The Splendid and the Vile
by Erik Larson
Contents
Chapter 15: London and Berlin
Overview
After France signs an armistice, Britain faces the war alone, and Churchill becomes consumed by the danger that Germany might gain control of the French fleet. The chapter underscores both the strategic crisis in London and the overconfidence in Berlin, where Goebbels shifts Nazi propaganda toward breaking British morale and predicting Churchill’s fall. These parallel scenes show how high the stakes have become and how differently each side interprets Britain’s capacity to continue the fight.
Summary
On Saturday, June 22, France signed an armistice with Hitler, making Britain officially alone in the war. At Chequers the following day, the news darkened the atmosphere, and Mary Churchill recorded a "wrathful & gloomy breakfast downstairs."
Winston Churchill was especially troubled not simply by France’s defeat but by the unresolved fate of the French fleet. Because Germany had not yet revealed the exact armistice terms, Churchill feared Hitler would seize the ships, which would badly alter naval power in the Mediterranean and make a German invasion of England more likely.
Churchill’s mood and behavior irritated Clementine Churchill. Believing that writing was the surest way to reach him, she began a letter telling him something she felt he needed to hear, but after finishing it, she tore it up instead of sending it.
In Berlin on Sunday, June 23, Joseph Goebbels gathered his top propaganda officials to reset Germany’s message now that France had capitulated. Goebbels said Britain must become the new focus, but he warned against suggesting that an invasion was imminent because Germany still had not decided how the fight would proceed.
Goebbels instructed his staff to frame the conflict as continental Europe against Britain and to push slogans blaming Britain for Europe’s suffering and starvation. Privately, he predicted that France’s fall would trigger a political collapse in Britain, remove Churchill, and produce a compromise government willing to make peace, showing how confidently Berlin misread British resolve.
Who Appears
- Winston ChurchillPrime minister; deeply troubled by France’s surrender and the possible loss of the French fleet.
- Joseph GoebbelsNazi propaganda minister; redirects German messaging toward Britain and predicts Churchill’s political collapse.
- Clementine ChurchillChurchill’s wife; disturbed by his behavior, drafts a letter of criticism, then destroys it.
- Mary ChurchillChurchill’s daughter; notes the angry, gloomy mood at Chequers after France’s armistice.
- Adolf HitlerGerman leader whose armistice with France raises fears he may absorb the French fleet.