Failure of a Mission - Berlin 1937-1939

By Nevile Henderson

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Read Books Ltd.
• Release date: Apr 16, 2013
• ISBN: 9781447494959

Nevile Henderson

Sir Nevile Meyrick Henderson GCMG (1882-1942) was a British diplomat and Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Nazi Germany from 1937-1939. He was born on June 10, 1882 at Sedgwick Park near Horsham, Sussex, the third child of Robert and Emma Henderson. His uncle was Reginald Hargreaves, who married Alice Liddell, the original of Alice in Wonderland. He was educated at Eton and joined the Diplomatic Service in 1905. In the early 1920s, Henderson was stationed at the embassy in Turkey, where he played a major role in the often difficult relations between Britain and the new Turkish republic. He served as an envoy to France in 1928-1929 and as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia between 1929-1935, where he was in close confidence with King Alexander and Prince Paul. After serving as Ambassador to Argentina from 1935-1937, the Foreign Secretary, Anthony Eden, appointed him Ambassador in Berlin on May 28, 1937. Henderson was ambassador at the time of the 1938 Munich Agreement, and counselled Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain to enter into it. Shortly thereafter, he returned to London for medical treatment, returning to Berlin in ill-health in February 1939. He wrote Failure of a Mission: Berlin 1937-1939 in London, which was published in 1940, but he succumbed to his illness on December 30, 1942, aged 60.

Reviews for Failure of a Mission - Berlin 1937-1939

[dromjohn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Doubling as an apologia and as two-pronged propaganda, "Failure of a mission," is about failure. But, for English consumption, because of Henderson (and Chamberlain), we've delayed the war, and now we are more prepared and more aware of the duplicity of Hitler. So hail Britannia! But, for German consumption, Hitler can be rational, but the crazed extreme Goebbels and the crazed stupid Anglo-hating Ribbentrop have too much of the ear of Hitler, while good Nazis like Goering and Neurath would be better advisers. And the German people really don't want the war. We can still be friends if Germany returns to pre-Poland borders (and still keep Danzig).Poorly written paragraph by paragraph, yet well organized and logical as a whole, "Failure" rings truthy, if still pathetic. This book is valuable as a primary document of the mindset of pre-war / early war England.

[neddludd · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This is a self-serving work that shows Henderson's complete misreading of history. He published this book in 1940, before the blitz and before Germany conquered Western Europe, and there is not one iota of awareness as to these possibilities. Henderson uses the book to justify his appreciation of certain aspects of Nazism, and clearly feels affection for the German people (as opposed to the Nazi regime). Yet he describes a series of diplomatic failures culminating in Munich, and then wonders why Hitler would not play the game fairly, like Henderson's British colleagues. He is absolutely blind to what Hitler always had in mind and described in Mein Kampf. Watching him in regard to his Nazi opponents is like watching a college football team take on an NFL franchise: the British, and French, were completely out of their league.

[rts1942 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Required reading for anyone interested in the details of the run-to war. Henderson was on the spot for the two years prior to the outbreak of World War II and his memoirs, although some might say read a bit like apologia at times, are well and succinctly read. An easy and useful read.