Summary of Winston S. Churchill's The Great Democracies

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 The British political scene was stagnant after the war. The Tories, as we may call them, were firmly in power. They had won the struggle against Napoleon with the support of a War Cabinet drawn largely from their own party.

#2 Castlereagh was the leader of the House of Commons, and he was the chief architect of the coalition that gained the final victory over Napoleon. He was not an orator, but he was a cool, collected man who thought it beneath him to inform the public openly about the government’s plans and measures.

#3 The European settlement in 1815, which was based on the agreements made at the Congress of Vienna, required Britain to commit herself to the new order and structure of Europe. She was a party to the settlement of the new frontiers of France, which deprived the restored Bourbons of what is now the Saarland and of parts of Savoy.

#4 The Congress of Vienna, which was the final peace treaty between the European powers, was a monument to the success of classical diplomacy. It was a culmination of the intricate negotiations that took place there.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Jul 12, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822544932

IRB Media

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Insights on Winston S. Churchill's The Great Democracies

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The British political scene was stagnant after the war. The Tories, as we may call them, were firmly in power. They had won the struggle against Napoleon with the support of a War Cabinet drawn largely from their own party.

#2

Castlereagh was the leader of the House of Commons, and he was the chief architect of the coalition that gained the final victory over Napoleon. He was not an orator, but he was a cool, collected man who thought it beneath him to inform the public openly about the government’s plans and measures.

#3

The European settlement in 1815, which was based on the agreements made at the Congress of Vienna, required Britain to commit herself to the new order and structure of Europe. She was a party to the settlement of the new frontiers of France, which deprived the restored Bourbons of what is now the Saarland and of parts of Savoy.

#4

The Congress of Vienna, which was the final peace treaty between the European powers, was a monument to the success of classical diplomacy. It was a culmination of the intricate negotiations that took place there.

#5

The British Government was tasked with economic reconstruction, which they were unable to accomplish due to their lack of experience in dealing with such problems. They concentrated on the one issue they understood, the defense of property.

#6

The Tory Cabinet in the face of such charges knew not what to do. The only remedy for misery was private charity or the Poor Law. The Radicals in Parliament were too few to form an effective Opposition.

#7

The English political tradition was centered in Parliament, and men looked to Parliament to solve the country’s problems. But the tactics of the Radicals were too similar to those of the French Revolutionaries to gain support from the middle classes.

#8

In 1819, a meeting of protest was held at St. Peter’s Fields, outside Manchester, attended by over fifty thousand people, including women and children. The local magistrates lost their heads, and, after reading the Riot Act, ordered the yeomanry to charge. Eleven people were killed, two of them women, and four hundred were injured.

#9

The British royal family had implanted itself firmly on English soil by the time of George IV. The atmosphere of the Court was like that of a minor German principality, and the King was not unamiable. He had a gift for facile friendship, but he hardly inspired his country’s leaders’ respect.

#10

In 1796, George married Caroline of Brunswick, a German princess. He was appalled at the sight of his bride, and was drunk for the first twenty-four hours of his married life. He wrote his wife a letter absolving her of any further conjugal duties.

#11

The Prince of Wales had long played with the idea of divorcing his itinerant wife. But the Government were apprehensive. The Prince’s extravagance, his lavish architectural experiments at Brighton and Windsor, were already causing them anxiety and giving rise to hostile speeches in Parliament.

#12

The trial of the Queen was held in Westminster Hall. It was not difficult to show that the conflicting evidence produced hardly justified the divorce clause in the Bill of Pains and Penalties. Brougham led the defense. He boldly attacked the veiled person behind the case,