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E.F.L. Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax
Halifax
Historical Figure
Nationality: United Kingdom
Year of Birth: 1881
Year of Death: 1959
Cause of Death: Heart attack
Religion: Catholicism
Occupation: Politician, Diplomat
Political Party: Conservative Party
Political Office(s): Member of Parliament for Ripon,
Foreign Secretary of the UK
Fictional Appearances:

Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax (16 April 1881 - 23 December 1959) was a British politician. Throughout his career, he served as Viceroy of India (1926-1929), Foreign Secretary in the Neville Chamberlain and Winston Churchill governments (1938-1940), and ambassador to the United States (1940-1946).

Halifax's left arm was withered at birth, and a left hand had never developed.

Lord Halifax in Worldwar[]

Lord Halifax was the British Ambassador to the United States during World War II and the war against the Race.

Halifax had been an architect of appeasement of Adolf Hitler in Neville Chamberlain's government. Although a member of the Conservative Party, he and Chamberlain's successor, Winston Churchill, did not get along very well, and so Halifax was sent abroad. He was somewhat marginalized by Churchill's insistence on maintaining tight supervision over Anglo-American affairs during the war with Germany. Churchill maintained this supervision even when the Race invaded in 1942.

Worldwar
POD: May 30, 1942
Appearance(s): Upsetting the Balance
Type of Appearance: Direct
Political Office(s): Ambassador to the United States

Halifax participated in the Anglo-American-Soviet summit in New York City in 1943. Here he was introduced to Vyacheslav Molotov, who secretly disdained Halifax for his history of appeasement. Halifax expressed his wish that a policy of balance be achieved once major Earth powers showed that they too had atomic bombs and could use them effectively against the Race. His colleague, Lord Beaverbrook, noted that, because the Race's Colonization Fleet was already on its way, such a policy would be difficult to implement.[1]

Lord Halifax in The War That Came Early[]

The War That Came Early
POD: July 20, 1936;
Relevant POD: September 29, 1938
Appearance(s): The Big Switch
Type of Appearance: Direct

In 1940, on the eve of the Hess Agreement, Lord Halifax took part in the funeral procession of Winston Churchill by marching in the front rank of Conservative officials. However, he did not display much of a sense of gravitas during the procession, smiling and joking with those marching close to him.[2]

Halifax's influence was viewed with disdain even after the coup of 1941 and the end of the Second World War in 1944.[3]

Lord Halifax in Southern Victory[]

Southern Victory
POD: September 10, 1862
Appearance(s): In at the Death
Type of Appearance: Direct
Political Office(s): Ambassador to the Confederate States

Lord Halifax was the British ambassador to the Confederate States. He had a somewhat rocky personal relationship with President Jake Featherston, and tried to express, in carefully chosen diplomatic terms, disapproval of the mass killing of blacks. However, Featherston vehemently rejected all such criticism. Nevertheless, Lord Halifax obtained for Featherston British assistance in the development of the superbomb, in exchange for Confederate expertise in rocketry.[4]

References[]

  1. Upsetting the Balance, pgs. 349-351.
  2. The Big Switch pg. 235.
  3. Last Orders, pg. 379.
  4. In at the Death, pgs. 140-44.
Political offices
(OTL)
Preceded by
Henry Finnis Blosse Lynch
Member of Parliament for Ripon
1910–1925
Succeeded by
John Waller Hills
Preceded by
Anthony Eden
Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom
1938–1940
Succeeded by
Anthony Eden
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