Churchill Hopes “that a long time will be accorded us” Before Another Great War

It will be a long time before a satisfactory solution is devised, but happily we may hope that a long time will be accorded us

Major-General Sir Frederick Barton Maurice was Director of Military Operations for the British General Staff in World War I. In February 1918 he became convinced that troops were being withheld from the Western Front in order to undermine the position of General Douglas Haig. When David Lloyd George announced in the House of Commons that British troop levels on the Western Front were at all-time highs, Maurice believed that he was deceiving both Parliament and the British public, so he wrote a letter to The Times criticizing that position. The publication of this letter on May 7, 1918 caused a minor political storm, and Maurice was initially suspended and ultimately forced to retire. He was a prolific author with an interest in the American Civil War, and in 1927 wrote “An Aide-de-camp of Lee”, assessing the war from the Confederate point of view using the papers of Lee’s aide Colonel Charles Marshall.

On the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Churchill became First Lord of the Admiralty. However, he was blamed for the failure of the Dardanelles Campaign in 1915 and was moved to the minor post of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Unhappy about not having any power to influence the Government’s war policy, he joined the British Army and commanded a battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers on the Western Front. When David Lloyd George replaced Herbert Asquith as Prime Minister, he brought Churchill back into the government as Minister of Munitions and for the final year of the war, Churchill was in charge of the production of tanks, airplanes, guns and shells. In the 1920s he served as Chancellor of the Exchequer, the same position as secretary of the treasury in the United States. Churchill was always interested in the Civil War, as his mother and aunts were Americans who frequently discussed it at home when Churchill was young; in fact, his grandfather Jerome owned stock in the New York Times during the conflict.

Typed Letter Signed on his Exchequer letterhead, London, January 15, 1927, to Maurice, alluding to the scandal, mentioning the impressions made by the horrible blood-letting of World War I, and hoping that much time will be allotted before the coming of another such awful conflict.. “…I am much obliged to you for the information you have given me. My work, such as it is, does not attempt to be a complete chronicle, but deals chiefly with those aspects of the war which I personally realized. A friend, reading the proofs, drew my attention to the fact that no reference had been made to the Maurice debate and it’s after-consequences on British politics. I thereupon drafted a paragraph and asked Eddie to inquire whether you had any fault to find with it. I have told him to make the alterations which I understand will avoid the risk of any controversy between us on a personal point not in any way material to my arguments, and on the general merits of which I take your view. As you know, I protested vigorously at the failure to reinforce the Army in November and December 1917; but could make no headway in view of the horror and anger inspired in the cabinet by the prolongation of Paschendale. I shall be most interested to see the effect which this book produces upon you. I shall not expect you to agree with it. Nonetheless I hope you’ll read it with attention. I read your book about the Civil War very carefully. It is a valuable contribution to the study of the problem of the supreme command at the outbreak of a great modern war. It will be a long time before a satisfactory solution is devised, but happily we may hope that a long time will be accorded us.”

It is interesting how the country recoiled in horror at the slaughter in World War I. Of course, the world was not accorded “a long time” before the next war. Less than six years after Churchill wrote this letter, Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany. Soon Churchill was calling for rearming in anticipation of another conflict with Germany, and in 1940 he would himself be called upon to lead the British Commonwealth in the Second World War.