What was Winston Churchill's first book and when did he write it?

Churchill wrote his first book, The Story of the Malakand Field Force, during his time as a war correspondent in India and Sudan in the late 1890s.

How did Winston Churchill escape from a prisoner of war camp in 1899?

In December 1899, Winston Churchill escaped from a POW camp in Pretoria by stowing aboard freight trains and hiding in a mine to reach safety in Portuguese East Africa.

When did Winston Churchill become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom?

Winston Churchill became Prime Minister on the 10th of May 1940 following the Norway Debate and the resignation of Neville Chamberlain.

What speech did Winston Churchill deliver to the House of Commons on the 13th of May 1940?

Churchill delivered his first speech as Prime Minister on the 13th of May 1940, famously stating that he had nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.

When did the Dunkirk evacuation end and how many servicemen were evacuated?

The Dunkirk evacuation ended on the 4th of June 1940 when the French rearguard surrendered, having successfully evacuated 338,226 Allied servicemen.

Winston Churchill: the story on HearLore | HearLore

Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill was born on the 30th of November 1874 at Blenheim Palace, the ancestral home of his family, into a world of aristocratic privilege that seemed to offer him a life of ease. Yet, from the moment he entered the world, he was an outsider to the very society that claimed him. His father, Lord Randolph Churchill, was a brilliant but volatile politician who died when Winston was only twenty-three, leaving the boy to be raised largely by a nanny named Elizabeth Everest, whom he later called his dearest and most intimate friend. Churchill was not the model son expected of the Spencer-Churchill dynasty; he was a poor student who failed to gain entry to the Royal Military College at Sandhurst on his first two attempts, a failure that would define his early struggle for self-worth. He was a boy who wrote his own destiny in ink and blood, beginning a career that would see him as a war correspondent, a prisoner of war, and eventually the man who stood alone against the forces of fascism. His early years were marked by a deep sense of isolation, a feeling that he was always watching the world from the outside, a perspective that would fuel his later political ambitions and his relentless drive to prove himself.

The Writer Who Became A Warrior

In the autumn of 1895, a young Winston Churchill, barely twenty-one, used his mother's influence to secure a posting to a war zone, a decision that would launch his career as a military correspondent and a writer. He traveled to Cuba to observe the Cuban War of Independence, joining Spanish troops in skirmishes against independence fighters, and sent reports to the Daily Graphic in London. His journey took him to India, where he spent nineteen months visiting Calcutta and joining expeditions to the North West Frontier, all while reading widely from Plato to Thomas Babington Macaulay, books sent to him by his mother. He wrote his first book, The Story of the Malakand Field Force, which received positive reviews, and his only work of fiction, Savrola, a Ruritanian romance. Churchill's writing was not merely a hobby; it was his safeguard against recurring depression, which he referred to as his black dog. He embraced writing as his whole habit, especially through his career when he was out of office. In the Sudan, he participated in one of the British Army's last cavalry charges at the Battle of Omdurman in September 1898, and later wrote The River War about the campaign. He decided to leave the army as he was critical of General Herbert Kitchener's actions, particularly the unmerciful treatment of enemy wounded and his desecration of Muhammad Ahmad's tomb. He sailed from Bombay on the 20th of March 1899, determined to launch a career in politics, having already proven that he could write his way into history.

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The Politician Who Crossed The Floor

In May 1904, Churchill crossed the floor to sit as a member of the Liberal Party, a move that would define his political career and alienate him from his former colleagues. He opposed the government's proposed Aliens Bill, designed to curb Jewish immigration, stating that the bill would appeal to insular prejudice against foreigners, to racial prejudice against Jews, and to labour prejudice against competition. He expressed himself in favour of the old tolerant and generous practice of free entry and asylum to which this country has so long adhered and from which it has so greatly gained. As a Liberal, Churchill attacked government policy and gained a reputation as a radical under the influences of John Morley and David Lloyd George. In December 1905, Balfour resigned as prime minister and King Edward VII invited the Liberal leader Henry Campbell-Bannerman to replace him. Hoping to secure a working majority, Campbell-Bannerman called a general election in January 1906, which the Liberals won in a massive landslide. Churchill won the Manchester North West seat, and his biography of his father was published, for which he received an advance payment of £8,000. It was generally well received. The first biography of Churchill himself, written by the Liberal MacCallum Scott, was also published around this time. In the new government, Churchill became Under-Secretary of State for the Colonial Office, a junior ministerial position he had requested. He worked beneath the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Victor Bruce, 9th Earl of Elgin, and took Edward Marsh as his secretary; Marsh remained his secretary for 25 years. Churchill's first task was helping to draft a constitution for the Transvaal; and he helped oversee the formation of a government in the Orange River Colony. In dealing with southern Africa, he sought to ensure equality between the British and Boers. He announced a gradual phasing out of the use of Chinese indentured labourers in South Africa; he and the government decided a sudden ban would cause too much upset and might damage the colony's economy. He expressed concerns about the relations between European settlers and the black African population; after the Zulu launched their Bambatha Rebellion in Natal, Churchill complained about the disgusting butchery of the natives by Europeans.

