Churchill biography. Man with a cigar. How Winston Churchill extended the life of the British Empire

Whiston Churchill first saw the light on November 30, 1874, he was the first-born in the family of Lord Andolf Churchill and became famous by becoming one of the best politicians in Great Britain of the 20th century.

He received his first education at a private privileged school in England, Harrow School, this school was considered one of the oldest boys' schools in the old world, he began studying there at the age of 12.

Then in 1893, young Churchill entered Sandhurst King's College. After studying there for 3 years, in October 1896 he entered service in Bangalore.

Serving in South India, as part of the Malakand Army team, he suppresses the Pashtun uprising. Service in this detachment and participation in military operations greatly influenced Churchill; in 1898 he wrote and published his first under the title “The Malakand Armed Forces”.

She brought success to the newly minted writer and not a bad fee. Whiston Churchill becomes a war correspondent for the Morning Post and insists on his transfer to Egypt to join the British military unit for the armed suppression of the rebellion in Sudan. He will share his impressions with readers in the two-volume work River War."

In 1899, Churchill left military service and ran for parliament. No matter how sorry he was that he lost his first elections, he was supported by the Conservative Party. Finding the strength in himself, he goes to South Africa as a military correspondent for the Morning Post newspaper, and in the fall of 1899 the Anglo-Boer War begins.

During the hostilities, Churchill was captured on November 15, 1899. He was captured by Louis Both, who would later occupy a high post in the Union of South Africa. After his captivity, Churchill lectured in the United States and, with the money he earned, began his own political career in England.

In 1900 he became a Conservative and Member of Parliament for Lancashire. One day, while taking part in an election campaign in the Scottish town of Dundee, he meets the daughter of a retired army officer and a close relative of Countess Airlie, Clementine Hosier. They were married on September 12 of the same year.

Churchill was lucky in his family life; he had a very happy one. In this marriage, children appeared - son Randolph and daughters Diana, Sarah, Marigold and Mary. Becoming First Lord of the Admiralty in 1911, he led Britain's fleet in the First World War.

His most significant achievement in the same year was the creation of the Royal Air Force of Britain. Having appreciated his services to his homeland in 1919, Whiston Churchill was appointed Minister of War and Minister of the Air Force, and already in 1921 Minister of Colonial Affairs. He immersed himself in government work and holds various positions there, but over the years he has been passionate about painting.

In 1939, almost at the very beginning, Prime Minister Chamberlain invited Churchill to take the post of Minister of the Navy, the post that he held during. Churchill's return to this post was enthusiastically received by the people of Britain.

In May 1940, Wiston Churchill, who by that time was 65 years old, became Prime Minister of Great Britain due to the resignation of the Chamberlain government. In July 1941, the British government signed an agreement with the USSR on joint military action against Nazi Germany.

Already in August of the same year, a meeting took place between Churchill and Roosevelt, the President of the United States, which resulted in the signing of the Atlantic Charter, a little later the USSR joined them, thereby completing the creation of the Big Three. But after the victory over Nazi Germany, close relations between the allies of the anti-Hitler coalition practically ceased to exist.

The term "Iron Curtain" belongs specifically to Churchill. In July 1945, Churchill's government resigned due to the victory of the Labor Party in the elections. But already in 1951, the Conservatives again won and Whiston Churchill was reappointed prime minister.

By that time he was already 77 years old. In April 1953, for services to his fatherland, he received the Order of the Garter, Britain's highest award, and became Sir Winston Churchill. In the same year he was awarded the Nobel Prize for his literary works. He writes and publishes his latest four-volume work entitled "History of the English-Speaking Peoples." On January 24, 1965, in London, the heart of a prominent politician, an unrivaled speaker, a talented and Whiston Churchill.

Winston Churchill - British statesman and politician, Prime Minister of Great Britain in 1940-1945 and 1951-1955; military man, journalist, writer, honorary member of the British Academy. In 1953, Churchill was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Churchill is one of the most famous people of the 20th century. There are many interesting events in it, which we will talk about in this article.

So, in front of you biography of Winston Churchill.

