Anthony Eden

This article deals with the British politician; the hat named after this is shown under Homburg (hat) .

Anthony Eden as Foreign Secretary in the Churchill War Cabinet (1942)

Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon , KG (* 12. June 1897 in Rushyford , County Durham , England ; † 14. January 1977 in Salisbury , Wiltshire , England) was a British politician of the Conservative Party .

Three times - from 1935 to 1938, from 1940 to 1945 and from 1951 to 1955 - he was British Foreign Secretary and, against the background of severe international crises, earned a reputation as a skilled diplomat who was able to negotiate constructive solutions at several conferences. After long standing behind Churchill as the "second man", he became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in April 1955 . The Suez crisis at the end of October 1956, in which Eden, together with France and Israel, tried to force the Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser to withdraw by military means , turned into a debacle for Eden. The US and the Soviet Union opposed the action; Under the political and economic pressure of the USA, Eden was forced to prematurely break off the military action. Two months later, also because of his poor health, he resigned as Prime Minister in January 1957; Chancellor of the Exchequer Harold Macmillan succeeded him.

Eden is also the namesake of a variant of the Homburg hat .

Life

Early years of life

British infantry during the Somme Offensive

Anthony Eden was born the second of three sons at Windlestone Hall in the town of Rushyford, where his family had lived as landowners for many generations . His father was Sir William Eden . His mother, Sybil Gray, was a member of the famous Gray family of Northumberland , from the already numerous well-known politicians (such as Edward Gray or the Whig Prime Minister Charles Gray, 2nd Earl Gray ) were adults.

Christ Church College, Oxford

Anthony Eden first attended Sandroyd School (a preparatory school) from 1907 to 1910 before moving to Eton . There he excelled in several sports (especially cricket and rowing) and won a prize in theology . During the First World War , his older brother Jack fell in the First Battle of Ypres . As soon as he reached the age of 18, Eden volunteered for military service and served in the 21st Battalion of the King's Royal Rifle Corps . After military training, his unit was moved to northern France in May 1916 ; that same month his close younger brother Nicholas was killed in the Battle of the Skagerrak . Three months later, Eden was awarded the Military Cross ; after he had been on a scouting mission with a scouting party in no man's land and discovered on his return that one of his soldiers was missing, he turned back and rescued him. In the course of the war, Eden achieved the rank of captain. Eden took part in the Summer Battle , the Third Battle of Flanders and the fighting during the German spring offensive of 1918 during the war.

After the war he studied in Oxford at Christ Church College , where he graduated in oriental languages ​​(Arabic and Persian) in 1923. Eden did not participate in student politics at Oxford and did not join any political debating clubs . In contrast, he developed a great interest in art and founded the Uffizi Society Oxford with Robert Gathorne-Hardy and David Cecil .

In the same year he married the 18-year-old Beatrice Beckett (1905-1957), the daughter of the landowner Sir William Gervase Beckett from Yorkshire , who was also the owner of The Yorkshire Post newspaper . They had three sons together, the middle son of whom died in childbed: Simon Gascoigne Eden (1924–1945), Robert Eden (1928–1928) and Nicholas Eden (1930–1985). The marriage was not happy, however; Beatrice had a marked aversion to politics, while Eden was regularly absent because of his obligations. In the 1930s, Eden and his wife each began numerous affairs. Both agreed to continue the marriage only on paper.

Start of political career

Demonstration in London during the 1926 general strike

While he was still graduating from Christ Church College, Eden won the candidacy for the constituency of Durham / Spennymoor thanks to the support of Lord Londonderry . However, he clearly failed in the British general election in 1922 . Upon graduation, Eden discarded the option of a diplomatic career and decided instead to focus entirely on a political career. He ran as a member of the Conservative Party for Warwick and Leamington Spa, a safe constituency of conservatives, and was in the general election in 1923 to the lower house elected. Within the Tories he was close to Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin , whose gentle handling he admired during the 1926 general strike . After appearing extremely confrontational at the beginning in the House of Commons, he quickly adapted a measured demeanor based on Baldwin's example, which was more consensus-oriented. His entire political interest was foreign policy from the start, and in 1926 Eden became Parliamentary Private Secretary to then Foreign Minister Austen Chamberlain . In order to improve his salary, he was also active as a journalist and in 1926 published a book ( Places in the Sun ) about his travels to New Zealand and Australia, for which Baldwin wrote a foreword. After the Conservatives were defeated in the British general election in 1929 , Eden worked as a broker for Harry Lucas in the opposition years from 1929 to 1931 in the City of London . In 1931 he was entrusted with his first ministerial post and in Ramsay MacDonald's government he was State Secretary with specific responsibility for matters relating to the League of Nations . After Stanley Baldwin formed his third government in 1934, he was appointed Lord Keeper of the Seal and Minister for the League of Nations in Baldwin's government.

Like many people of his generation who had experienced the First World War, Eden tried to preserve European peace with the help of the League of Nations. Nonetheless, he was one of the first to recognize that peace could not be maintained through a policy of appeasement alone . In 1934/35 he met the great dictators one after the other. At first he got a positive impression from Chancellor Adolf Hitler and believed that one could trust his word. With Benito Mussolini , however, he immediately shared a (mutual) dislike. After meeting the Duce, he dubbed him a "complete gangster" whose word meant nothing. Conversely, Mussolini said of Eden: "I never saw a better-dressed fool." In addition, at the suggestion of the Soviet ambassador in London, Ivan Mikhailovich Maiski , he visited the Soviet Union and met Joseph Stalin in Moscow . During the Abyssinian War , Eden took an unyielding stance based on his personal assessment of Mussolini and promoted a course of confrontation, which led to a falling out with Undersecretary Robert Vansittart . The latter considered Germany the greater threat and therefore advocated a yielding stance towards fascist Italy in order to win it as an ally against Hitler. Eden saw this compromise the system of collective security based on the League of Nations.

