February 10, 2015

As the Russian civil war ended in the Crimea with a Bolshevik victory, Churchill feared another Red triumph at the gates of Warsaw. He wrote Lloyd George, Bonar Law and Balfour that “we are deliberately throwing away piecemeal the friends who could have helped us. Half-hearted war is being followed by halfhearted peace. We are going I fear to lose both: and be left alone … we are just crumbling our power away. Before long we shall not have a single card in our hands.”

He also worked for a peace treaty which would place British support on the side of Turkey against Greece. When he could not carry the Cabinet or the Prime Minister he worried that war would ensue in Palestine and Mesopotamia.

One concern was the expense of British intervention in an Arab uprising in Mesopotamia. Nevertheless, he also believed that a restrained response would lead to greater violence. Although he called for “vigorous action and decisive results,” as Secretary of State for War and Air he faced a chronic shortfall in manpower to meet all of Britain’s military commitments.

In early September Churchill went to the South of France for a holiday while Clementine stayed at home with Randolph, Diana and Sarah. The former two were constant behaviour problems. They had been educated at home but Randolph was now sent to Sandroyd, a preparatory school in Surrey. After the family moved into a new home on Sussex Square, Diana would be sent to Nottingham High School.

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