Biography of Churchill

His father, Randolph Henry Spencer, was a lord and politician, and also served as Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Mother, Lady Randolph, was the daughter of a wealthy businessman. It follows from this that Winston's childhood passed in very favorable conditions.

Childhood

However, despite the luxury of home, the child was deprived of the attention of his parents. His father spent all his time at work, engaged in political affairs, and his mother was completely absorbed in social life.

As a result, Churchill's actual upbringing fell on the shoulders of his nanny Elizabeth, who became his best friend. How can we not remember his poem to the nanny: “Friend of my harsh days...”

Education

When Churchill was 7 years old, he went to the prestigious St. George's School. In it, teachers paid more attention than to studying. Students were severely punished for the slightest violation of established rules.

Since Winston Churchill was not very diligent as a child, he often violated discipline. As a result, the boy was repeatedly spanked.

When the nanny one day saw marks of beatings on Winston’s body, she immediately told his parents about it, as a result of which they transferred their son to another educational institution, located in Brighton.

Churchill in his youth

According to teachers, Churchill had good academic performance, but also the most disgusting behavior among all the students in the group.

When he was 12 years old, he suffered from pneumonia, which resulted in serious complications. In this regard, he had to study at the less prestigious Harrow, and not at Eton College, where many men from their family studied.

But the parents of the future politician considered that the child’s health was more important than family traditions.

At his new place of study, Winston Churchill did not strive to get high grades, but rather the opposite - he studied only what was truly interesting to him.

26-year-old Churchill in 1900

This upset his parents very much, so after 3 years they decided to transfer him to the “army class”, in which the main emphasis was on studying military affairs. As it turns out later, this transition will play important role in the biography of Churchill.

At this educational institution, he was one of those few students who managed to pass all exams perfectly. Thanks to this, he was able to enter an elite military school, where Winston also continued to study well. As a result, he graduated with the rank of junior lieutenant.

Military career

At the age of 21, Churchill was enlisted in the 4th Royal Hussars.

After studying there for several months, he realized that he was not at all interested in a military career. He shared his experiences with his mother during correspondence.

Then his mother decided to help Winston change his occupation with the help of her extensive connections. As a result, the young man was assigned to be a military journalist in Cuba, continuing to be a member of the hussar regiment.

Churchill's first articles received positive feedback from readers and even allowed him to earn a very respectable sum of 25 guineas.

It was in Cuba that Churchill acquired the habit of smoking cigars, which he would not be able to give up until last days life.

In 1896, Churchill went on a business trip to India, and then to. An interesting fact is that in addition to journalism, Winston repeatedly participated in heavy battles, showing extraordinary courage and bravery.

Political biography

In 1899, Churchill became seriously interested in politics. However, his first attempt to enter parliament was a fiasco. As a result, he again decided to take up journalism. He went to, where the Boer War was taking place at that time.

During this period of his biography, Churchill was captured, but he soon managed to make a successful escape. After that he became a real hero.

An interesting fact is that even after his escape, Churchill continued to participate in battles. Moreover, he became one of those who freed his compatriots from the prison in which he himself was held during his captivity.

Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin at the Yalta Conference, February 1945

The leaders of the Big Three made major decisions about the future division of the world between the victorious countries.

During this period, Great Britain was experiencing economic crisis, and the common people were in distress.

Leaving politics

Despite the fact that Winston Churchill brought victory to his nation, he did not have the support of voters at the next election. For this reason, he resigned and left politics.

After this, Churchill’s biography takes a sharp turn, and he again begins to actively engage in writing activity, and also be interested in simple household work.

Churchill himself built various buildings out of bricks, raised pigs and planted trees. But he did not have time to enjoy this peace. Very soon another significant event occurred in his biography.

Return to politics

In 1951, when Churchill was already 76 years old, he again assumed the post of Prime Minister of Great Britain.

Now he sought to create nuclear weapons, wanting to return Britain to its former military power.

However, the years took their toll, and his health became worse. He was treated for heart failure, eczema and developing deafness.

In February 1952, he apparently suffered another stroke and lost the ability to speak coherently for several months.

In June 1953, the attack repeated, and he was paralyzed for several months. left side.