Although he defended the government's foreign policy in the House of Commons, he repeatedly criticized the policies of Foreign Minister Sir Samuel Hoare in private circles . When Hoare finally resigned after the failure of the Anglo-French Hoare-Laval Pact , Eden succeeded him as Foreign Minister in December 1935.

Foreign Minister and Resignation

Eden at a meeting with Poland's Foreign Minister Jozef Beck , 1935

Chamberlain and Mussolini

Eden took office at a time when Britain had to adapt its foreign policy to the rise of the fascist powers in Europe and at the same time was confronted in the Far East with a militaristic Japan that was increasingly aggressive. He supported the policy of non-interference in the Spanish Civil War . He also initially supported Neville Chamberlain in his efforts to preserve the peace through reasonable concessions to Hitler's Germany. During his tenure as British Foreign Secretary, Eden continued to be an active contributor to the League of Nations. B. worked closely with his Dutch counterpart Andries Cornelis Dirk de Graeff , who was able to persuade his country to join the League of Nations. Eden did not protest when Great Britain and France accepted the reoccupation of the Rhineland in 1936, but there were soon significant differences between Eden and Prime Minister Chamberlain. On several occasions, Eden felt himself being left out by Chamberlain and had to realize that he - without involving the Foreign Office or the entire cabinet - was soon practicing an independent foreign policy through the back door. Chamberlain sent the widow of his half-brother Austen , Lady Ivy Chamberlain, to Rome to encourage a resumption of Anglo-Italian talks. In his criticism of Chamberlain's approach, Eden concentrated less on substantive issues and argued primarily on a constitutional basis; He rejected unauthorized initiatives without prior consultation with the cabinet. A peace initiative by American President Franklin D. Roosevelt in January 1938 immediately welcomed Eden. Chamberlain, on the other hand, rejected Roosevelt's initiative without prior consultation in order to begin secret negotiations with Italy in February 1938, initially behind Eden's back. While Chamberlain soon spoke out in favor of official negotiations with Italy, Eden opposed two hastily convened cabinet meetings, but could not prevail. On February 20, 1938, Eden therefore resigned.

This indirectly made him an ally of Winston Churchill , who was then a rebellious conservative backbencher and a leading critic of the appeasement policy. Many believed that Eden would become the rallying point for all of Chamberlain's various opponents, but he kept a low profile at first and avoided open confrontation. As a result, its reputation among politicians fell sharply, while it remained generally popular in the country. He was increasingly attacked by sections of the right-wing press and the Whips ; the conservative chief whip David Margesson disparagingly dubbed Eden and his followers the glamor boys . On the occasion of the three-day debate on the Munich Agreement in the House of Commons, he broke his silence for the first time, but - compared to Churchill's direct denunciation - expressed only cautious criticism. Shortly afterwards he was invited to the United States by the American Ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy , where he gave a speech in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York and was received by President Roosevelt in the White House .

Second World War

Eden, Churchill and Roosevelt at the Quadrant Conference , Québec, 1943

When the war broke out in September 1939, Eden returned to Chamberlain's government as Minister for the Dominions (former colonies) but was not a member of the War Cabinet . When Chamberlain resigned in May 1940 after the Norwegian debate and the start of the German invasion of France , Churchill became Prime Minister. He made Eden Minister of War in his war government - initially Lord Halifax remained foreign minister in order to demonstrate unity within the government. Later in 1940, however, Churchill got rid of Halifax 'by deporting him to the post of Ambassador to Washington, DC . Eden now returned to the State Department and in that capacity became a member of the Political Warfare Executive , a secret propaganda agency , in 1941 . Although he was one of Churchill's closest confidants and carried a heavy workload, his influence during the war was limited as Churchill conducted the most important negotiations with Roosevelt and Stalin himself. Hitler now defamed Eden as "the money-hungry and vain dude Eden" and claimed that Eden, as one of Churchill's backers, was "partly to blame" for British entry into the war.

Yalta : Sitting Churchill, Roosevelt & Stalin, behind Eden, Edward Stettinius and Molotov

While Churchill traveled to Washington, DC for three weeks after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor , he also sent Eden to Moscow. Following Churchill's instructions, Eden agreed on a joint declaration with Joseph Stalin , but rejected the Soviet proposal for a formal treaty that was supposed to outline the post-war order. Eden and his close colleague Oliver Harvey also took up the suggestion of the Foreign Office analyst Orme Sargent to work with Moscow on a so-called " Volga Charter" to complement the Atlantic Charter . Such a " Volga Charter " should serve as a counterweight to Roosevelt, "a stubborn man who thinks he can monopolize the limelight of a peace, but whose political ideas are still those of 20 years ago." The Atlantic Charter is "A terribly vague document, full of the old clichés of the League of Nations period."

Eden 1945 in Berlin

In 1942, Eden was given the role of Leader of the House of Commons in addition to his existing duties ; Churchill also recommended King George VI. Eden as his successor in case of his own death.

In 1943 Eden met the Polish resistance fighter Jan Karski twice , who informed him about the desperate situation of the Jews in occupied Poland, among other things. With regard to post-war Germany , Eden strongly opposed the Morgenthau Plan . In October 1944, in negotiations in Moscow, Eden agreed to surrender Soviet citizens who would be freed by British troops to the Soviet Union “regardless of their wishes”, although he knew that Red Army soldiers who had become German prisoners of war were due to Stalin's Order No. 270 of August 18, 1941, were considered "high traitors" and threatened with death. Britain, according to Eden, “cannot afford sentimentality”. After the historical process of coming to terms with these forced repatriations had begun, there was heated controversy among the British public in the 1980s. Towards the end of the war, Eden took part in the conferences of Malta , Yalta and Potsdam , but again stood behind the decisive Churchill. He also held the office of foreign minister in Churchill's transitional government .