The Reformer Who Faced Riots

In April 1908, Churchill was appointed President of the Board of Trade, becoming the youngest Cabinet member since 1866. Newly appointed Cabinet ministers were legally obliged to seek re-election at a by-election. On the 24th of April, Churchill lost the Manchester North West by-election to the Conservative candidate by 429 votes. On the 9th of May, the Liberals stood him in the safe seat of Dundee, where he won comfortably. Churchill proposed marriage to Clementine Hozier; they were married on the 12th of September 1908 at St Margaret's, Westminster and honeymooned in Baveno, Venice, and Veveří Castle in Moravia. They lived at 33 Eccleston Square, London, and their first daughter, Diana, was born in 1909. The success of their marriage was important to Churchill's career as Clementine's unbroken affection provided him with a secure and happy background. One of Churchill's first tasks as a minister was to arbitrate in an industrial dispute among ship-workers and employers, on the River Tyne. He afterwards established a Standing Court of Arbitration to deal with industrial disputes, establishing a reputation as a conciliator. He worked with Lloyd George to champion social reform. He promoted what he called a network of State intervention and regulation akin to that in Germany. Continuing Lloyd George's work, Churchill introduced the Mines Eight Hours Bill, which prohibited miners from working more than an eight-hour day. In 1909, he introduced the Trade Boards Bill, creating Trade Boards which could prosecute exploitative employers. Passing with a large majority, it established the principle of a minimum wage and the right to have meal breaks. In May 1909, he proposed the Labour Exchanges Bill to establish over 200 Labour Exchanges through which the unemployed would be assisted in finding employment. He promoted the idea of an unemployment insurance scheme, which would be part-funded by the state. To ensure funding for their reforms, Lloyd George and Churchill denounced Reginald McKenna's policy of naval expansion, refusing to believe war with Germany was inevitable. As Chancellor, Lloyd George presented his People's Budget on the 29th of April 1909, calling it a war budget to eliminate poverty. With Churchill as his closest ally, Lloyd George proposed unprecedented taxes on the rich to fund Liberal welfare programmes. The budget was vetoed by the Conservative peers who dominated the House of Lords. His social reforms under threat, Churchill became president of the Budget League, and warned that upper-class obstruction could anger working-class Britons and lead to class war. The government called the January 1910 general election, which resulted in a Liberal victory; Churchill retained his seat at Dundee. He proposed abolition of the House of Lords in a cabinet memo, suggesting it be succeeded by a unicameral system, or smaller second chamber that lacked an in-built advantage for the Conservatives. In April, the Lords relented and the People's Budget passed. Churchill continued to campaign against the House of Lords and assisted passage of the Parliament Act 1911 which reduced and restricted its powers.

The Home Secretary Who Defied The Mob

In February 1910, Churchill was promoted to Home Secretary, giving him control over the police and prison services; he implemented a prison reform programme. Measures included a distinction between criminal and political prisoners, with rules for the latter being relaxed. There were educational innovations like the establishment of libraries, and a requirement to stage entertainments four times a year. The rules on solitary confinement were relaxed, and Churchill proposed abolition of automatic imprisonment of those who failed to pay fines. Imprisonment of people aged between 16 and 21 was abolished except for the most serious offences. Churchill reduced commuted 21 of the 43 death capital sentences passed while he was Home Secretary. A major domestic issue was women's suffrage. Churchill supported giving women the vote, but would only back a bill to that effect if it had majority support from the male electorate. His proposed solution was a referendum, but this found no favour with Asquith and women's suffrage remained unresolved until 1918. Many suffragettes believed Churchill was a committed opponent, and targeted his meetings for protest. In November 1910, the suffragist Hugh Franklin attacked Churchill with a whip; Franklin was imprisoned for six weeks. In November 1910, Churchill had to deal with the Tonypandy riots, in which coal miners in the Rhondda Valley violently protested against working conditions. The Chief Constable of Glamorgan requested troops to help police quell the rioting. Churchill, learning that the troops were already traveling, allowed them to go as far as Swindon and Cardiff, but blocked their deployment; he was concerned their use could lead to bloodshed. Instead he sent 270 London police, who were not equipped with firearms, to assist. As the riots continued, he offered the protesters an interview with the government's chief industrial arbitrator, which they accepted. Privately, Churchill regarded the mine owners and striking miners as very unreasonable. The Times and other media outlets accused him of being soft on the rioters; in contrast, many in the Labour Party, which was linked to the trade unions, regarded him as too heavy-handed. Churchill incurred the long-term suspicion of the labour movement. Asquith called a general election in December 1910, and the Liberals were re-elected with Churchill secure in Dundee. In January 1911, Churchill became involved in the Siege of Sidney Street; three Latvian burglars had killed police officers and hidden in a house in the East End of London, surrounded by police. Churchill stood with the police though he did not direct their operation. After the house caught fire, he told the fire brigade not to proceed into the house because of the threat posed by the armed men. Afterwards, two of the burglars were found dead. Although he faced criticism for his decision, he said he thought it better to let the house burn down rather than spend good British lives in rescuing those ferocious rascals. In March 1911, Churchill introduced the second reading of the Coal Mines Bill; when implemented, it imposed stricter safety standards. He formulated the Shops Bill to improve working conditions of shop workers; it faced opposition from shop owners and only passed in a much emasculated form. In April, Lloyd George introduced the first health and unemployment insurance legislation, the National Insurance Act 1911, which Churchill had been instrumental in drafting. In May, Clementine gave birth to their second child, Randolph, named after Winston's father. In response to escalating civil strife in 1911, Churchill sent troops into Liverpool to quell protesting dockers and rallied against a national railway strike. During the Agadir Crisis of April 1911, when there was a threat of war between France and Germany, Churchill suggested an alliance with France and Russia to safeguard the independence of Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands to counter possible German expansionism. The Crisis had a profound effect on Churchill and he altered his views about the need for naval expansion.

