service and Secretary of Health, Chancellor of the Treasury, and in 1937 he became the head of the party of the government of the United Kingdom.
Under Chamberlain's foreign policy, Great Britain embarked on a course of appeasing Hitler and Mussolini, trying to neutralize the aggressive actions of the fascist leaders. This appeasement was achieved at the cost of various concessions, which greatly did not suit the then British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden. In the end, Eden resigned in protest against such a policy.
Many other prominent political figures of the 1930s strongly condemned the policies of Chamberlain, who did not show sufficient firmness towards Hitler. But Neville himself didn't care much. As Prime Minister of Great Britain, Chamberlain was deeply afraid of a new European war. At the same time, he was extremely convinced that the policy of appeasement could fully satisfy the unjustly offended Germany and compensate her for the severe humiliation inflicted on her by the Versailles Treaty.
Chamberlain received his greatest success and recognition among British subjects after the agreements in Monaco, when Neville solemnly announced to his country that he had achieved "peace for our century."
However, he did not forget to develop the air force of Great Britain. During his reign, the famous Hurricane and Spitfire fighters were adopted, and radars were introduced everywhere in the air defense forces. Combined with the world's strongest navy, which Britain then possessed, this should have made the United Kingdom invulnerable to external enemies, especially Hitler.
Winston Churchill fiercely and reasonably criticized Chamberlain's actions and his agreements in Monaco. History has confirmed Churchill's correctness. Nazi Germany, in violation of the signed agreements, annexed the Slavic territories of Czechoslovakia, thereby ridiculing Chamberlain's policies.
Neville nevertheless tried to seek a dialogue with Hitler with the "mediation" of Mussolini in order to prevent the war, but this was impossible. On September 3, 1939, 3 days after the German invasion of Poland, Great Britain declared war on Germany. By 1940, the rearmament of the United Kingdom was completely completed, which allowed it to withstand the attacks of the Nazis.
Almost all historians accuse Chamberlain of political shortsightedness, since the policy of appeasement did not give the desired result, did not prevent the Second World War. But it should be remembered that in the 1930s such a policy was considered correct not only in British public opinion, but also among most of the world's politicians. In those years, Stalin and the communists were considered inhuman barbarians and a threat to all of Europe, and a pacified Germany was seen as a bulwark against the Russians.
On May 10, 1940, Neville Chamberlain resigned. In Britain's wartime environment, it was vital to have a Prime Minister who is supported by all parties. And neither the Liberals nor the Laborites supported Chamberlain. Winston Churchill succeeded Neville.
After his resignation, Chamberlain continued to serve as Lord President of the War Council, and also remained one of the leaders of the Conservative Party. On September 22, 1940, due to a serious illness, Neville Chamberlain resigned from all his posts and positions.
Death
Died November 9, 1940 in Reading, UK, of terminal bowel cancer.
The new Prime Minister Winston Churchill delivered the funeral speech. The date and time of the funeral was not disclosed for security reasons during wartime.
Neville was buried at Westminster Abbey, UK.
Awards
Neville Chamberlain was:
- a member of the Royal Society, which is accepted only for outstanding service in the advancement of natural knowledge;
- Doctor of Civil Law, Oxford University;
- Doctor of Laws from Cambridge, Birmingham, and Bristol Universities, as well as the Universities of Leeds and Reading;
- an honorary citizen of the city of Birmingham;
- honorary citizen of London.
In addition to the above, Prime Minister Chamberlain was the Honorary Air Commodore of the Air Auxiliary Force of Air Squadron # 916.
