Hitler, feeling himself obliged to help out his inept ally Mussolini, was dragged into two wars the Italian dictator had started but lacked the resources to prosecute to victory: in North Africa and in Greece. Where the Italians had failed, the Germans moved in with lightning speed, overrunning Yugoslavia and Greece, and driving the hitherto triumphant British into retreat in Libya.

Britain meanwhile was feeling the pain of a German blockade, most effectively applied by submarines, the deadly U-boats of the German navy. Britain was stepping up its bombing of Germany (while also continuing to be bombed back itself), in the deluded belief that this might win the war. That limited its ability to extend air protection to convoys of ships crossing the Atlantic, where it came close to losing it.

Then in June 1941, Germany made a colossal error. Despite having committed forces in North Africa and the Balkans, it went ahead with Hitler’s pet project, the invasion of the Soviet Union. Suddenly Britain, previously without great power allies, found the Soviets dragged into fighting the Germans too.

In December, Japan made an equally massive mistake, attacking the US in an air raid of Pearl Harbor. Now the US declared war on Japan and, when Germany in solidarity with its Axis partner in the Far East, declared war on the US, Britain found itself with another mighty partner in its war effort.

It was a huge turnaround for Britain. Obtained not though its own efforts, though Churchill had done all he could to persuade the US into the fighting, but through the errors of its enemies. A failing with plenty of precedents in history…

Illustration: Contemporary photo of the attack on Pear Harbo. Public Domain.

Music: Bach Partita #2c by J Bu licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License