Winston Churchill

Now that things in 1940 are really taking a swing into full-blown war, I occasionally want to showcase individuals who really made an impact on the course of events.

Since August is the month that The Battle Of Britain took place, now is the time for a little background on Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, who was one of the more publicly recognized political figures at the time. People living in Britain all knew him, and most of Europe as well (if they ever listened to radio news). His name and face had been a feature in our news as well.

Winston served as prime minister of England from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955.
To date, he is the only British prime minister to have received the Nobel Prize in Literature, and the first person to be recognized as an honorary citizen of the United States.

Born to the aristocratic Spencer family 30 November 1874, died 24 January 1965.
His ancestor George Spencer had changed his surname to Spencer-Churchill in 1817 when he became Duke of Marlborough, to highlight his descent from John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough.
Independent and rebellious by nature, Churchill generally did poorly in school. He attended Harrow School in 1888, where his military career began. Within weeks of his arrival, he had joined their Rifle Corps. He earned high marks in English and History and was also the school's fencing champion. It is not hard to imagine this boys-school hothead, imperiously taking on challenges and boyhood rituals that led to the steely-eyed spokesman he became. Just looking at his expression in the photo above, I can almost hear his thoughts of making sweeping changes, only his shrewd calculating intelligence keeping him from lighting political firestorms, preferring to outmaneuver his opponents with words.

During his army career, Churchill saw military action in India, the Sudan and the Second Boer War. He gained fame and notoriety as a war correspondent and through contemporary books he wrote describing the campaigns. He also served briefly in the British Army on the Western Front in the First World War, commanding the 6Th Battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers. He did not intend to follow a conventional career of promotion through army ranks, but to seek out all possible chances of military action and used his mother's and family influence in high society to arrange postings to active campaigns.
In 1899 he accompanied a scouting expedition in an armored train, leading to his capture and imprisonment in a POW camp in Pretoria. His escape made him a minor national hero for a time in Britain, though instead of returning home, he rejoined the army on its march to relieve the British at the Siege of Ladysmith and take Pretoria.

During the First World War he continued as First Lord of the Admiralty until the disastrous Gallipoli Campaign caused his departure from government. He returned as Minister of Munitions, Secretary of State for War and Secretary of State for Air.
At the forefront of the political scene for almost fifty years, he held many political and cabinet positions.

Churchill was a fierce critic of Neville Chamberlain's appeasement of Adolf Hitler and in a speech to the House of Commons, he bluntly and prophetically stated, "You were given the choice between war and dishonour. You chose dishonour, and you will have war."
After the outbreak of the Second World War, Churchill was again appointed First Lord of the Admiralty. Following the resignation of Neville Chamberlain on 10 May 1940, he became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
Coining the general term for the upcoming battle, Churchill stated in his "Finest Hour" speech to the House of Commons on 18 June 1940, "I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin."
Churchill was always noted for his grandiose speeches, which became a great inspiration to the British people and to the embattled Allied forces. His first speech as prime minister was the famous "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat". He followed that closely with two other equally famous ones, given just before the Battle of Britain.

"... we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender."

"Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves, that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their finest hour'."

At the height of the Battle of Britain, his quote "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few", began the enduring nickname 'The Few' for the RAF fighter pilots who won it.
One of his most memorable war speeches came on 10 November 1942 at the Lord Mayor's Luncheon at Mansion House in London, in response to the Allied victory at the Second Battle of El Alamein. Churchill stated:

"This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."

During the war Churchill's good relationship with Franklin D. Roosevelt secured vital food, oil and munitions via the North Atlantic shipping routes under the U.S. Lend-Lease Program. The Russians referred to him as the "British Bulldog" for his patented stubborn tenacity that personified a nation.

Churchill's health was fragile, as shown by a mild heart attack he suffered in December 1941 at the White House and also in December 1943 when he contracted pneumonia. Despite this, he traveled over 100,000 miles (160,000 km) throughout the war to meet other national leaders. For security, he usually traveled using the alias Colonel Warden.

After victory in Europe, Churchill told a huge crowd in Whitehall: "This is your victory." The people shouted: "No, it is yours".

There is an interesting tale to tell about his most famous picture, the one in my posting below August 18 for his "Never in the field of human conflict" speech. The photographer had a limited amount of time to capture the photo, and Churchill of course was uncooperative, procrastinating until the photographer only had a couple minutes left and hadn't taken any shots still. One of Churchill's vices was smoking a cigar which also interfered with the photographers composition and lighting, so he reached over and plucked the cigar from Winston's mouth, resulting in the captured demeanor which has been compared to resemble every grumpy newborn child.

After losing the 1945 election, he became Leader of the Opposition. In 1951 he again became prime minister, before finally retiring in 1955. Upon his death, the Queen granted him the honor of a state funeral, which saw one of the largest assemblies of statesmen in the world.