The 10th May 1940 - As it happened 🧵

On this day at 08:00 AM,

Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain chaired a meeting of the war cabinet. Held unusually early as the war cabinet had been informed of some distressing news.
Earlier that day at 05:30 AM, the war cabinet were notified that the Germans had invaded Holland.

Just off the Belgian coast, 8 destroyers & HMS Birmingham were engaged by German motor torpedo boats as well as German mines.

R.M.S Kelly had been torpedoed and thus towed home.

The Old Lion's Last Roar: Churchill, His Health & His Final Years. 🧵

Perhaps the saddest thing about Sir Winston Churchill is that not only was he deeply unwell at the end of his life, he saw his life as a failure. (This is from a previous thread, reposted for greater exposure.)

For his 80th birthday, in November 1954, Sir Winston Churchill was gifted a painting by Parliament - under direction from a committee set up in June 1954:

Winston Churchill smokes a cigar whilst flying a plane chased by the Nazi Luftwaffe.

The Most Dangerous Flight of the Second World War. 🧵 In January 1942, the plane Winston Churchill was aboard was hunted by both the German Luftwaffe and the Royal Air Force. If the flight went awry, it would have changed the course of history.

Shortly after the United States was thrust into the Second World War, in December 1941,

Given that Winston Churchill & the Bengal Famine have gotten lots of interest on X recently,

I'm going to explain again why he is innocent. Blaming him is ahistorical.

What one needs to do in these situations is go to the primary sources - all of which are cited at the end 🧵 I have no doubt, that just like in the past, there will be those who accuse me of only using 'British sources.'

This is not true. I have primary sources written by Indians as well as papers by Indian academics.

On October 16th 1942, a cyclone hit Bengal & Orissa, wiping out the rice crop harvest in the process.

Surrounding areas previously used to purchase foodstuff to alleviate famines/shortfalls had all fallen to Japan.

This being Burma, Malaya, the Philippines & Thailand. The cyclone also damaged roads, telecom systems and railways - tracks needed to move food were washed away.

Another byproduct of the cyclone was that it stopped the normal winter harvest in Northern India preventing this food aid internally.

Japan maintained a military presence in the Bay of Bengal from April 1942. From submarines to battlecruisers & carriers, these posed a threat, to merchant shipping.

Great Britain wielded her geopolitical & naval might into bullying much of the world to abolish slavery - at a time when this evil was the global norm.

A thread on how under the White Ensign, slavery was globally challenged for the first time. 🧵🇬🇧

(Sources cited at the end.) By the 1700s, slavery and the slave trade was practised across all races, continents and many cultures.

Many Euro-Americans bought slaves from West Africa with Arab traders dominating East Africa.

Many native Africans would capture & sell their fellow man at the coast.

Tippu Tip (1832-1905), one of the largest slave traders in East Africa.

Though well established in the historiography of the slave trade, in general discussions the original slave capturers & sellers - mostly indigenous Africans themselves - are often ignored.

A thread. 🧵 We rightly remember & discuss the vile evil that Euro-Americans & Arabs facilitated, encouraged & took part in: the abhorrent slave trades of the Atlantic & Eastern Africa.

Such crimes against humanity must never be forgotten. But what of the start of that supply chain?

Sir Winston Churchill is known for his heroic leadership in leading the campaign of resistance against Nazism & fascism.

Unfortunately, he is under frequent attack by historically illiterate political activists.

🇬🇧🧵 Tearing apart the most common lies against the British Lion. Sources are cited at the end of this thread.

Below are the topics covered:

1) South Africa - Camps
2) Bombing of Coventry
3) Chemical Warfare.
4) Antisemitism
5) Dresden
6) India & the Bengal Famine
7) Welsh miners at Tonypandy, Wales.

Great Britain wielded her geopolitical & naval might into bullying much of the world to abolish slavery - at a time when this evil was the global norm.

A thread on how under the White Ensign, slavery was globally challenged for the first time. 🧵🇬🇧

(Sources are cited.) (This thread is from December 2023; I'm reposting it for greater exposure.)

Sources are cited at the end of the thread. Let's begin.

By the 1700s, slavery and the slave trade was practised across all races, continents and many cultures.

10th May 1940 - one of the most important & dramatic days in history.

At 08:00 AM, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain chairs a meeting of the war cabinet.

Held unusually early as the war cabinet had been informed of some distressing news.

A thread 🧵🇬🇧

(A thread I made a last August - reposting for greater exposure.)

The war cabinet were notified that earlier that day at 05:30 AM, Nazi Germany had invaded Holland.

Just off the Belgian coast, 8 destroyers & HMS Birmingham were engaged by German motor torpedo boats as well,

"More recently, his failure to prevent the Bengal Famine of 1943 has been highlighted."

How was Winston Churchill supposed to stop the cyclone that hit Bengal & Orissa, wiping out the rice crop harvest in the process?

How was it Churchill's fault that the Japanese maintained a presence in the Bay of Bengal, from April 1942 onwards, which sank merchant shipping?

Are we saying it was Churchill's fault that all of the surrounding areas that would have been previously used to alleviate food shortages - Burma, Malaya, the Philippines & Thailand - had fallen to Japan?

It was Churchill's fault that the local administration failed to deal with the famine?

How did Churchill cause the local Hindu merchants to hoard grain?

Also, how did Churchill cause the Japanese to bomb Indian docks, destroying grain shipments & causing backlogs, and the fact that Japan had invaded Imphal & Kohima?

Generally, I like McDonough's work and insight.

