Andrew Roberts

{{cquote|In the face of a danger that the left, the Church of England, much of the establishment, the press and the French denied really existed, a lone voice told the truth unashamedly again and again until events forced the rest of the nation to listen. This brave politician faced public obloquy and collapsing political popularity, until he was proved right, when he became the most popular prime minister in recent memory. For Churchill, this apotheosis came in 1940; for Tony Blair, it will come when Iraq is successfully invaded and hundreds of weapons of mass destruction are unearthed from where they have been hidden by Saddam's henchmen.| 4=Andrew Roberts, on the [[Tony Blair]]'s role during the [[Iraq War|invasion of Iraq]] in 2003<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/feb/19/iraq.artsandhumanities Blast from the past]</ref>}}

[[File:Andrew_Roberts.jpg|thumb|right|165px|Andrew Roberts. Look at the size of his Churchill biography.]]
{{pundits}}

''' Andrew Roberts''' {{lived|1963}} is a British [[neoconservative]] millitary historian, biographer and political pundit. A notorious [[chickenhawk]] and a [[Winston Churchill]] and [[Margaret Thatcher]] fanboy, Roberts started as a [[Trotsky|Trotskyist]],<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/jul/26/andrew-roberts-storm-of-war Andrew Roberts: The history man who loves to party]</ref> but is today, according to himself "extremely right-wing".<ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-the-dark-side-of-andrew-roberts-1765229.html Johann Hari: The dark side of Andrew Roberts]</ref>

Roberts has written many doorstop books that were (overall) well received, even if they had their dose of controversy. Despite writing informative,  well-researched books that usually have more than 100 pages of references alone, Roberts doesn't even try to hide his fanboyism about some historical figures and events, and due to his partiality one should read them with a grain of salt.

==Historical books and research==
Roberts wrote many books, covering especially (but not only) military history. In 2008, The Economist gave him the title of the "title of Britain's finest contemporary military historian", only two years after an extra extra harsh critique over one of his books (more on that later), listing his ''Masters and Commanders: The Military Geniuses Who Led the West to Victory in World War II'' among the greatest books of that year.<ref>[https://www.economist.com/books-and-arts/2008/12/04/pick-of-the-pile Pick of the pile]</ref> 

In 2009, Roberts published his most known work, ''The Storm of War'', which accounts for the whole history of the [[Second World War]]. Roberts's main interest was to find out the reasons why [[Nazi]] Germany lost the war, and if they could have won it. In his view, Germany had a clear advantage at the beginning of the War, but Corporal [[Hitler]] made many blunders, not only not in the strategic department, for example [[Dunning-Kruger effect|dismissing most of his generals]]. Hitler should have handled his allies differently. For instance, instead of declaring war against the United States (his greatest mistake along with {{wpl|Operation Barbarossa}} according to Roberts), Hitler should have convinced Japan to declare war against the [[Soviet Union]] and invade Siberia. That would: 1/ drive most of the American effort out of the war; 2/ force the Russians to fight on two fronts, just as the Germans were fighting; 3/ grant Japan the natural resources they needed so much while denying the Russians the same resources if the invasion was successful. Hitler's racism and sexism also played a major role in his defeat: the resources Hitler spent on the [[Holocaust]] could be used where they were needed (ie. in the actual war), and the [[slave]] labor in the concentration camps simply didn't pay off. [[Albert Einstein|Some really smart Jews]] fled from Germany and helped the creation of the [[atomic bomb]] in the [[United States]]. If Hitler had nuclear weapons instead, he could get at least a stalemate even in 1944. Unlike the Allies, especially the Russians, who employed [[women]] as a major workforce during the war, Hitler decided to not recruit them. Roberts finishes his book with an ambiguous, laconic phrase answering whether Germany could have won:
{{cquote|The real reason why Hitler lost the Second World War was exactly the same one that caused him to unleash it in the first place: he was a Nazi.|}}

===Biographies===
Roberts started his career as a writer with a {{wpl|Lord Halifax}} biography. More recently, Roberts also published two hefty 
hagiographies
 biographies about [[Napoleon]] and [[Winston Churchill]]. His Napoleon's bio reaches almost one thousand pages, the Churchill one reaches 1,200. Both received lots of praise and won lots of prizes, with [[The New York Times]] and {{wpl|The Times}} calling his Churchill bio the best single-volume biography of Churchill ever written.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/13/books/review/andrew-roberts-churchill-winston-biography.html Is This the Best One-Volume Biography of Churchill Yet Written?]</ref><ref>[https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/review-churchill-walking-with-destiny-by-andrew-roberts-the-best-biography-of-winston-ever-written-fh35d7982 Review: Churchill: Walking with Destiny by Andrew Roberts — the best biography of Winston ever written]</ref>  In both books, Roberts also tries to debunk some popular theories: for instance, in Napoleon's case, Roberts dismisses the idea that he was actually poisoned with {{wpl|Scheele's Green}}, and in Churchill's case, he argues that the British Prime Minister not only didn't have anything to do with the [[Great Bengal Famine of 1943]] but also prevented an even worse outcome.