Churchill's "Crown Prince"

,, The Foreign and Commonwealth Office Whitehall from St. James's Park as seen from

When the Labor Party won the July 5, 1945 elections ( Clement Attlee became Prime Minister and remained until October 1951), Eden went into the opposition as deputy Conservative leader. Eden was extremely popular with the population and many people felt that Churchill should pull out of politics and leave the field to Eden. Eden first attempted to suggest that Churchill resign in the spring of 1946. Churchill flatly rejected Eden's advance. Despite mutual respect, both had, up to Churchill's final resignation in 1955, several heated arguments about the timing of Churchill's resignation as well as various political issues. Eden was also depressed during this time because of the failure of his first marriage and the death of his older son, Simon Gascoigne Eden, who fought as an RAF sergeant in Burma in July 1945 and was considered missing in action there since July 8th . His successor as Foreign Minister, Ernest Bevin , occasionally sought Eden's advice. Like most leading Tories , Eden now sought to portray the Conservatives as a progressive rather than a reactionary force. In autumn 1946 he therefore launched the term property-owning democracy , which had been coined in the 1920s by a progressive group within the Tories.

Last plenary session of the Indochina Conference on July 21, 1954; third from right Anthony Eden

In the British general election in 1951 , the Conservatives came back to power and Eden became Foreign Secretary for the third time. Eden had effective control over foreign policy for the first time at a time when the Cold War was clearly intensifying. He overcame the various crises of this period, even if Great Britain was no longer the world power as it was before the war. In 1950, his marriage to Beatrice Eden finally divorced. In 1952 he married Churchill's niece, Clarissa Spencer-Churchill ; this marriage was far happier than his first. He saw the idea of ​​a European unification and a federal Europe in a positive light, but in the 1950s he gained a reputation for being anti-European. Both the Pleven Plan for a European Army and the Schuman Plan , which eventually led to the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community , he denied active British participation. He saw US foreign policy in an increasingly critical light and subsequently developed a deep personal aversion to John Foster Dulles . Eden, a staunch representative of the British Empire , misjudged the increasing dominance of the Americans in the western alliance and continued to try to guide it. In 1953 he stated that his goal was "to convince the Americans to take on the real burdens and at the same time to maintain as much control - and thus prestige and influence - as possible for us."

Failed surgery and health after-effects

Eden's health, fragile for decades, deteriorated rapidly from the end of 1952; as a result, he suffered from insomnia and was increasingly dependent on the use of medication. In April 1953, his doctors finally concluded that he had gallstones and that surgery was warranted. In the run-up to the operation, Churchill put considerable pressure on the doctors. Due to a surgical error, Eden's bile duct was cut and a second operation was initiated, in which Eden nearly died. In order to partially repair the operative damage, Eden had to travel to the USA in June, where he was operated on again by a renowned American specialist over a period of eight hours in Boston. Eden never fully recovered, however, and was forced to have further surgical procedures performed at regular intervals. During his illness-related absence, he was represented by Lord Salisbury .

Return to active politics

Negotiations on German membership of NATO, from left: Pierre Mendès France , Konrad Adenauer , Anthony Eden and John Foster Dulles

In October 1953, Eden returned actively to the political scene, where he again settled differences with Churchill, who at that time was seeking a meeting with Stalin's successor, Georgi Malenkov . In 1954 he was able to record a number of important negotiating successes. The successful conclusion of the Indochina Conference is seen as Eden's greatest achievement in his third term as Foreign Minister. In July 1954, when both returned from a visit to Washington, DC on the RMS Queen Elizabeth , Eden and Churchill had another violent confrontation: Eden rejected Churchill's idea of ​​a trip to Moscow, where Churchill wanted to hold talks with Malenkov. Again, the question of succession was also raised. Eden judged Churchill's attempts to organize renewed summit conferences of the former allies, consistently negative.

In October of the same year, Eden managed to negotiate a compromise between Italy and Yugoslavia; both countries had fought a dispute over the port city of Trieste that had lasted since 1945 . At his invitation, seven European countries (Great Britain, France, Italy, the Benelux countries and Germany) and the NATO countries USA and Canada came together for the London Nine Powers Conference . The aim was to integrate West Germany into the western alliance system. As chairman, Eden also made a binding promise that Great Britain would station four divisions including air support on the continent. On October 19, 1954, the Suez Agreement between Great Britain and the new Egyptian government under Gamal Abdel Nasser , who had come to power through a military coup , was concluded. A day later, on 20 October 1954 Eden was for his services as a Knight Companion in the Order of the Garter was added (which he had in 1945 still rejected because Churchill had then also knocked out the ceremony), was awarded the Wateler Peace Prize of the Carnegie Foundation and was named "Politician of the Year" by the otherwise left-wing Daily Mirror .

prime minister

Anthony Eden on a visit to Canada in 1954

In April 1955, Churchill finally resigned and was succeeded by Eden. Because of its long government activity and also because of its famous good looks and charm, Eden was initially very popular. After taking office, he immediately set up new elections , which took place on May 26, 1955. The content of the election campaign of the conservatives was based primarily on ideas of one-nation conservatism , to which Eden felt an obligation, and Eden's reputation as a statesman. The conservatives emerged from the elections with a stronger majority - 54 instead of the previous 17 seats. Sir Anthony had never held a domestic position and had little experience in economic matters; moreover, his knowledge of the bureaucratic apparatus in Whitehall was largely limited to the Foreign Office. Therefore, he largely left these areas to his cabinet colleagues such as Rab Butler and Harold Macmillan; Eden's main personal concern in this area was to reduce government spending. Otherwise, he continued to focus on foreign policy. As Prime Minister, Eden now took over Churchill's substantive position and tried (unsuccessfully) to resolve the existing tensions between the Soviet Union and the major Western powers with the help of a four-power conference. On the other hand, he ignored the invitation to Great Britain to attend the Messina Conference , which formed the prelude to the Treaty of Rome and the establishment of the European Economic Community . Eden continued to see Britain's political and economic ties with the Commonwealth and the US as more important.

