Churchill with historian and writer Dr. Peter Caddick-Adams

In his latest book, Winston Churchill, veteran historian Peter Caddick-Adams gives us  crackling  overview of Churchill’s life, from his early days as a soldier and part-time journalist through to the Second World War until is death in January 1965.

Peter argues that the recipe for Churchill’s success during his wartime premiership of 1940-45 can be found in the First World War. The nation, and its leaders, had undergone a ‘dress rehearsal’ in 1914-18: conscription, rationing, convoys, air raids, mass production, women’s uniformed services, coalitions and war cabinets had all happened before, and Churchill had been there when they did. This experience, combined with Churchill’s extraordinary abilities (along with some foibles), were what enabled Britain to survive.

Peter has been Lecturer in Military and Security Studies at the UK Defence Academy and Lecturer in Air Power at RAF Halton. He received his PhD from Cranfield University.  A Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, he previously lectured at Oxford and Birmingham Universities and now addresses staff colleges around the world on military history, doctrine, terrorism, psychological and media operations. Peter has extensive experience of various war zones, including the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan. During 1996–7 he was the official NATO Historian in Bosnia, based in Sarajevo. Awarded the Territorial Decoration in 1997, he was also the official UK Historian during the Iraq War of 2003. His books include Snow and Steel: The Battle of the Bulge 1944-45; Monty and Rommel: Parallel Lives and Monte Cassino: Ten Armies in Hell  and 1945: Victory in the West.