However, and I mean this respectfully, his comment on the Famine is based upon ahistorical 'research'. (For example, the disproven works of Mukerjee and Tharoor.)

What Churchill and his administration did do, upon finding out the severity of the famine, is send over 900,000 tons of grain to India between August 1943- December 1944.

This was despite the Japanese threat and the Allied shipping crisis... I explain further, with a plethora of primary sources referenced, below:

https://x.com/AndreasKoureas_/status/1721283244052578717?s=20

The most grievous accusation made against Winston Churchill is that he engineered the Bengal Famine & had a genocidal hatred of Indians.

After reading through the 1000s of pages of relevant primary sources, I can tell you these are complete lies.

Sources cited at the end 🧵 This is taken from a much larger thread I made a few months ago, where I explored this topic and a number of other ahistorical lies made against Churchill.

Feel free to read that thread afterwards (all relevant sources for this thread are also cited there):

https://x.com/AndreasKoureas_/status/1721283244052578717?s=20

Sir Winston Churchill with David Ben-Gurion, the first PM of Israel, in 1961; London.

I find it rather baffling that journalists & activists are calling Churchill an antisemite, given that he was the opposite.

🧵A thread on his lifelong friendship with the Jewish people. This thread is taken from a much larger one I made a few months ago where I explore many of the key ahistorical accusations made against Churchill.

For the relevant cited primary sources, see the end of that thread.

Let's begin.

Great Britain wielded her geopolitical & naval might into bullying much of the world to abolish slavery - at a time when this evil was the global norm.

A thread on how under the White Ensign, slavery was globally challenged for the first time. 🧵🇬🇧

(Sources are cited.) (This thread is largely based from a thread I made a few months ago. I'm reposting it for greater exposure.)

Sources are cited at the end of the thread. Let's begin.

By the 1700s, slavery and the slave trade was practised across all races, continents and many cultures.

When the old lion gave his last roar.

The saddest thing I've found in my research on Sir Winston Churchill was that not only was he deeply unwell at the end of his life, he saw his life as a failure.

A thread on the titan's final years. 🧵 (This thread is largely based on a previous one I made back in August. Reposting for greater exposure.)

For his 80th birthday, in November 1954, Sir Winston Churchill was gifted a painting by Parliament - under direction from a committee set up in June 1954:

Great Britain yielded her geopolitical & military might into bullying much of the world to abolish slavery - despite this evil being the global norm, at the time.

A thread on how under the White Ensign, slavery was globally challenged for the first time. 🇬🇧🧵

Sources are cited. (This thread is largely based from a thread I made in March. I'm reposting such for greater exposure.)

Sources are cited at the end of the thread. Let's begin.

By the 1700s, slavery and the slave trade was practised across all races, continents and many cultures.

Sir Winston Churchill is under frequent attack by political activists.

From accusations of antisemitism to engineering the Bengal Famine.

After reading through 10,000s of pages of primary sources, I'm now going to tear apart these ahistorical conspiracies.

(Sources are cited.) Please do share this - it took many hours to gather the sources and make this thread.

(Also, some of these topics I've discussed before, so I've copied in parts of some of my previous threads as it makes no sense to rewrite it.)

The thread is split into these five topics:

When the old lion gave his last roar.

Perhaps the saddest thing about Sir Winston Churchill is that not only was he deeply unwell at the end of his life, he saw his life as a failure.

A thread on the titan's final years. 🧵 For his 80th birthday, in November 1954, Sir Winston Churchill was gifted a painting by Parliament - under direction from a committee set up in June 1954: the 'Churchill Joint Houses of Parliament Gift Committee'.

Churchill, who had seen the portrait privately a week before,

The most misunderstood part of Sir Winston Churchill's life is his relationship with India.

He neither hated Indians nor did he cause/contribute to the Bengal Famine.

After reading through thousands of pages of primary sources, here's what really happened.

A thread 🧵 I've covered this topic before, but in a recent poll my followers wanted a more in-depth thread.

Sources are cited at the end.

I'm also currently co-authoring a paper for a peer reviewed journal on the subject of the Bengal Famine, which should hopefully be out later this year.

The most misunderstood part of Sir Winston Churchill's life is his relationship with India.

After reading through of pages of primary sources, here's the actual relationship between Churchill, India & Bengal Famine.

A thread 🧵

(Sources cited at the end.) I've covered this topic before, but in a recent poll my followers wanted a more in-depth thread.

(I'm also currently co-authoring a paper for a peer reviewed journal on the subject of the Bengal Famine, which should hopefully be out later this year.)

I'll first address,

10th May 1940 - one of the most important & dramatic days in history.

At 08:00 AM, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain chairs a meeting of the war cabinet.

Held unusually early as the war cabinet had been informed of some distressing news.

A thread 🧵🇬🇧

(A thread I made a few months ago - reposting for greater exposure.)

The war cabinet were notified that earlier that day at 05:30 AM, Nazi Germany had invaded Holland.

Just off the Belgian coast, 8 destroyers & HMS Birmingham were engaged by German motor torpedo boats as well,

Sir Winston Churchill with David Ben-Gurion, the first Prime Minister of Israel, in 1961; London.

Uncommon for someone of his aristocratic class and background, Sir Winston Churchill was a philosemite.

🧵A thread on Churchill's life-long support for the Jewish people. Throughout much of modern human history, the Jewish people have suffered persecution and systemic injustices.

From the Russian pogroms, to under Nazism to Hamas terrorism and so on and so forth.

Churchill had recognised and supported Jewish liberation throughout his life.