Eden soon came under criticism in the press and earned a reputation as a procrastinator and weak premier. In addition to the difficulties, there were economic problems. In addition to a currency crisis , the country had to contend with rising inflation . If Chancellor of the Exchequer Butler had made tax cuts the year before, the government was now forced to increase them again. After surprisingly forgoing a reshuffle of his cabinet when he took office and after the Tories won the elections , he undertook this shortly before Christmas 1955. In order to continue to work effectively in the Foreign Office and to be able to pursue his own foreign policy, he tried to install his long-time subordinate Selwyn Lloyd as Foreign Minister. He only convinced the incumbent Foreign Minister Harold Macmillan to take over the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer through several promises and the promise to treat him as the undisputed head of the “home front”. He enforced his will - under threat of resignation - in February 1956 when, against Eden's will, he cut the existing subsidies for bread and milk. Eden was soon unpopular with his cabinet colleagues and subordinates, for he oversaw them closely; Eden proved unable to delegate, got lost in details and often tried to control smaller matters of daily political operations.

On September 10, 1956, the French Prime Minister Guy Mollet made an offer to merge France under Queen Elizabeth as head of state with the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. However, the British prime minister rejected this request, as did Mollet's request for France to join the Commonwealth .

The so-called special relationship with the USA turned out to be an illusion during the Suez crisis , when Eden tried together with France in 1956 to prevent the Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser from nationalizing the Suez Canal . The canal, owned by British and French shareholders of the Suez Canal Company since the 19th century , was nationalized by Nasser in July 1956. Great Britain saw this as a clear violation of the bilateral Suez Agreement that Nasser had concluded with France and Great Britain in October 1954. On the one hand there was the symbolic value and on the other hand the paramount importance of the Suez Canal for the oil supply of Western Europe and Great Britain; two thirds of the total oil consumption in Western Europe was channeled through the Suez Canal. A number of countries met for a conference in London in mid-August 1956 to resolve the looming crisis diplomatically; however, a number of conciliatory proposals (the “Eighteen Nations Proposals”) to Egypt were rejected by Nasser.

Location of the Suez Canal

According to his experiences in the 1930s, Eden believed he recognized a new Mussolini in Nasser . He thought both men were aggressive national socialists , determined to invade other countries. In parallel to the (unsuccessful) negotiations and attempts at mediation, he therefore began to prepare a military action with the chiefs of staff of the British military. Eden also instructed his secret service to have Nasser murdered, but this was unsuccessful. His long-time friend Lord Salisbury (the incumbent Lord President of the Council and leader of the Conservatives in the House of Lords ) and Chancellor of the Exchequer Macmillan also supported Eden's course of confrontation; Macmillan also confirmed Eden's view that the neutral United States would ultimately support Great Britain and accept a fait accompli . On October 14th, Eden held an informal meeting with French Minister Albert Gazier and General Maurice Challe at Checkers ; the French envoys proposed cooperation with Great Britain. On October 22nd and again two days later, Foreign Minister Selwyn Lloyd met Israel’s Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion , Israel’s Chief of Staff Moshe Dajan and a French delegation around Prime Minister Mollet in Sèvres , France, for secret negotiations. Analogous to the plan worked out by Gazier and Challe, Israel invaded the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula at the end of October 1956 ; ostensibly to separate the two parties and restore peace, but actually to regain international control of the Canal Zone and overthrow Nasser, the British and French subsequently occupied the Suez Canal Zone.

British tanks in Port Said , November 1956

While West Germany, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa publicly welcomed the action, both the UN and the two superpowers Soviet Union and the USA opposed it. The American President Eisenhower immediately and sharply protested against the invasion, for several reasons:

• Eisenhower saw his chances of being re-elected in the upcoming presidential elections threatened by the Anglo-French intervention .
• The US has traditionally been an advocate of decolonization because it would create new states and strengthen American interests.
• One hoped for the goodwill of the Arab and African leaders in Washington (see also containment policy ).

The US and the Soviet Union soon began to put massive political pressure on Britain and France. In addition, the USA began selling British currency reserves , which led to a collapse in the pound exchange rate . At the same time they blocked a loan from the IMF for Great Britain. Chancellor of the Exchequer Macmillan, formerly one of the leading hardliners in the British government alongside Eden, made a radical about-face in the face of these economic sanctions and now demanded an immediate end to the intervention within the cabinet. Domestically, Labor shifted to a tough opposition stance under Hugh Gaitskell , who had also initially encouraged Eden to take decisive action. In addition, Anthony Nutting (Minister of State for Foreign Affairs), a confidante of Eden , resigned on October 31 in protest against the Suez adventure.

An early armistice was reached on November 7th. Eden had ignored the fact that Britain was financially dependent on the US as a result of World War II. So he had to bow to American pressure to withdraw. The Suez Crisis is now widely seen as the event that marked the end of Great Britain and France as world powers of the first order.

The Suez fiasco damaged Eden's reputation as a statesman and resulted in a collapse in health. He was forced to take a vacation and temporarily left the official business to Rab Butler. Eden took numerous medications to withstand the pressure of office, including morphine to calm down and amphetamines to increase drive. In November he retired to Jamaica, where he was invited by Ian Fleming . Eden came under massive criticism of the British press because of this vacation. There has also been speculation about his possible successor in the political press. A planned meeting with Eisenhower to resolve the existing differences did not take place due to Eisenhower's negative attitude. During Eden's absence, the question of succession was increasingly raised within the Tories .

Members of parliament across parliamentary groups criticized Eden's premature push for a ceasefire. Confronted by opposition leader Hugh Gaitskell, Eden truthfully stated in the House of Commons on December 20, 1956 that there was no prior knowledge of the Israeli attack. On January 8, 1957, he informed the Queen at Sandringham House of his decision to resign. The following day he informed the cabinet of this and cited his doctors as the reason, who had informed him that his life was in danger under the burdens of the office. His Chancellor of the Exchequer, Harold Macmillan, one of the architects of the invasion, succeeded him in January 1957.

retirement

Eden's tomb in Alvediston.