Despite this, Churchill categorically refused to retire.

And only on April 5, 1955, he resigned from the post of Prime Minister of Great Britain due to age and health conditions.

Personal life

The only love in Churchill's biography was Clementine Hozier, who was a very wise and educated woman. Winston lived with her for 57 happy years.

It is interesting that the Prime Minister discussed many state issues with his wife, and only after that made any decisions. By the way, at one time he did the same.

By some miracle, Clementine managed to find an approach to her hot-tempered and obstinate husband.

Winston Churchill with his wife

Winston Churchill himself repeatedly said that no other woman could stand his character. In their marriage they had five children.

The wife turned a blind eye to many of Winston. It is worth noting that Churchill almost never parted with a cigar and was a very gambling person.

He could spend days and nights in gambling houses, forgetting about everything in the world. After his death, Hozier lived for another 12 years, remaining faithful to her husband.

Death

Winston Churchill died on January 24, 1965 at the age of 90. His death was the result of a stroke.

The funeral ceremony of the most famous British prime minister was led by Queen Elizabeth 2 and became the largest in British history.

Representatives of 112 states attended the funeral. The funeral of Winston Churchill was broadcast by many television channels around the world, thanks to which hundreds of millions of people watched the funeral event.

At the request of the politician, he was buried in the cemetery in Blaydon, not far from his birthplace.

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Winston Churchill is one of the greatest and most controversial political figures of the 20th century. His activities both for Britain and for all world politics were great importance but she's in modern society is assessed ambiguously: some admire the personal courage and actions of the politician, while others are disgusted by him because of the position according to which only the white race should rule the world.

Despite the fact that Churchill openly fought dictatorship on the battlefield, he did not hide his sympathy for the activities of the founders of the totalitarian and personal regime of rule in Italy and the USSR during his reign.

Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill was born on November 30, 1874 at the family estate of the Dukes of Marlborough, at Blenheim Palace. His parents were wealthy and influential people- father, Lord Randolph Henry Spencer, was famous politician and Chancellor of the Exchequer of Britain, and Jenny's mother was the daughter of a wealthy American businessman.

The future politician became the first-born in the family, but was deprived of parental attention, since his father was constantly busy with his political career, and his mother devoted all her time to social life. Therefore, the nanny Elizabeth Ann Everest, who became the closest person to Churchill, was involved in raising young Winston.

Immediately after his birth, the future Prime Minister of Britain became a member of the “higher caste” of the privileged class, which could block his path to a brilliant political career, since the nobles did not have the right to enter the House of Commons and the government of the country. But, as it turned out, Winston became a representative of a side line of the Churchills, which allowed him to become a great politician.

At the age of seven, he was sent to the St. George's boarding school, where they paid more attention to education than to teaching students. At the educational institution, Winston showed all his reluctance to study and take into account the strict internal rules, for which he was repeatedly subjected to flogging. After the nanny who regularly visited him noticed signs of severe beatings on the boy’s body, she insisted on transferring Churchill to another school.

But even at the Thomson Sisters School in Brighton, he also did not like studying and was the lowest disciplined student in the class. At the age of 12, young Winston began to have serious health problems - he suffered from pneumonia, which weakened his entire body. In this regard, he did not go to the traditional higher education institution for Marlborough men at Eton, but entered the no less prestigious college located in Harrow. This choice was made due to the geographical location of the universities.

But even here Churchill continued to show complete indifference to academic subjects- he taught only what was interesting to him, and completely ignored everything else with his characteristic tenacity. Therefore, in 1889, he was transferred to the "army class", whose curriculum emphasized military affairs.

It was here that Winston turned from an obstinate student into a diligent student. He managed to become one of 12 graduates of this school who were able to pass final exams in all subjects, which allowed Churchill to enter the most prestigious military school in Great Britain, from which he graduated with the rank of junior lieutenant.

Military career

In 1895, after graduating from military school, he was enrolled in the 4th Royal Hussars, but after a short time he realized that a military career did not attract him. Thanks to the connections of his mother, who by that time had become the widow of Randolph Churchill, Winston was assigned to Cuba, where he was appointed war correspondent, continuing to be on active military service. His debut in journalism brought fame and vocation to society to the future politician, and also allowed him to earn his first very significant fee in the amount of 25 guineas.