The Admiral Who Lost A War

In October 1911, Asquith appointed Churchill First Lord of the Admiralty, and he took up official residence at Admiralty House. He created a naval war staff and, over the next two and a half years, focused on naval preparation, visiting naval stations and dockyards, seeking to improve morale, and scrutinising German naval developments. After Germany passed its 1912 Naval Law to increase warship production, Churchill vowed that for every new German battleship, Britain would build two. He invited Germany to engage in a mutual de-escalation, but this was refused. Churchill pushed for higher pay and greater recreational facilities for naval staff, more submarines, and a renewed focus on the Royal Naval Air Service, encouraging them to experiment with how aircraft could be used for military purposes. He coined the term seaplane and ordered 100 to be constructed. Some Liberals objected to his level of naval expenditure; in December 1913 he threatened to resign if his proposal for 4 new battleships in 1914, 15 was rejected. In June 1914, he convinced the House of Commons to authorise the government purchase of a 51% share in the profits of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, to secure oil access for the navy. The central issue in Britain was Irish Home Rule and, in 1912, Asquith's government introduced the Home Rule Bill. Churchill supported it and urged Ulster Unionists to accept it as he opposed the Partition of Ireland. Concerning the possibility of partition, Churchill stated: Whatever Ulster's right may be, she cannot stand in the way of the whole of the rest of Ireland. Half a province cannot impose a permanent veto on the nation. Half a province cannot obstruct forever the reconciliation between the British and Irish democracies. Speaking in the House of Commons on the 16th of February 1922, Churchill said: What Irishmen all over the world most desire is not hostility against this country, but the unity of their own. Following a Cabinet decision, he boosted the naval presence in Ireland to deal with any Unionist uprising. Seeking a compromise, Churchill suggested Ireland remain part of a federal UK, but this angered Liberals and Irish nationalists. As First Lord, Churchill was tasked with overseeing Britain's naval effort when the First World War began in August 1914. The navy transported 120,000 troops to France and began a blockade of Germany's North Sea ports. Churchill sent submarines to the Baltic Sea to assist the Russian Navy and sent the Marine Brigade to Ostend, forcing a reallocation of German troops. In September, Churchill assumed full responsibility for Britain's aerial defence. On the 7th of October, Clementine gave birth to their third child, Sarah. In October, Churchill visited Antwerp to observe Belgian defences against the besieging Germans and promised reinforcements. Soon afterwards, Antwerp fell to the Germans and Churchill was criticised in the press. He maintained that his actions had prolonged resistance and enabled the Allies to secure Calais and Dunkirk. In November, Asquith called a War Council including Churchill. Churchill set the development of the tank on the right track and financed its creation with Admiralty funds. Churchill was interested in the Middle Eastern theatre, and wanted to relieve pressure on the Russians in the Caucasus by staging attacks against Turkey in the Dardanelles. He hoped that the British could even seize Constantinople. Approval was given and, in March 1915, an Anglo-French task force attempted a naval bombardment of Turkish defences. In April, the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, including the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps ANZAC, began its assault at Gallipoli. Both campaigns failed and Churchill was held by many MPs, particularly Conservatives, to be responsible. In May, Asquith agreed under parliamentary pressure to form an all-party coalition government, but the Conservatives' condition of entry was that Churchill must be removed from the Admiralty. Churchill pleaded his case with Asquith and Conservative leader Bonar Law but had to accept demotion.

