The National Government from Recovery to War, 1935–39

For Britain, the second half of the 1930s started quietly enough, with a celebration of the Silver Jubilee of King George V. Nevertheless, the next five years were to prove both as controversial and eventful as any in British history, as the policies of the Appeasement of fascism were formulated and then collapsed under the pressure of Nazi expansion. By the middle of 1940 Winston Churchill was Prime Minister, Labour leader Clement Attlee Deputy Prime Minister, and Britain was at war, fighting alone and for its very existence as a nation.