Orwell’s War: False Dawn (1940-41)

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Apr 15, 2026

A tour through Orwell’s wartime reckonings with 1940–41, from France’s collapse to Hitler’s invasion of Russia. It explores his surprising early sympathy for understanding Hitler’s appeal and his shifting views on Churchill. Bombed London’s everyday life and the expected but unrealized revolution get vivid attention. The show probes pacifism, opportunist communism, and Britain’s moral contradictions.

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INSIGHT

Hitler's Appeal As Performance Of Victimhood

George Orwell argued Hitler's appeal rested on self-pity and the martyr pose rather than coherent ideology.
Orwell likened Hitler to a suffering Christ or Prometheus, showing how resentment and grievance fuel mass political attraction.

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ADVICE

Study The Human Appeal Of Dangerous Leaders

Do face and analyse the human appeal of dangerous leaders instead of turning away in disgust.
Orwell urged understanding the emotional connection (resentment, grievance) that drives followers to prevent simplistic dismissal.

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INSIGHT

Hitler Exposed The Failure Of Soft Progressivism

Orwell believed Hitler exposed the limits of soft progressive faith in material progress as a political engine.
He argued fascism spoke to resentment and violence, which trumped promises of gradual improvement and comforts.

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Orwell's wartime project and Alec Ryrie's thesis

01:25 • 4min

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Orwell not yet in the 'Age of Hitler'

05:09 • 1min

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Orwell's March 1940 review of Mein Kampf

06:10 • 3min

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Hitler's self-projection and mass appeal

09:29 • 3min

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Hitler exposes limits of progressive optimism

12:53 • 2min

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Writers, technology and brutal coercion

15:08 • 7min

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From phoney war to summer urgency

22:09 • 2min

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Orwell's belief Britain might revolutionize

24:24 • 2min

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Orwell's shifting view of Churchill

Orwell's attention to everyday London during the Blitz

30:46 • 2min

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The expected revolution that never arrived

33:02 • 37sec

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Letters from London for Partisan Review

33:39 • 1min

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Early 1941: economic change without social change

35:05 • 3min

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1941 pivot: Hitler invades the Soviet Union

38:15 • 44sec

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Public attitudes: pro-Russia instincts and anti-Americanism

39:00 • 3min

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Orwell's contempt for opportunist communists

41:52 • 4min

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Orwell's strongest vitriol: pacifists

45:33 • 1min

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Reviewing Alexander Comfort's pacifism

46:54 • 2min

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Violence, hypocrisy, and Britain's moral paradox

49:05 • 2min

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The Lion and the Unicorn and British hypocrisy

51:13 • 4min

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Orwell's contradictions and enduring insights

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Today’s episode in our new series about how George Orwell tried – and failed – to make sense of WW2 as it was happening looks at the events of 1940 and 1941, from the collapse of France to Hitler’s invasion of Russia. Why did Orwell write in March 1940 that there is something ‘deeply appealing’ about Hitler? What convinced him that Churchill ‘must go’? How close did Britain get to revolution in the summer of 1940? Where did the revolution go?

You can listen to David’s earlier episode about Orwell’s The Lion and the Unicorn from our Great Political Essays series on our website here ⁠⁠https://www.ppfideas.com/episodes/history-of-ideas%3A-george-orwell⁠⁠. Or scroll down in your podcast app to find it, originally broadcast on 3rd August 2023.

To hear David’s conversation with Alec Ryrie about The Age of Hitler subscribe to PPF+ to get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening ⁠https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus⁠. We put that one out as a PPF+ bonus on 5th July 2025.

Next time in Orwell’s War: Frozen In Time (1942-43)

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