The Soldier Who Fought On The Front

On the 25th of November 1915, Churchill resigned from the government, although he remained an MP. Asquith rejected his request to be appointed Governor-General of British East Africa. Churchill decided to return to active service with the Army and was attached to the 2nd Grenadier Guards, on the Western Front. In January 1916, he was temporarily promoted to lieutenant-colonel and given command of the 6th Royal Scots Fusiliers. The battalion was moved to a sector of the Belgian Front near Ploegsteert. For three months, they faced continual shelling, though no German offensive. Churchill narrowly escaped death when, during a visit by his cousin the Duke of Marlborough, a large piece of shrapnel fell between them. The inscribed shrapnel piece was subsequently displayed at Blenheim Palace. In May, the 6th Royal Scots Fusiliers were merged into the 15th Division. Churchill did not request a new command, instead securing permission to leave active service. His temporary promotion ended on the 16th of May 1916, when he returned to the rank of major. Back in the House of Commons, Churchill spoke out on war issues, calling for conscription to be extended to the Irish, greater recognition of soldiers' bravery, and for the introduction of steel helmets. It was in November 1916 that he penned The greater application of mechanical power to the prosecution of an offensive on land, but it fell on deaf ears. He was frustrated at being out of office, but was repeatedly blamed for the Gallipoli disaster by the pro-Conservative press. Churchill argued his case before the Dardanelles Commission, whose report placed no blame on him personally for the campaign's failure. In October 1916, Asquith resigned as prime minister and was succeeded by Lloyd George who, in May 1917, sent Churchill to inspect the French war effort. On the 17th of July, Churchill was appointed Minister of Munitions. He negotiated an end to a strike in munitions factories along the Clyde and increased munitions production. In his October 1917 letter to his Cabinet colleagues, he penned the plan of attack for the next year, that would bring final victory to the Allies. He ended a second strike, in June 1918, by threatening to conscript strikers into the army. In the House of Commons, Churchill voted in support of the Representation of the People Act 1918, which gave some women the right to vote. In November 1918, four days after the Armistice, Churchill's fourth child, Marigold, was born. Lloyd George called a general election for the 14th of December 1918. During the campaign, Churchill called for nationalisation of the railways, a control on monopolies, tax reform, and the creation of a League of Nations to prevent wars. He was returned as MP for Dundee and, though the Conservatives won a majority, Lloyd George was retained as prime minister. In January 1919, Lloyd George moved Churchill to the War Office as both Secretary of State for War and Secretary of State for Air. Churchill was responsible for demobilising the army, though he convinced Lloyd George to keep a million men conscripted for the British Army of the Rhine. Churchill was one of the few government figures who opposed harsh measures against Germany, and he cautioned against demobilising the German Army, warning they might be needed as a bulwark against Soviet Russia. He was outspoken against Vladimir Lenin's Bolshevik government in Russia. He initially supported using British troops to assist the anti-Bolshevik White forces in the Russian Civil War, but soon recognised the people's desire to bring them home. After the Soviets won the civil war, Churchill proposed a cordon sanitaire around the country. In the Irish War of Independence, he supported the use of the paramilitary Black and Tans to combat Irish revolutionaries. After British troops in Iraq clashed with Kurdish rebels, Churchill authorised two squadrons to the area, proposing they be equipped with poison gas to be used to inflict punishment upon recalcitrant natives without inflicting grave injury upon them, although this was never implemented. He saw the occupation of Iraq as a drain on Britain and proposed, unsuccessfully, that the government should hand control back to Turkey. Churchill became Secretary of State for the Colonies in February 1921. The following month, the first exhibit of his paintings took place in Paris, with Churchill exhibiting under a pseudonym. In May, his mother died, followed in August by his daughter Marigold, from sepsis. Churchill was haunted by Marigold's death for the rest of his life. Churchill was involved in negotiations with Sinn Féin leaders and helped draft the Anglo-Irish Treaty. He was responsible for reducing the cost of occupying the Middle East, and was involved in the installations of Faisal I of Iraq and Abdullah I of Jordan. Churchill travelled to Mandatory Palestine where, as a supporter of Zionism, he refused an Arab Palestinian petition to prohibit Jewish migration. He did allow temporary restrictions following the Jaffa riots. In September 1922, the Chanak Crisis erupted as Turkish forces threatened to occupy the Dardanelles neutral zone, which was policed by the British army based in Chanak. Churchill and Lloyd George favoured military resistance to any Turkish advance but the majority Conservatives in the coalition government opposed it. A political debacle ensued which resulted in the Conservative withdrawal from the government, precipitating the November 1922 general election. Also in September, Churchill's fifth and last child, Mary, was born, and in the same month he purchased Chartwell, in Kent, which became his family home. In October 1922, he underwent an appendectomy. While he was in hospital, Lloyd George's coalition was dissolved. In the general election, Churchill lost his Dundee seat to Edwin Scrymgeour, a prohibitionist candidate. Later, he wrote that he was without an office, without a seat, without a party, and without an appendix. He was elevated as one of 50 members of the Order of the Companions of Honour, as named in Lloyd George's 1922 Dissolution Honours list.