Eden's personal popularity among the population initially persisted, and on July 14, 1961, he was named Viscount Eden of Royal Leamington Spa in the County of Warwick and Earl of Avon . He led a quiet life in Wiltshire with his second wife Clarissa (* 1920) and raised Hereford cattle for several years . He also wrote his personal memoirs in three volumes, which was his first personal wealth. He rarely spoke in public about current political issues. From 1945 to 1973 he was Chancellor of the University of Birmingham . Shortly before his death, he published the much-acclaimed memoir "Another World", a book about his early life. On January 14, 1977 at 11 o'clock in the morning the Earl of Avon died in Alvediston on a hepatocellular carcinoma . He was buried in St Mary's Cemetery in Alvediston.

Eden's surviving son, Nicholas Eden (1930–1985), was also a politician and minister in the Thatcher government until he died prematurely of AIDS .

Eden (on the right) in 1937 in Nyon with a hat.

Eden in modern popular culture

Eden built a reputation for his chosen clothing style in the 1930s; in Great Britain he became the (informal) patron saint of the Homburg hat with an unbordered, straight cut edge. The "Anthony Eden" found its way into common usage as well as into numerous dictionaries.

In the American TV movie The Gathering Storm , Eden was portrayed by actor Michael Elwyn. Michael Gough embodied Eden in BBC TV's game Suez in 1956 from 1979. 2010 played Anthony Calf Eden in the series return to Upstairs, Downstairs while standing in, Netflix series The Crown of Jeremy Northam portrayed. In the Royal National Theater - play Never So Good , which deals with the career of Harold Macmillan, Eden is also played by Anthony Calf; he is portrayed as a hysterical, pill-addicted man who lets his cabinet members spy on. In the West End play The Audience he was first portrayed by Michael Elwyn and then by David Robb. Eden is played by Tony Mathews in the eight-part ITV drama series Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years . In the 2017 film The Darkest Hour , Eden is portrayed by Samuel West.

Eden is also mentioned by the English music group The Kinks in their song She's Bought a Hat Like Princess Marina (from the album Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) ).

memory

The Suez Crisis ruined Sir Anthony Eden's reputation as an able statesman, which he had built for decades. Even his highly acclaimed autobiography and two relatively benevolent biographies (published in 1986 and 2003) did not result in a general change of opinion. For example, Eden was second to last in a poll conducted by the BBC - Newsnight program in September 2008, in which the voters were supposed to choose the best prime minister after 1945; only the newcomer Gordon Brown ranked behind him. In a poll of the same name by the University of Leeds , Eden came in last; the poll was conducted among 106 academics specializing in British history and politics .

The Eden Glacier in Antarctica is named in his honor.

Fonts

• The Eden Memoirs. Facing the dictators. Cassell & Co, London 1962.

German version: Given the dictators. Memoirs 1923-1938. Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 1964.

German version: Given the dictators. Memoirs 1945–1957. Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 1964.

• Another world . Allen Lane, London 1976 ISBN 978-0-7139-1003-2 .

literature

• David Aster: Anthony Eden . St Martin's Press, London 1977. ISBN 978-0-312-04235-6 (biography).
• Peter G. Boyle: The Eden-Eisenhower Correspondence, 1955-1957 . The University of North Carolina Press, 2012, ISBN 0-8078-2935-8 .
• Alan Campbell Johanson: Anthony Eden . Hesperides Press, 2008, ISBN 978-1-4437-2574-3 (biography).
• David Dutton: Anthony Eden: A Life & Reputation . Oxford University Press, London 1997, ISBN 978-0-340-69139-7 (biography).
• Thomas Freiberger: Allianz politics in the Suez crisis 1956. V&R Unipress, Göttingen 2013, ISBN 978-3-8471-0031-7 (detailed analysis of the Suez crisis).
• Daniel Gossel: British, Germans and Europe. The German Question in British Foreign Policy 1945–1962 . Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 1999. ISBN 978-3-515-07159-8 .
• Peter Hennessy : Having It So Good: Britain In The Fifties . Penguin Books, 2006, ISBN 978-0-14-100409-9 .
• Yvonne Kipp: Eden, Adenauer and the German question . Schöningh, Paderborn 2002, ISBN 978-3-506-77525-2 .
• Keith Kyle: Suez: Britain's End of Empire in the Middle East . IB Tauris, London 2011, ISBN 978-1-84885-533-5 (on the Suez crisis).
• Jonathan Pearson: Sir Anthony Eden and the Suez Crisis: Reluctant Gamble . Palgrave Macmillan, London 2003, ISBN 978-1-349-43070-3 . (about the Suez Crisis).
• Robert Rhodes James : Anthony Eden: A Biography . McGraw-Hill, London 1987, ISBN 978-0-07-032285-1 (biography).
• Victor Rothwell: Anthony Eden: A Political Biography 1931–57 . Manchester University Press, 1992. ISBN 978-0-7190-3242-4 .
• DR Thorpe : Eden: The Life and Times of Anthony Eden, First Earl of Avon, 1897-1977 . Chatto & Windus, London 2003, ISBN 978-0-7126-6505-6 (biography).
• Peter Wilby: Eden (20 British Prime Ministers of the 20th Century) . Haus Publishing Ltd, London 2006, ISBN 978-1-904950-65-3 (short biography).

