Der offizielle Biograph von Winston Churchill und ein führender Historiker des 20. Jahrhunderts, Sir Martin Gilbert, war ein Gelehrter und Historiker, der trotz seiner 88 Bücher gezeigt hat, dass es so etwas wie „wahre Geschichte“ gibt.
Martin Gilbert wurde 1936 in London geboren, studierte an der Highgate School und am Magdalen College in Oxford und schloss mit First Class Honours ab. Er war Research Scholar am St Anthony's College und wurde 1962 Fellow des Merton College in Oxford und 1994 Honorary Fellow. Nachdem er als Forscher für Randolph Churchill gearbeitet hatte, wurde Gilbert ausgewählt, das Schreiben der Churchill-Biografie zu übernehmen nach Randolphs Tod 1968, sechs der acht Bände der Biographie verfasst und zwölf Bände von Dokumenten herausgegeben. Darüber hinaus hat Gilbert bahnbrechende und klassische Werke über den Ersten und Zweiten Weltkrieg, das 20. Jahrhundert, den Holocaust und die jüdische Geschichte geschrieben.
Gilbert steuerte jeden Aspekt seiner Bücher, von der Suche nach Archiven über die Korrespondenz mit Augenzeugen und Teilnehmern, die seinem Werk Wahrheit und Bedeutung verliehen, bis hin zum Finden und Auswählen von Illustrationen, dem Zeichnen von Karten, die jede Stelle im Text erwähnen, und der Zusammenstellung der Indizes. Er reiste weit herum, hielt Vorträge und recherchierte, beriet Politiker und Filmemacher und gab „denen, die kämpften und denen, die fielen“, eine Stimme und einen Namen.
Winston S. Churchill. Vol. 3: The Challenge of War, 1914-1916 Buch pdf lesen und herunterladen von Martin Gilbert
“A milestone, a monument, a magisterial achievement… rightly regarded as the most comprehensive life ever written of any age.”
—Andrew Roberts, historian and author of The Storm of War
“The most scholarly study of Churchill in war and peace ever written.”
—Herbert Mitgang, The New York Times
This third volume of the official biography of Sir Winston Churchill contains a full account of his initiatives and achievements as wartime First Lord of the Admiralty between August 1914 and May 1915. These include his efforts to prolong the siege of Antwerp, his support for the use of air power, and his part in the early development of the tank. It shows the forcefulness with which he argued for an offensive naval policy, first against Germany, then against Turkey.
“What about the Dardanelles?” was the cry Churchill heard often between the two world wars. It epitomized the distrust in which he was held by both politicians and the public as a result of the naval setback at the Dardanelles in March 1915 and the eventual failure of the Gallipoli landings launched the following month.
Martin Gilbert examines the political crisis of May 1915, during which the Conservative Party forced Asquith to form a coalition government. The Conservatives insisted that Churchill leave the center of war policymaking for a position of increasing political isolation. In the next seven months, while the Gallipoli campaign was being fought, Churchill served as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, with no authority over military or naval policy.
Resigning from the Cabinet in November 1915, Churchill was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel, commanding an infantry battalion in the trenches of the Western Front. In May 1916, he returned from the trenches, hoping to reenter political life, but his repeated attempts to regain his once-substantial influence were unsuccessful.
About the Author
SIR MARTIN GILBERT was born in England in 1936. He was a graduate of Oxford University, from which he held a Doctorate of Letters, and was an Honorary Fellow of Merton College, Oxford. In 1962 he began work as one of Randolph Churchill’s research assistants, and in 1968, after Randolph Churchill’s death, he became the official biographer of Winston Churchill. He published six volumes of the Churchill biography, and edited twelve volumes of Churchill documents.
During forty-eight years of research and writing, Sir Martin published eighty books, including The First World War, The Second World War, and a three-volume History of the Twentieth Century. He also wrote, as part of his series of ten historical atlases, Atlas of the First World War, and, most recently, Atlas of the Second World War.
Sir Martin’s film and television work included a documentary series on the life of Winston Churchill. His other published works include Churchill: A Photographic Portrait, In Search of Churchill, Churchill and America, and the single volume Churchill, A Life.
About the Work
In the official biography of Sir Winston Churchill, his son Randolph—and later Sir Martin Gilbert, who took up the work following Randolph’s death—had the full use of Sir Winston’s letters and papers, and also many hundreds of private archives. The work spans eight volumes, detailing Churchill’s youth and early adventures in South Africa and India, his early career, and his more than fifty years on the world stage. No other statesman of modern times—or indeed of any age—has left such a wealth of personal letters, such a rich store of private and public documentation, such vivid memories in the minds of those who worked closest to him. Through these materials, assembled over the course of more than twenty years, one is able to know Churchill in a way never before possible.