The Chancellor Who Restored Gold

Becoming Chancellor on the 6th of November 1924, Churchill formally rejoined the Conservative Party a year later. As Chancellor, he intended to pursue his free trade principles in the form of laissez-faire economics, as under the Liberal social reforms. In April 1925, he controversially, albeit reluctantly, restored the gold standard in his first budget, at its 1914 parity, against the advice of leading economists including John Maynard Keynes. The return to gold is held to have caused deflation and resultant unemployment with a devastating impact on the coal industry. Churchill presented five budgets in all to April 1929. Among his measures were reduction of the state pension age from 70 to 65; immediate provision of widow's pensions; reduction of military expenditure; income tax reductions and imposition of taxes on luxury items. During the General Strike of 1926, Churchill edited the British Gazette, the government's anti-strike propaganda newspaper. After the strike ended, he acted as an intermediary between striking miners and their employers. He called for the introduction of a legally binding minimum wage. In a House of Commons speech in 1926 Churchill made his feelings on the issue of Irish unity clear. He stated that Ireland should be united within itself but also united to the British Empire. In the 1929 general election, Churchill retained his Epping seat, but the Conservatives were defeated, and MacDonald formed his second Labour government. Out of office, Churchill was prone to depression his black dog but addressed it by writing. He began work on Marlborough: His Life and Times, a biography of his ancestor John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough. He had developed a reputation for being a heavy drinker, although Jenkins believes that was often exaggerated. Hoping that the Labour government could be ousted, he gained Baldwin's approval to work towards establishing a Conservative-Liberal coalition, although many Liberals were reluctant. In October 1930, after his return from a trip to North America, Churchill published his autobiography, My Early Life, which sold well and was translated into multiple languages. In January 1931, Churchill resigned from the Conservative Shadow Cabinet because Baldwin supported the government's decision to grant Dominion Status to India. Churchill believed that enhanced home rule status would hasten calls for full independence. He was particularly opposed to Mohandas Gandhi, whom he considered a seditious Middle Temple lawyer, now posing as a fakir. His views enraged Labour and Liberal opinion, though he was supported by many grassroot Conservatives. The October 1931 general election was a landslide victory for the Conservatives. Churchill nearly doubled his majority in Epping, but was not given a ministerial position. The Commons debated Dominion Status for India on the 3rd of December and Churchill insisted on dividing the House, but this backfired as only 43 MPs supported him. He embarked on a lecture tour of North America, hoping to recoup financial losses sustained in the Wall Street crash. On the 13th of December, he was crossing Fifth Avenue in New York when he was knocked down by a car, suffering a head wound from which he developed neuritis. To further his convalescence, he and Clementine took ship to Nassau for three weeks, but Churchill became depressed about his financial and political losses. He returned to America in late January 1932 and completed most of his lectures before arriving home on the 18th of March. Having worked on Marlborough for much of 1932, Churchill in August decided to visit his ancestor's battlefields. In Munich, he met Ernst Hanfstaengl, a friend of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, who was then rising in prominence. Hanfstaengl tried to arrange a meeting between Churchill and Hitler, but Hitler was unenthusiastic: What on earth would I talk to him about? Soon after visiting Blenheim, Churchill was affected by paratyphoid fever and spent two weeks at a sanatorium in Salzburg. He returned to Chartwell on the 25th of September, still working on Marlborough. Two days later, he collapsed after a recurrence of paratyphoid which caused an ulcer to haemorrhage. He was taken to a London nursing home and remained there until late October.

The Voice Against Appeasement

After Hitler came to power in January 1933, Churchill was quick to recognise the menace of such a regime, and expressed alarm that the British government had reduced air force spending, and warned that Germany would soon overtake Britain in air force production. Armed with data provided clandestinely by senior civil servants, Desmond Morton and Ralph Wigram, Churchill was able to speak with authority about what was happening in Germany, especially the development of the Luftwaffe. He spoke of his concerns in a radio broadcast in November 1934, having denounced the intolerance and militarism of Nazism in the House of Commons. While Churchill regarded Mussolini's regime as a bulwark against the threat of communist revolution, he opposed the Italian invasion of Ethiopia, despite describing the country as a primitive, uncivilised nation. He admired the exiled king of Spain Alfonso XIII and feared Communism was making inroads during the Spanish Civil War. He referred to Franco's army as the anti-red movement, but later became critical of Franco as too close to Mussolini and Hitler. Between October 1933 and September 1938, the four volumes of Marlborough: His Life and Times were published and sold well. In December 1934, the India Bill entered Parliament and was passed in February 1935. Churchill and 83 other Conservative MPs voted against it. In June 1935, MacDonald resigned and was succeeded as prime minister by Baldwin. Baldwin then led the Conservatives to victory in the 1935 general election; Churchill retained his seat, but was again left out of the government. In January 1936, Edward VIII succeeded his father, George V, as monarch. His desire to marry an American divorcee, Wallis Simpson, caused the abdication crisis. Churchill supported Edward and clashed with Baldwin on the issue. Afterwards, although Churchill immediately pledged loyalty to George VI, he wrote that the abdication was premature and probably quite unnecessary. In May 1937, Baldwin resigned and was succeeded as prime minister by Neville Chamberlain. At first, Churchill welcomed Chamberlain's appointment but, in February 1938, matters came to a head after Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden resigned over Chamberlain's appeasement of Mussolini, a policy which Chamberlain was extending towards Hitler. In 1938, Churchill warned the government against appeasement and called for collective action to deter German aggression. Following the Anschluss, Churchill spoke in the House of Commons: He began calling for a mutual defence pact among European states threatened by German expansionism, arguing this was the only way to halt Hitler. In September, Germany mobilised to invade the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia. Churchill visited Chamberlain and urged him to tell Germany that Britain would declare war if the Germans invaded Czechoslovak territory; Chamberlain was unwilling to do this. On the 30th of September, Chamberlain signed the Munich Agreement, agreeing to allow German annexation of the Sudetenland. Speaking in the House of Commons on the 5th of October, Churchill called the agreement a total and unmitigated defeat. Following the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia in March 1939, Churchill and his supporters called for the foundation of a national coalition. His popularity increased as a result.

