WINSTON SPENCER CHURCHILL

(1874-1965)
 CHILDHOOD

• Sir Winston Churchill passed an unhappy and sadly

neglected childhood, redeemed only by the affection
of Mrs. Everest, his devoted nurse. At Harrow his
poor academic record seemingly justified his father’s
decision to enter him into an army career. It was
only at the third attempt that he managed to pass
the entrance examination to the Royal Military
College, now Academy, Sandhurst, but, once there,
he applied himself seriously and passed out
(graduated) 20th in a class of 130. In 1895, the year
of his father’s tragic death, he entered the 4th
Hussars.
 CHURCHILL’S GREAT ESCAPE
• Within a month after his arrival in South Africa he had
won fame for his part in rescuing an armoured train
ambushed by Boers, though at the price of himself being
taken prisoner. But this fame was redoubled when less
than a month later he escaped from military prison.
Returning to Britain a military hero, he laid siege again
to Oldham in the election of 1900. Churchill succeeded
in winning by a margin as narrow as that of his previous
failure. But he was now in Parliament and, fortified by
the £10,000 his writings and lecture tours had earned for
him, was in a position to make his own way in politics.
 FIRST STEPS INTO POLITICS
• In February 1901, Churchill took his seat in the House
of Commons, where his maiden speech gained
widespread press coverage. He associated with a group
of Conservatives known as the Hughligans, but he was
critical of the Conservative government on various
issues, especially increases in army funding. He
believed that additional military expenditure should go
to the navy. By 1903, there was real division between
Churchill and the Conservatives, largely because he
opposed their promotion of economic protectionism. In
May 1904, Churchill opposed the government's
proposed Aliens Bill, designed to curb Jewish
migration into Britain. On 31 May 1904, he crossed the
floor, defecting from the Conservatives to sit as a
member of the Liberal Party in the House of Commons.
 LIST OF POSTS BEFORE 1939

Conservative MP: 1901-1904

Liberal MP: 1904-1908
Asquith government: 1908-1915
Military service: 1915-1916
Lloyd George government: 1916-1922
Chancellor of the Exchequer: 1924-1929
The “Wilderness Years”: 1929-1939

Winston Churchill with Charlie Chaplin

 DARKEST HOUR (1939-1945)

• On September 3, 1939, the day Britain

declared war on Germany, Chamberlain
appointed Churchill to his old post in charge
of the Admiralty. The signal went out to the
fleet: “Winston is back.” On September 11
Churchill received a congratulatory note from
Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt and replied over
the signature “Naval Person”; a memorable
correspondence had begun. 
• It was obvious that Churchill alone could unite and
lead the nation, since the Labour Party, for all its old
distrust of Churchill’s anti-Socialism, recognized
the depth of his commitment to the defeat of Hitler.
he main function of the chiefs of the armed services
became that of containing his great dynamism, as a
governor regulates a powerful machine; but, though
he prodded and pressed them continuously, he never
went against their collective judgment. For him,
Parliament was an instrument of public persuasion
on which he played like a master and from which he
drew strength and comfort.
 I HAVE NOTHING TO OFFER BUT BLOOD,
TEARS AND SWEAT
• On May 13 Churchill faced the House of Commons for the
first time as prime minister. He warned members of the hard
road ahead—“I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and
sweat”—and committed himself and the nation to all-out war
until victory was achieved. Behind this simplicity of aim lay
an elaborate strategy to which he adhered with remarkable
consistency throughout the war. Hitler’s Germany was the
enemy; nothing should distract the entire British people from
the task of effecting its defeat. Anyone who shared this goal,
even a Communist, was an acceptable ally. The indispensable
ally in this endeavour, whether formally at war or not, was
the United States. The cultivation and maintenance of its
support was a central principle of Churchill’s thought.
WE SHALL FIGHT ON THE BEACHES
 CONFERENCE

• Much of what passed at the Yalta Conference in

February 1945, including the Far East settlement,
concerned only Roosevelt and Stalin, and Churchill
did not interfere. He fought to save the Poles but saw
clearly enough that there was no way to force the
Soviets to keep their promises. Realizing this, he
urged the United States to allow the Allied forces to
thrust as far into eastern Europe as possible before
the Russian armies should fill the vacuum left by
German power, but he could not win over Roosevelt,
Vice Pres. Harry S. Truman, or their generals to his
views.
 ELECTORAL DEFEAT

• Already in 1944, with victory in prospect, party politics had

revived, and by May 1945 all parties in the wartime coalition
wanted an early election. But whereas Churchill wanted the
coalition to continue at least until Japan was defeated,
Labour wished to resume its independence. Churchill as the
popular architect of victory seemed unbeatable, but as an
election campaigner he proved to be his own worst enemy,
indulging, seemingly at Beaverbrook’s urging, in extravagant
prophecies of the appalling consequences of a Labour
victory and identifying himself wholly with
the Conservative cause. His campaign tours were a triumphal
progress, but it was the war leader, not the party leader
 GUESS WHO’S BACK

• After 6 years spent in opposition the Conservatives won an

overall majority of 17 seats in the October 1951 general
election and Churchill again became Prime Minister, remaining
in office until his resignation on 5 April 1955. Eden, his
eventual successor, was restored to Foreign Affairs, the portfolio
with which Churchill was preoccupied throughout his
tenure. Future Prime Minister Harold Macmillan was
appointed Minister of Housing and Local Government with a
manifesto commitment to build 300,000 new houses per year,
Churchill's only real domestic concern. He achieved the target
and, in October 1954, was promoted to Minister of Defence.
 A MAN OF DESTINY

• Churchill always self-confidently believed himself to

be "a man of destiny". Because of this, he lacked
restraint and could be reckless. His self-belief
manifested itself in terms of his "affinity with war" of
which, according to Sebastian Haffner, he exhibited "a
profound and innate understanding". Churchill
considered himself a military genius but that made him
vulnerable to failure and Paul Addison says Gallipoli
was "the greatest blow his self-image was ever to
sustain". Jenkins points out, however, that although
Churchill was excited and exhilarated by war, he was
never indifferent to the suffering it causes.