In addition to fame and earnings from Cuba, Churchill brought two lifelong habits - smoking Cuban cigars and mandatory observance of the siesta, which includes an afternoon rest. In 1896, he continued his journalistic journey and was posted to India and then Egypt. Here Churchill showed all his military courage - in addition to covering events, he personally took part in battles, conscientiously treating his duties as an officer.

Policy

In 1899, Winston Churchill decided to retire and devote himself to politics. By that time, he was already a famous journalist, so he counted on public support. The first attempt to enter parliament as part of the Conservative Party was a failure - voters chose the liberals.

Having withdrawn from politics for a while, Churchill again set out on a journalistic journey. This time he was sent to South Africa, where the Anglo-Boer War unfolded.

There he was captured by his opponents, from where he made a daring escape, which became Churchill’s finest hour as a politician: voters promised him to cast their votes regardless of “political leanings.” At the same time, he decided to return to the battlefield, where he took part in many battles to save his compatriots from his former prison.

Churchill's courageous adventures allowed him to return to his homeland as a real hero - he easily won the parliamentary elections in 1900 and entered the House of Commons, where he securely secured his seat for the next 50 years. In the same year he published his only literary work, the novel “Savrola”, in which, according to historians, the politician portrayed himself as the main character.

From his first days in parliament, Winston Churchill did not hesitate to sharply criticize the Conservatives, expressing complete disagreement with the program of the country's main ideologist Joseph Chamberlain. That is why the future Prime Minister of Great Britain left the Conservative Party after 4 years and switched to the Liberals - this step allowed him to rapidly rise up the political ladder.

He first became Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, then was appointed Secretary of Commerce, then Secretary of the Interior, and a year later Churchill became Secretary of the Navy, thus becoming the youngest politician to hold the most influential positions in Britain.

While heading the Ministry of the Navy, Winston Churchill suffered a major fiasco: through his fault in the First World War, the military operation in the Dordanelles ended catastrophically for Britain, in which 250 thousand British soldiers unjustifiably died.

Then, trying to make amends, the politician resigned and volunteered for the front. A few years later, when the “passions” around the Dordanelles subsided, Churchill returned to the government again, where he took up the post of Minister of War Supply, where he also could not prove himself properly, so he was forced to take a “political break” for several years, completely moving away from politics.

Prime Minister of Britain

Winston Churchill's return to politics was marked by the outbreak of World War II, when Germany invaded Poland, after which Great Britain declared war. He was asked to become First Lord of the Admiralty with a vote on the War Council, as he had never promised eternal peace in his country and was one of the few people, according to the authorities, capable of leading the nation to victory.

Having concentrated in his hands all the main levers of mobilization of the country aimed at a decisive struggle against Nazi Germany, Churchill managed to ascend to the pinnacle of power and become Prime Minister of Britain, however, in the most difficult period for England. But determination, perseverance and a sober assessment of the situation allowed the British prime minister to successfully wage the war to victory, creating a victorious coalition with the USA and the USSR.

Being a vocal opponent of Bolshevism, Churchill chose the latter between Hitler and Stalin, since he had no other choice. In May 1942, he, the American and Russian leaders and Joseph Stalin, Churchill signed an important document on the creation of an anti-Hitler coalition, called the Atlantic Charter, which determined the economic and political world order in the allied countries after the victory in World War II.

After it, in 1945, the leaders of Great Britain, the USA and the USSR held the Yalta Conference, which determined political map peace in the post-war period. Then the leaders of the Big Three decided that Germany should be divided into 4 occupied zones, after which the Baltic states, Western Ukraine, Belarus, Bessarabia, Bukovina and Karelia returned to the USSR. At the same time, the Soviet Union pledged to participate in the war with Japan, for which it was supposed to receive South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands.