The Prime Minister Who Stood Alone

On the 3rd of September 1939, the day Britain declared war on Germany, Chamberlain reappointed Churchill as First Lord of the Admiralty and he joined Chamberlain's war cabinet. Churchill was a highest-profile minister during the so-called Phoney War. Churchill was ebullient after the Battle of the River Plate on the 13th of December 1939 and welcomed home the crews, congratulating them on a brilliant sea fight. On the 16th of February 1940, Churchill ordered Captain Philip Vian of the destroyer to board the German supply ship in Norwegian waters freeing 299 British merchant seamen who had been captured by the. These actions, and his speeches, enhanced Churchill's reputation. He was concerned about German naval activity in the Baltic and wanted to send a naval force, but this was soon changed to a plan, codenamed Operation Wilfred, to mine Norwegian waters and stop iron ore shipments from Narvik to Germany. Due to disagreements, Wilfred was delayed until the 8th of April 1940, the day before the German invasion of Norway. After the Allies failed to prevent the German occupation of Norway, the Commons held a debate from the 7th to the 9th of May on the government's conduct of the war. This became known as the Norway Debate, one of the most significant events in parliamentary history. On the second day, the Labour opposition called for a division which was in effect a vote of no confidence in Chamberlain's government. Churchill was called upon to wind up the debate, which placed him in the difficult position of having to defend the government without damaging his prestige. Although the government won the vote, its majority was drastically reduced amid calls for a national government. Early on the 10th of May, German forces invaded Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands as a prelude to their assault on France. Since the division vote, Chamberlain had been trying to form a coalition, but Labour declared on the Friday they would not serve under his leadership, although they would accept another Conservative. The only two candidates were Churchill and Lord Halifax, the Foreign Secretary. The matter had already been discussed at a meeting on the 9th between Chamberlain, Halifax, Churchill, and David Margesson, the government Chief Whip. Halifax admitted he could not govern effectively as a member of the House of Lords, so Chamberlain advised the King to send for Churchill, who became prime minister. Churchill later wrote of a profound sense of relief, as he now had authority over the whole scene. He believed his life so far had been a preparation for this hour and for this trial. Churchill began his premiership by forming a war cabinet: Chamberlain as Lord President of the Council, Labour leader Clement Attlee as Lord Privy Seal later Deputy Prime Minister, Halifax as Foreign Secretary and Labour's Arthur Greenwood as a minister without portfolio. In practice, these five were augmented by the service chiefs and ministers who attended most meetings. The cabinet changed in size and membership as the war progressed, a key appointment being the leading trades unionist Ernest Bevin as Minister of Labour and National Service. In response to criticisms, Churchill created and assumed the position of Minister of Defence, making him the most powerful wartime prime minister in history. He drafted outside experts into government to fulfil vital functions, especially on the Home Front. These included friends like Lord Beaverbrook and Frederick Lindemann, who became the government's scientific advisor. In May, Churchill had still been unpopular with many Conservatives and most of the Labour Party. Chamberlain remained Conservative Party leader until, dying of cancer, he retired in October. By that time, Churchill had won over his doubters and his succession as leader was a formality.

The Orator Who Defied The Blitz

At the end of May, with the British Expeditionary Force in retreat to Dunkirk and the Fall of France imminent, Halifax proposed the government should explore a peace settlement using the still-neutral Mussolini as an intermediary. There were high-level meetings from the 26th to the 28th of May, including with the French premier Paul Reynaud. Churchill's resolve was to fight on, even if France capitulated, but his position remained precarious until Chamberlain resolved to support him. Churchill had the full support of the two Labour members but knew he could not survive as prime minister if both Chamberlain and Halifax were against him. By gaining the support of his outer cabinet, Churchill outmanoeuvred Halifax and won Chamberlain over. Churchill succeeded as an orator despite being handicapped from childhood with a speech impediment. He had a lateral lisp and was unable to pronounce the letter s, verbalising it with a slur. He worked on his pronunciation by repeating phrases designed to cure his problem with the sibilant s. He was ultimately successful, turning the impediment into an asset, as when he called Hitler a Nar-zee rhymes with khazi; emphasis on the z, rather than a Nazi ts. His first speech as prime minister, delivered to the Commons on the 13th of May, was the blood, toil, tears and sweat speech. Churchill made it plain to the nation that a long road lay ahead and that victory was the final goal: Churchill's use of rhetoric hardened public opinion against a peaceful resolution , Jenkins says Churchill's speeches were an inspiration for the nation, and a catharsis for Churchill himself. The Dunkirk evacuation of 338,226 Allied servicemen, ended on the 4th of June when the French rearguard surrendered. The total was far in excess of expectations and gave rise to a popular view Dunkirk had been a miracle, even a victory. Churchill himself referred to a miracle of deliverance in his we shall fight on the beaches speech to the Commons that afternoon. The speech ended on a note of defiance, with a clear appeal to the United States: Germany initiated Fall Rot, in France, the following day, and Italy entered the war on the 10th. The Wehrmacht occupied Paris on the 14th and completed their conquest of France on the 25th of June. It was now inevitable that Hitler would attack and probably try to invade Great Britain. Faced with this, Churchill addressed the Commons on the 18th of June with one of his most famous speeches, ending with this peroration: Churchill ordered the commencement of the Western Desert campaign on the 11th of June, a response to the Italian declaration of war. This went well at first while Italy was the sole opposition and Operation Compass was a success. In early 1941, however, Mussolini requested German support. Hitler sent the Afrika Korps to Tripoli under Erwin Rommel, who arrived not long after Churchill had halted Compass so he could reassign forces to Greece where the Balkans campaign was entering a critical phase. In other initiatives through June and July 1940, Churchill ordered the formation of the Special Operations Executive SOE and Commandos. The SOE was ordered to promote and execute subversive activity in Nazi-occupied Europe, while the Commandos were charged with raids on military targets there. Hugh Dalton, the Minister of Economic Warfare, took political responsibility for the SOE and recorded that Churchill told him: And now go and set Europe ablaze. On the 20th of August 1940, at the height of the Battle of Britain, Churchill addressed the Commons to outline the situation. In the middle of it, he made a statement that created a famous nickname for the RAF fighter pilots involved in the battle: The Luftwaffe altered its strategy from the 7th of September 1940 and began the Blitz, which was intensive through October and November. Churchill's morale was high and told his private secretary John Colville, in November, he thought the threat of invasion was past. He was confident Great Britain could hold its own, given the increase in output, but was realistic about its chances of winning the war without American intervention.

