Winston Churchill could have prevented the Second World War . . . If he had controlled British foreign policy, he would have made a 'Grand Alliance' to group other European countries around a strong Anglo-French alliance. The alliance would have pledged defence against any German attacks. It might have stopped Hitler, or cause moderate Germans to stop him. Churchill could have persuaded Stalin that Britain and France would be safer collaborators than Nazi Germany and could have convinced Stalin to accept the independence of Romania, Poland and the Baltic States. It is impossible to imagine that any conceivable alternative chain of events could have been worse than what did happen in 1939-45. Churchill & Appeasement by R. A. C. Parker is a startling and controversial history book.