Web links

Commons : Anthony Eden  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Wikiquote: Anthony Eden  - Quotes

• Literature by and about Anthony Eden in the catalog of the German National Library
• Newspaper article about Anthony Eden in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .
• All speeches and contributions by Anthony Eden in the UK Parliament
• Sir Anthony Eden on Britannica online
• Sir Anthony Eden on gov.uk

Individual evidence

1. ^ DR Thorpe: Eden: The Life and Times of Anthony Eden, First Earl of Avon, 1897-1977 . Chatto & Windus, London 2003, p. 13.
2. ^ DR Thorpe: Eden: The Life and Times of Anthony Eden, First Earl of Avon, 1897-1977 . Chatto & Windus, London 2003, p. 14.
3. ^ Victor Rothwell: Anthony Eden: A Political Biography 1931-57 . Manchester University Press, 1992, p. 5.
4. ^ Alan Campbell-Johanson, Eden: The Making of a Statesman, Read Books, 2007, p. 9.
5. ^ Douglas Hurd , Choose your Weapons: The British Foreign Secretary . Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 2010, p. 295.
6. ^ DR Thorpe: Eden: The Life and Times of Anthony Eden, First Earl of Avon, 1897-1977 . Chatto & Windus, London 2003, p. 37.
7. ↑ David Aster: Anthony Eden . St Martin's Press, London 1977, pp. 5 ff.
8. ^ DR Thorpe: Eden: The Life and Times of Anthony Eden, First Earl of Avon, 1897-1977 . Chatto & Windus, London 2003, p. 49.
9. ^ Robert Rhodes James: Anthony Eden: A Biography . McGraw-Hill, London 1987, p. 59 ff.
10. ^ Robert Rhodes James: Anthony Eden: A Biography . McGraw-Hill, London 1987, pp. 68 ff.
11. ^ Robert Rhodes James: Anthony Eden: A Biography . McGraw-Hill, London 1987, p. 96 f.
12. ^ DR Thorpe: Eden: The Life and Times of Anthony Eden, First Earl of Avon, 1897-1977 . Chatto & Windus, London 2003, p. 63.
13. ↑ The Sunday Times : Clarissa Brings Happiness At Last , August 31, 1986 issue
14. ^ Peter Wilby: Eden (20 British Prime Ministers of the 20th Century) . Haus Publishing Ltd, London 2006, p. 6.
15. ^ Douglas Hurd, Choose your Weapons: The British Foreign Secretary . Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 2010, p. 296.
16. ^ Robert Rhodes James: Anthony Eden: A Biography . McGraw-Hill, London 1987, p. 78 f.
17. ^ Douglas Hurd, Choose your Weapons: The British Foreign Secretary . Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 2010, p. 296.
18. ^ Robert Rhodes James: Anthony Eden: A Biography . McGraw-Hill, London 1987, p. 624.
19. ^ Robert Rhodes James: Anthony Eden: A Biography . McGraw-Hill, London 1987, p. 103.
20. ^ Robert Rhodes James: Anthony Eden: A Biography . McGraw-Hill, London 1987, p. 103.
21. ^ Douglas Hurd, Choose your Weapons: The British Foreign Secretary . Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 2010, p. 300.
22. ^ Victor Rothwell: Anthony Eden: A Political Biography 1931-57 . Manchester University Press, 1992, p. 12.
23. ^ DR Thorpe: Eden: The Life and Times of Anthony Eden, First Earl of Avon, 1897-1977 . Chatto & Windus, London 2003, p. 128.
    Victor Rothwell: Anthony Eden: A Political Biography 1931-57 . Manchester University Press, 1992, p. 10.
24. ^ DR Thorpe: Eden: The Life and Times of Anthony Eden, First Earl of Avon, 1897-1977 . Chatto & Windus, London 2003, p. 132 f.
25. ^ Douglas Hurd, Choose your Weapons: The British Foreign Secretary . Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 2010, p. 302.
26. ↑ Gabriel Gorodetsky (ed.): The Maiski diaries. A diplomat in the fight against Hitler 1932–1943 . Verlag CH Beck, Munich 2016, ISBN 978-3-406-68936-9 , p. 27.
27. ^ Peter Wilby: Eden (20 British Prime Ministers of the 20th Century) . Haus Publishing Ltd, London 2006, p. 21.
28. ^ Douglas Hurd, Choose your Weapons: The British Foreign Secretary . Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 2010, p. 301.
29. ^ Graham Macklin: Chamberlain (20 British Prime Ministers of the 20th Century) . Haus Publishing Ltd, London 2006, p. 55.
30. ↑ Paul Kennedy : Rise and Fall of the Great Powers. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2000, p. 504 ff.
31. ^ Graham Macklin: Chamberlain (20 British Prime Ministers of the 20th Century) . Haus Publishing Ltd, London 2006, p. 58.
32. ^ DR Thorpe: Eden: The Life and Times of Anthony Eden, First Earl of Avon, 1897-1977 . Chatto & Windus, London 2003, p. 195.
33. ^ Douglas Hurd, Choose your Weapons: The British Foreign Secretary . Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 2010, p. 291 f.
34. ^ DR Thorpe: Eden: The Life and Times of Anthony Eden, First Earl of Avon, 1897-1977 . Chatto & Windus, London 2003, pp. 206 f.
35. ^ DR Thorpe: Eden: The Life and Times of Anthony Eden, First Earl of Avon, 1897-1977 . Chatto & Windus, London 2003, p. 216 f.
36. ^ DR Thorpe: Eden: The Life and Times of Anthony Eden, First Earl of Avon, 1897-1977 . Chatto & Windus, London 2003, p. 220.
37. ^ DR Thorpe: Eden: The Life and Times of Anthony Eden, First Earl of Avon, 1897-1977 . Chatto & Windus, London 2003, p. 228.
38. ^ DR Thorpe: Eden: The Life and Times of Anthony Eden, First Earl of Avon, 1897-1977 . Chatto & Windus, London 2003, p. 229 f.
39. ^ Graham Macklin: Chamberlain (20 British Prime Ministers of the 20th Century) . Haus Publishing Ltd, London 2006, p. 87 ff.