===A History of the English-Speaking Peoples since 1900===
At least one of his books, ''A History of the English-Speaking Peoples since 1900'', published in 2006, became especially controversial, to say the least. A spiritual sequel of Winston Churchill's {{wpl|A History of the English-Speaking Peoples}}, it was especially berated due to its claims that Imperialism was [[Not as bad as|not so bad]]<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/oct/01/historybooks.features Everyone's perfidious, bar Albion and America]</ref> with The Economist calling it "less a history than a giant political pamphlet larded with its author's prejudices, with sneers at those who do not share them and with errors".<ref>[https://www.economist.com/books-and-arts/2006/11/02/going-out-in-the-midday-sun Going out in the midday sun]</ref> One of the most controversial passages in the book was the defense of the {{wpl|Jallianwala Bagh massacre}}, which, according to Roberts, actually prevented deaths. Roberts also supported the [[concentration camps]]  - which killed more than 30 thousand people - in South Africa during the {{wpl|Boer War}} for similar reasons.
Nonetheless, the book was praised by the conservative media.<ref>[https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-case-for-the-defence-4-november-2006 The case for defence]</ref><ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3656058/Happy-is-he-who-speaks-English.html Happy is who speaks English]</ref>

==Iraq War==
Despite writing many good books, Roberts' career as a political pundit is, however, less than stellar, with many polemics especially during the 2000's. He strongly endorsed the [[Iraq War]] in 2003 believing that [[Saddam Hussein]] had weapons of mass destruction. When the invading forces failed to find these weapons, Roberts didn't change his mind, saying that "George Bush's (a fan of his) visceral responses to the attacks of a fascistic, totalitarian death cult will be seen as having been substantially the right ones... Iraq has been a victory for the US-led coalition".<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/jul/26/andrew-roberts-storm-of-war Andrew Roberts: The history man who loves to party]</ref> Roberts even suggested to Bush that he should adopt a "mass internment" of Iraqis during the war<ref>[https://www.mediamatters.org/glenn-beck/beck-turns-fringe-validate-his-crazy-conspiracy-theory Beck Turns To The Fringe To Validate His “Crazy Conspiracy Theory”]</ref>, suggesting that even the American ex-president holds more respect for the [[human rights]] than Roberts.

==Springbok Club controversy==
Roberts was once friends with the {{wpl|Springbok Club}}, a British racist pressure group of expatriated [[Apartheid]] supporters, celebrating his 36th birthday with them. According to him, he didn't know the Springbok Club [[bullshit|was racist]] back then.<ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-the-dark-side-of-andrew-roberts-1765229.html Johann Hari: The dark side of Andrew Roberts]</ref>


==Transforming a critical review in praise==
A relatively rare scathing review on his ''The Storm of War'' came from the British historian and his Cambridge fellow {{wpl|Richard J. Evans}}, who said that "This is not a new history of the Second World War in any meaningful sense of the word; it is not even an adequate history of the Second World War."<ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/simonheffer/6569395/Is-Andrew-Roberts-really-an-inadequate-historian.html Is Andrew Roberts really an inadequate historian?]</ref>, also suggesting that Roberts should write a biography on Winston Churchill, something that he would do ten years later. Evans harsh criticism didn't prevent Roberts from adding the review on his site mentioning it as a favorable one.<ref>[https://www.andrew-roberts.net/books/the-storm-of-war/uk-reviews/ The Storm Of War]</ref>

==See also==
[[Niall Ferguson]], another conservative Briton.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Andrew}}

==References==
{{reflist|2|90%}}
[[Category:Chickenhawks]]
[[Category:Historians]]
[[Category:Imperialists]]
[[Category:Leftists who turned right with age]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Neoconservatives]]

Categories: Chickenhawks, Historians, Imperialists, Leftists who turned right with age, Living people, Neoconservatives