https://www.nzz.ch/international/putin-bedroht-europa-was-haette-churchill-gemacht-ld.1905278

"Churchill took on Hitler and he would have done the same with Putin"

British historian Tim Bouverie on analogies and differences between the Allies' approach to Hitler in the 1930s and today's approach to Putin.

Tim Bouverie, born in 1987, is a British historian. He studied history at Christ Church College, Oxford, worked as a political journalist for the BBC and wrote for the conservative weekly The Spectator and the liberal The Observer. His books on appeasement and the Allies in the Second World War are bestsellers. "Mit Hitler reden" (2021) was published in German, and his most recent book was published in English in 2025: "Allies at war: The Politics of Defeating Hitler."

Interview: Tessa Szyszkowitz, London

NZZ: How would Churchill have dealt with Putin? Would he have confronted him like Hitler?

Bouverie: Britain was war-weary in the 1930s. The country had no air force to speak of in the early 1930s, and the Germans rearmed, especially in the air, and at a frightening pace. Churchill was fully aware of this because he had all the secret information from the beginning. Nevertheless, he called on the British to rearm themselves. He said: We have no problem with Germany being a strong power, we have a problem with Germany invading other countries. I have no doubt that he would have done the same with Putin.

NZZ: But what exactly would Churchill have said to Putin?

Bouverie: Churchill would have clearly seen that Russia's economic situation is catastrophic, Putin is losing thousands of soldiers every month, the war against Ukraine is a total disaster – and the West is much stronger today than it was in 1938. Churchill would have argued that the West should expose Putin's bluff.

NZZ: What would that have resulted in?

Bouverie: I think he would have ensured that Ukraine had the necessary military resources to deny Putin victory, while rejuvenating NATO.  He would also have retaliated in kind.  Putin has been undermining and attacking the West for years without the West responding in kind for fear of escalation.  There is therefore no incentive for Putin to stop.  The West therefore needs to be far more robust and give as good as it gets. 

NZZ: At that time, Britain was, as you say, war-weary. Is the country strong enough today to maintain the immense pressure against Russia?

Bouverie: Churchill believed in alliances, he built the Grand Alliance of the USA, Britain and the Soviet Union. He used all his rhetorical skills to convince not only the United States, but the whole world of the communist threat after the end of World War II. He did so, for example, in Zurich in his famous speech in 1946, when he called for a united Europe. Churchill, then as now, would have compensated for his lack of power with alliances. I've written an entire book about how exhausting covenants can be. But the only thing worse than fighting with allies, as Churchill often used to say during the World War, is fighting without allies.

NZZ: Your country has left the European Union, which has hit the United Kingdom hard in this respect. But it has also weakened the EU militarily and politically. Would Churchill have approved of that?

Bouverie: Churchill spoke about the need for a United States of Europe and a European federation. But then there are also quotes in which he says that Britain would be "of" Europe, but not "in" Europe. He probably thought that there should be a United States of Europe and that Britain could stay outside of it and be a bridge between the United States, Europe and the United States of America. Churchill said all this in the 1930s and 1940s, when Britain had an empire that covered a quarter of the globe. That's gone now. And we are a very small island off the coast of Europe, and our main strategic interests and our great defence interests lie in Europe. It would be insane to apply these Churchill quotes to today. We are no longer the same country as we were in 1940.

 This article appeared behind a paywall in German: www.nzz.ch in Neue Zürcher Zeitung on October 4th 2025. This is only the beginning of the interview in English.