The Leader Who Secured Victory

In September 1940, the British and American governments concluded the destroyers-for-bases deal, by which 50 American destroyers were transferred to the Royal Navy in exchange for free US base rights in Bermuda, the Caribbean and Newfoundland. An added advantage for Britain was that its military assets in those bases could be redeployed elsewhere. Churchill's good relations with President Franklin D. Roosevelt helped secure vital food, oil and munitions via the North Atlantic shipping routes. It was for this reason that Churchill was relieved when Roosevelt was re-elected in 1940. Roosevelt set about implementing a new method of providing necessities to Great Britain, without the need for monetary payment. He persuaded Congress that repayment for this costly service would take the form of defending the US. The policy was known as Lend-Lease and was formally enacted on the 11th of March 1941. Hitler launched his invasion of the Soviet Union on the 22nd of June 1941. Churchill had known since April, from Enigma decrypts at Bletchley Park, that the attack was imminent. He had tried to warn Joseph Stalin via the ambassador to Moscow, Stafford Cripps, but Stalin did not trust Churchill. The night before the attack, already intending to address the nation, Churchill alluded to his hitherto anti-communist views by saying to Colville: If Hitler invaded Hell, I would at least make a favourable reference to the Devil. In August 1941, Churchill made his first transatlantic crossing of the war on board and met Roosevelt in Placentia Bay, Newfoundland. On the 14th of August, they issued the joint statement known as the Atlantic Charter. This outlined the goals of both countries for the future of the world and is seen as the inspiration for the 1942 Declaration by United Nations, itself the basis of the UN, founded in 1945. In December 1941, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was followed by their invasion of Malaya and, on the 8th, Churchill declared war on Japan. With the hope of using Irish ports for counter-submarine operations, Churchill sent a telegram to Irish Prime Minister Éamon de Valera in which he obliquely offers Irish unity: Now is your chance. Now or never! A nation once again! I will meet you wherever you wish. No meeting took place and there is no record of a response. Churchill went to Washington to meet Roosevelt for the Arcadia Conference. This was important for Europe first, the decision to prioritise victory in Europe over victory in the Pacific, taken by Roosevelt while Churchill was still in the mid-Atlantic. The Americans agreed with Churchill that Hitler was the main enemy and defeat of Germany was key to Allied success. It was also agreed that the first joint Anglo-American strike would be Operation Torch, the invasion of French North Africa. Originally planned for the spring 1942, it was launched in November 1942 when the crucial Second Battle of El Alamein was underway. On the 26th of December, Churchill addressed a joint meeting of the United States Congress. Later that night, he suffered a heart attack, which was diagnosed by his physician, Sir Charles Wilson, as a coronary deficiency, requiring several weeks' bed rest. Churchill insisted he did not need bed rest and journeyed to Ottawa by train, where he gave a speech to the Canadian Parliament that included the some chicken, some neck line in which he recalled French predictions in 1940 that Britain alone would have her neck wrung like a chicken. He arrived home mid-January, having flown from Bermuda to Plymouth in the first transatlantic air crossing by a head of government, to find there was a crisis of confidence in his government and him; he decided to face a vote of confidence in the Commons, which he won easily. While he was away, the Eighth Army, having relieved the Siege of Tobruk, had pursued Operation Crusader against Rommel's forces in Libya, successfully driving them back to a defensive position at El Agheila in Cyrena. On the 21st of January 1942, however, Rommel launched a surprise counter-attack which drove the Allies back to Gazala. Elsewhere, British success in the Battle of the Atlantic was compromised by the Kriegsmarine's introduction of its M4 4-rotor Enigma, whose signals could not be deciphered by Bletchley Park for nearly a year. At a press conference in Washington, Churchill had to play down his increasing doubts about the security of Singapore, given Japanese advances. Churchill already had grave concerns about the quality of British troops after the defeats in Norway, France, Greece and Crete. Following the fall of Singapore to the Japanese on the 15th of February 1942, he felt his misgivings were confirmed and said: this is the worst disaster and largest capitulation in British military history. On the 11th of February the Kriegsmarine pulled off its audacious Channel Dash, a massive blow to British naval prestige. The combined effect of these events was to sink Churchill's morale to its lowest point of the war. Meanwhile, the Japanese had occupied most of Burma by the end of April 1942. Counter-offensives were hampered by the monsoon season and disordered conditions in Bengal and Bihar, as well as a severe cyclone which devastated the region in October 1942. A combination of factors, including the curtailment of essential rice imports from Burma, poor administration, wartime inflation and large-scale natural disasters such as flooding and crop disease led to the Bengal famine of 1943, in which an estimated 2.1, 3.8 million people died. From December 1942, food shortages had prompted senior officials to ask London for grain imports, although the colonial authorities failed to recognise the seriousness of the famine and responded ineptly. Churchill's government was criticised for refusing to approve more imports, a policy it ascribed to an acute shortage of shipping. When the British realised the full extent of the famine in September 1943, Churchill ordered the transportation of 130,000 tons of grain and the cabinet agreed to send 200,000 tons by the end of the year. During the last quarter of 1943, 100,000 tons of rice and 176,000 tons of wheat were imported, compared to averages of 55,000 and 54,000 tons respectively earlier in the year. In October, Churchill wrote to the Viceroy of India, Lord Wavell, charging him with the responsibility of ending the famine. In February 1944, as preparation for Operation Overlord placed greater demands on Allied shipping, Churchill cabled Wavell saying: I will certainly help you all I can, but you must not ask the impossible. Grain shipment requests continued to be turned down by the government throughout 1944, and Wavell complained to Churchill in October that the vital problems of India are being treated by His Majesty's Government with neglect, even sometimes with hostility and contempt. The impact of British policies on the famine death toll remains controversial. On the 20th of May 1942, the Soviet Foreign minister, Vyacheslav Molotov, arrived in London to sign a treaty of friendship. Molotov wanted it done on the basis of territorial concessions regarding Poland and the Baltic countries. Churchill and Eden worked for a compromise and a twenty-year treaty was formalised, with the question of frontiers placed on hold. Molotov also sought a Second Front in Europe; Churchill confirmed preparations were in progress and made no promises on a date. Churchill felt pleased with these negotiations. However, Rommel had launched his counter-offensive, Operation Venice, to begin the Battle of Gazala on the 26th of May. The Allies were driven out of Libya and suffered a defeat in the fall of Tobruk on the 21st of June. Churchill was with Roosevelt when the news reached him, and was shocked by the surrender of 35,000 troops which was, apart from Singapore, the heaviest blow he received in the war. The Axis advance was halted at the First Battle of El Alamein in July and the Battle of Alam el Halfa in September. Both sides were exhausted and in need of reinforcements and supplies. Churchill returned to Washington on the 17th of June. He and Roosevelt agreed on the implementation of Operation Torch as the necessary precursor to an invasion of Europe. Roosevelt had appointed General Dwight D. Eisenhower as commanding officer of the European Theater of Operations, United States Army ETOUSA. Having received the news from North Africa, Churchill obtained shipment from America to the Eighth Army of 300 Sherman tanks and 100 howitzers. He returned to Britain on the 25th of June and had to face another motion of no confidence, this time in his direction of the war, but again he won easily. In August, despite health concerns, Churchill visited British forces in North Africa, raising morale, en route to Moscow for his first meeting with Stalin. He was accompanied by Roosevelt's special envoy Averell Harriman. He was in Moscow the 12th to the 16th of August and had lengthy meetings with Stalin. Though they got along well personally, there was little chance of real progress given the state of the war. Stalin was desperate for the Allies to open the Second Front in Europe, as Churchill had discussed with Molotov in May, and the answer was the same. While he was in Cairo in August, Churchill appointed Field Marshal Alexander as Field Marshal Auchinleck's successor as Commander-in-Chief of the Middle East Theatre. Command of the Eighth Army was given to General William Gott but he was shot down and killed while flying to Cairo, and General Montgomery succeeded him.

