Critical Essay | Critical Essay by Louis D. Rubin, Jr.

Critical Essay by Louis D. Rubin, Jr.

SOURCE: “Did Churchill Ruin ‘The Great Work of Time?’ Thoughts on the New British Revisionism,” in Virginia Quarterly Review, Vol. 70, No. 1, Winter 1994, pp. 59-78.

In the following essay, Rubin addresses and refutes the claims of historical revisionists who assert that Churchill's entry into the conflict that became World War II brought about the downfall of the British empire.

[Who] Could by industrious valor climb To ruin the great work of Time,                     And cast the kingdom old                     Into another mold. …

—Marvell, Horatian Ode Upon Cromwell's Return from Ireland

Writers of history have always been good at second guessing; in large measure it is their trade. These days the history of the Second World War is currently being rewritten by certain young British historians, who are eager to show that it was all a dreadful mistake, and the British should have stayed out and allowed the Germans...
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