Diplomatic mission

RICHARD TOYE salutes an exploration of the relationship between the ‘Big Three’ Allied leaders

- RICHARD TOYE

Allies at War: The Politics of Defeating Hitler by Tim Bouverie Bodley Head, 688 pages, £25

“Roosevelt was suspicious of Churchill and Stalin was suspicious of everybody,” recalled British general Sir Leslie Hollis, “But outwardly they were all the greatest of buddies.” An obvious interpretation of this comment, quoted in Tim Bouverie’s highly readable account of Second World War politics, is that the ‘Big Three’ - Franklin D Roosevelt, Josef Stalin and Winston Churchill - played out their ruthless pursuit of national interests under a cynical cloak of personal friendliness.

Without denying the power plays clearly involved here, there is also a more optimistic reading - that, in spite of clashes, frictions and occasional stand-up rows, the leaders of the USSR, the US and the UK all understood how to behave diplomatically, even if they didn’t always do so in practice.