40. ↑ Werner Jochmann : Monologues in the Führer Headquarters , Knaus Albrecht, Munich 1980, p. 93.
41. ^ Frank Costigliola: Roosevelt's Lost Alliances. How Personal Politics helped start the Cold War . Princeton University Press, Princeton 2012. p. 142.
42. ^ Frank Costigliola: Roosevelt's Lost Alliances. How Personal Politics helped start the Cold War . Princeton University Press, Princeton 2012. pp. 155 f.
43. ^ Frank Costigliola: Roosevelt's Lost Alliances. How Personal Politics helped start the Cold War . Princeton University Press, Princeton 2012. p. 146.
44. ↑ Thomas Freiberger: Alliance policy in the Suez crisis 1956 . V&R Unipress, Göttingen 2013, p. 96.
45. ^ E. Thomas Wood, Stanislaw M. Jankowski: Jan Karski - One against the Holocaust , 2nd edition 1997, Bleicher Verlag, ISBN 3-88350-042-9
46. ^ Karl-Peter Schwarz: A shameful operation. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , June 1, 2015, p. 6.
47. ^ Robert Dallek : The Lost Peace . HarperCollins, New York 2010, p. 58.
48. ↑ John Charmley : The Fall of the British Empire . Ares Verlag, Graz 2005, p. 157 ff.
49. ^ DR Thorpe: Eden: The Life and Times of Anthony Eden, First Earl of Avon, 1897-1977 . Chatto & Windus, London 2003, p. 314 ff.
50. ^ Charles Williams: Harold Macmillan . Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 2009, p. 183.
51. ↑ Timeline on the war history
52. ^ Peter Wilby: Eden (20 British Prime Ministers of the 20th Century) . Haus Publishing Ltd, London 2006, p. 69.
53. ↑ Simon Ball: The Guardsmen: Harold Macmillan, Three Friends and the World They Made . Harper Perennial, London 2004, p. 285.
54. ^ DR Thorpe: Eden: The Life and Times of Anthony Eden, First Earl of Avon, 1897-1977 . Chatto & Windus, London 2003, p. 376 f.
55. ^ DR Thorpe: Eden: The Life and Times of Anthony Eden, First Earl of Avon, 1897-1977 . Chatto & Windus, London 2003, p. 372.
56. ^ Daniel Gossel: British, German and Europe. The German Question in British Foreign Policy 1945–1962 . Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 1999. p. 58.
57. ^ Peter Wilby: Eden (20 British Prime Ministers of the 20th Century) . Haus Publishing Ltd, London 2006, p. 77 f.
    Charles Williams: Harold Macmillan . Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 2009, p. 212.
58. ↑ Thomas Freiberger: Alliance policy in the Suez crisis 1956 . V&R Unipress, Göttingen 2013, p. 109.
    David Dutton: Anthony Eden: A Life & Reputation . Oxford University Press, London 1997, p. 333.
59. ^ Peter Wilby: Eden (20 British Prime Ministers of the 20th Century) . Haus Publishing Ltd, London 2006, p. 76.
60. ^ Robert Rhodes James: Anthony Eden: A Biography . McGraw-Hill, London 1987, p. 93.
61. ^ Peter Wilby: Eden (20 British Prime Ministers of the 20th Century) . Haus Publishing Ltd, London 2006, p. 73.
62. ^ DR Thorpe: Eden: The Life and Times of Anthony Eden, First Earl of Avon, 1897-1977 . Chatto & Windus, London 2003, p. 384 ff.
63. ^ Daniel Gossel: British, German and Europe. The German Question in British Foreign Policy 1945–1962 . Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 1999. p. 71.
64. ^ DR Thorpe: Eden: The Life and Times of Anthony Eden, First Earl of Avon, 1897-1977 . Chatto & Windus, London 2003, p. 393.
65. ↑ Thomas Freiberger: Alliance policy in the Suez crisis 1956 . V&R Unipress, 2012, p. 95.
66. ^ Douglas Hurd, Choose your Weapons: The British Foreign Secretary . Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 2010, pp. 356f.
67. ^ Douglas Hurd, Choose your Weapons: The British Foreign Secretary . Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 2010, p. 350.
68. ↑ Peter Hennessy: Having It So Good: Britain In The Fifties. Penguin Books, 2006, p. 346 ff.
69. ^ Douglas Hurd, Choose your Weapons: The British Foreign Secretary . Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 2010, p. 353.
70. ↑ Gottfried Niedhart: History of England in the 19th and 20th centuries . CH Beck, Munich 1996, p. 207.
71. ^ DR Thorpe: Eden: The Life and Times of Anthony Eden, First Earl of Avon, 1897-1977 . Chatto & Windus, London 2003, p. 414.
72. ^ Long- range effects of the Suez Agreement. Die Zeit online, August 12, 1954, accessed on July 23, 2016 . 
73. ↑ Peter Wende: The British Empire . CH Beck, Munich 2008, p. 290.
74. ^ DR Thorpe: Eden: The Life and Times of Anthony Eden, First Earl of Avon, 1897-1977 . Chatto & Windus, London 2003, p. 415.
75. ^ Peter Wilby: Eden (20 British Prime Ministers of the 20th Century) . Haus Publishing Ltd, London 2006, p. 7.
76. ^ Peter Hennessy: The Prime Minister: The Office and Its Holders since 1945. Penguin, London 2000, p. 210.
77. ↑ Thomas Freiberger: Alliance policy in the Suez crisis 1956 . V&R Unipress, Göttingen 2013, p. 113.
78. ↑ Simon Ball: The Guardsmen: Harold Macmillan, Three Friends and the World They Made . Harper Perennial, London 2004, p. 316.
79. ^ Charles Williams: Harold Macmillan . Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 2009, p. 229.
    Manfred Görtemaker : History of the Federal Republic of Germany . S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2004, p. 350 f.
80. ↑ DR Thorpe: Supermac - The Life of Harold Macmillan. Chatto & Windus, London 2010, p. 311.
81. ^ Peter Wilby: Eden (20 British Prime Ministers of the 20th Century) . Haus Publishing Ltd, London 2006, p. 89.