The Statesman Who Warned Of Iron

After the Conservatives' defeat in the 1945 general election, Churchill became Leader of the Opposition. Amid the developing Cold War with the Soviet Union, he publicly warned of an iron curtain of Soviet influence in Europe and promoted European unity. Between his terms, he wrote several books recounting his experience during the war. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953. He lost the 1950 election but was returned to office in 1951. His second term was preoccupied with foreign affairs, especially Anglo-American relations and preservation of what remained of the British Empire, with India no longer a part of it. Domestically, his government's priority was their extensive and successful housebuilding programme. In declining health, Churchill resigned in 1955, remaining an MP until 1964. Upon his death in 1965, he was given a state funeral. One of the 20th century's most significant figures, Churchill remains popular in the UK. He is generally viewed as a victorious wartime leader who played an integral role in defending liberal democracy against the spread of fascism. A staunch imperialist, he has sometimes been criticised for comments on race, in addition to some wartime decisions such as area bombing. Historians rank Churchill as one of the greatest British prime ministers. Churchill's legacy is complex, marked by his role in the defeat of Nazi Germany and his contributions to the formation of the United Nations, but also by his controversial views on race and empire. His ability to inspire a nation in its darkest hour remains a testament to his leadership, but his failures, such as the Bengal Famine and the Gallipoli disaster, remind us that even the greatest leaders are not without their flaws. Churchill's life was a testament to the power of words, the importance of resilience, and the enduring struggle for freedom and democracy. He died on the 24th of January 1965, leaving behind a legacy that continues to shape the world today.