82. ^ DR Thorpe: Selwyn Lloyd . Jonathan Cape, London 1989. pp. 190 ff.
    Robert Rhodes James: Anthony Eden: A Biography . McGraw-Hill, London 1987, p. 422 ff.
83. ^ Charles Williams: Harold Macmillan . Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 2009, p. 233.
    DR Thorpe: Eden: The Life and Times of Anthony Eden, First Earl of Avon, 1897–1977 . Chatto & Windus, London 2003, p. 456.
84. ^ Peter Wilby: Eden (20 British Prime Ministers of the 20th Century) . Haus Publishing Ltd, London 2006, p. 91
    D.R. Thorpe: Supermac - The Life of Harold Macmillan. Chatto & Windus, London 2010, p. 323.
85. ↑ Thomas Freiberger: Alliance policy in the Suez crisis 1956 . V&R Unipress, Göttingen 2013, pp. 98f.
    Peter Wilby: Eden (20 British Prime Ministers of the 20th Century) . Haus Publishing Ltd, London 2006, p. 90.
86. ^ When Britain and France nearly married. BBC online, January 15, 2007, accessed June 29, 2015 . 
87. ^ Richard Aldous: The Lion and the Unicorn. Gladstone vs. Disraeli . Pimlico, London 2007, p. 262 f.
88. ^ Anthony Eden and the Suez Crisis. History Today , November 11, 1986; accessed July 23, 2016 . 
89. ^ DR Thorpe: Eden: The Life and Times of Anthony Eden, First Earl of Avon, 1897-1977 . Chatto & Windus, London 2003, p. 481.
90. ↑ Peter Wende : The British Empire . CH Beck, Munich 2008, p. 291.
91. ^ DR Thorpe: Eden: The Life and Times of Anthony Eden, First Earl of Avon, 1897-1977 . Chatto & Windus, London 2003, p. 506.
92. ↑ Simon Ball: The Guardsmen: Harold Macmillan, Three Friends and the World They Made . Harper Perennial, London 2004, p. 321.
93. ^ Piers Brendon: The Decline and Fall of the British Empire. Reading, 2008 p. 490
94. ↑ Simon Ball: The Guardsmen: Harold Macmillan, Three Friends and the World They Made . Harper Perennial, London 2004, p. 321.
95. ↑ John Charmley: The Fall of the British Empire . Ares Verlag, Graz 2005, p. 367.
    DR Thorpe: Eden: The Life and Times of Anthony Eden, First Earl of Avon, 1897-1977 . Chatto & Windus, London 2003, p. 510.
96. ^ DR Thorpe: Eden: The Life and Times of Anthony Eden, First Earl of Avon, 1897-1977 . Chatto & Windus, London 2003, p. 515 ff.
97. ^ DR Thorpe: Eden: The Life and Times of Anthony Eden, First Earl of Avon, 1897-1977 . Chatto & Windus, London 2003, p. 513.
98. ↑ Ralph Dietl: Suez 1956: An European Intervention? . Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 43, April 2008. p. 273.
99. ↑ DR Thorpe: Supermac - The Life of Harold Macmillan. Chatto & Windus, London 2010, p. 335.
100. ^ Ernst Weisenfeld : History of France since 1945 . CH Beck, Munich 1997, p. 117.
101. ^ Charles Williams: Harold Macmillan . Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 2009, p. 263 ff.
102. ↑ DR Thorpe: Supermac - The Life of Harold Macmillan. Chatto & Windus, London 2010, p. 333.
103. ^ DR Thorpe: Eden: The Life and Times of Anthony Eden, First Earl of Avon, 1897-1977 . Chatto & Windus, London 2003, p. 531.
104. ^ DR Thorpe: Eden: The Life and Times of Anthony Eden, First Earl of Avon, 1897-1977 . Chatto & Windus, London 2003, p. 536.
105. ^ Piers Brendon: The Decline and Fall of the British Empire. Reading, 2008 p. 491
106. ^ DR Thorpe: Eden: The Life and Times of Anthony Eden, First Earl of Avon, 1897-1977 . Chatto & Windus, London 2003, p. 536.
107. ↑ Keith Kyle: Suez: Britain's End of Empire in the Middle East . IB Tauris, London 2011, p. 489.
108. ^ DR Thorpe: Eden: The Life and Times of Anthony Eden, First Earl of Avon, 1897-1977 . Chatto & Windus, London 2003, p. 540.
109. ^ DR Thorpe: Eden: The Life and Times of Anthony Eden, First Earl of Avon, 1897-1977 . Chatto & Windus, London 2003, p. 544 f.
110. ^ DR Thorpe: Eden: The Life and Times of Anthony Eden, First Earl of Avon, 1897-1977 . Chatto & Windus, London 2003, p. 546.
111. ^ Robert Rhodes James: Anthony Eden: A Biography . McGraw-Hill, London 1987, p. 595.
112. ^ Robert Rhodes James: Anthony Eden: A Biography . McGraw-Hill, London 1987, pp. 599 f.
113. ^ The London Gazette, July 14, 1961 .
114. ^ DR Thorpe: Eden: The Life and Times of Anthony Eden, First Earl of Avon, 1897-1977 . Chatto & Windus, London 2003, p. 584.
115. ↑ David Aster: Anthony Eden . St Martin's Press, London 1977, p. 164 f.
116. ^ Robert Rhodes James: Anthony Eden: A Biography . McGraw-Hill, London 1987, p. 616.
117. ^ DR Thorpe: Eden: The Life and Times of Anthony Eden, First Earl of Avon, 1897-1977 . Chatto & Windus, London 2003, p. 590.
118. ^ DR Thorpe: Eden: The Life and Times of Anthony Eden, First Earl of Avon, 1897-1977 . Chatto & Windus, London 2003, p. 591 f.
119. ^ DR Thorpe: Eden: The Life and Times of Anthony Eden, First Earl of Avon, 1897-1977 . Chatto & Windus, London 2003, p. 592.
120. ↑ Gottfried Niedhart: History of England in the 19th and 20th centuries . CH Beck, Munich 1996, p. 191.
121. ^ Churchill tops PM choice. BBC, October 1, 2008, accessed May 3, 2015 . 
122. ↑ Andrew Hough: Gordon Brown 'third worst PM since 1945', poll of historians finds. Daily Telegraph, August 3, 2010, accessed November 6, 2016 . 

predecessor	Office	successor
New title created	Earl of Avon 1961-1977	Nicholas Eden

This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on April 9, 2018 .