Immediately after the end of World War II, the whole world split into two political systems, and Churchill began to call on the West to unite against the entire communist East with the goal of completely “strangling” Bolshevism. But at that time he had to leave big politics, because in post-war years Serious economic problems began in Great Britain, the country's external debt grew and relations with neighboring colonies worsened. This led to Winston Churchill's defeat in the parliamentary elections, and he resigned.

During that period, he led the government opposition, but practically did not appear in the House of Commons, devoting himself to literary activities. In 1951, at the age of 76, Winston Churchill again became Prime Minister of Britain and ruled the country for the next 4 years. He devoted the last years of his political activity to foreign policy with an emphasis on developing the country's nuclear potential, hoping with its help to return Britain's military power. For health reasons, the British politician was forced to resign and resign as prime minister with full honors.

Personal life

The personal life of Winston Churchill has been compared by many historians to a “beautiful love story" The great British politician met the love of his life in 1908 and immediately married his chosen one. She became Clementine Hozier, the daughter of London aristocrats. The British Prime Minister lived with his wife for a happy 57 years - she became his best friend and chief political adviser, since only after her approval did Churchill make important decisions.

Despite the fact that the politician’s wife was 11 years younger than him, which was considered a big difference in those days, she was able to maintain love in their family, and also became the only person able to cope with Churchill’s harsh and violent character. Clementine bore Winston five children, each of whom was desired and dearly loved by their parents. After the death of the British prime minister, his wife continued to call him an ideal husband, despite the fact that he was a heavy smoker and gambler who spent nights in casinos.

Having buried Winston Churchill, Clementine lost the meaning in life and was ready to follow him, but she was stopped by her husband’s catchphrase, uttered during the Second World War, when he called on Britain “not to surrender under any circumstances.” It was this speech by Churchill that helped her survive the loss and, over the next 12 years, continue his literary work, publishing the unfinished memoirs of the British leader.

Death

Winston Churchill's death occurred on January 24, 1965. The greatest Briton in the country's history has died at the age of 90. The cause of death of the former British prime minister was a stroke, which was not the first time that a politician had been attacked. Churchill's funeral was held in a state format under the leadership of the Queen - only 10 people have received such an honor in the entire history of Great Britain.

The politician's funeral ceremony became the largest in the history of the country, as it was attended by representatives of 112 countries and all members of the royal family. Winston Churchill's funeral was broadcast live by many television channels around the world, allowing almost 350 million people to say goodbye to the outstanding Briton through their television screens.

At the request of Churchill himself, he was buried in the Blaydon cemetery of St. Martin's Church, located not far from his family estate. The burial took place in the presence of only Churchill's family and close friends.

Childhood and youth

When Churchill was eight years old, he was sent to St. George's Preparatory School. Corporal punishment was practiced at school, and Winston, who constantly violated discipline, was often subjected to it. After the nanny who regularly visited him discovered traces of defects on the boy’s body, she immediately informed his mother, and he was transferred to Thomson Sisters’ School in Brighton. Academic progress, especially after the transfer, was satisfactory, but the behavioral certification read: “The number of students in the class is 13. Place is 13th.”

In October of the same year, the regiment is sent to India and is stationed in Bangalore. Churchill reads a lot, thus trying to compensate for the lack of a university education, and becomes one of the best players in the regiment's polo team. According to the recollections of his subordinates, he conscientiously treated his officer duties and devoted a lot of time to training with soldiers and sergeants, but the routine of service weighed on him, he went on vacation to England twice (including to the celebrations on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the reign of Queen Victoria), and traveled around India, visiting Calcutta and Hyderabad.

Letters from the front lines were published by the Daily Telegraph, and at the end of the campaign, his book “The History of the Malakand Field Corps” was published in a circulation of 8,500 copies. "The Story of the Malakand Field Force" ). Due to the hasty preparation for printing, a huge number of typographical errors crept into the book; Churchill counted more than 200 typos and from then on always demanded that the publisher’s proofs be personally edited.

Having returned safely from Malakand, Churchill immediately began to press for a trip to North Africa, to cover the suppression of the Mahdist uprising in Sudan. The desire to go on another journalistic trip did not meet with the understanding of the command, and he writes directly to the Prime Minister, Lord Salisbury, honestly admitting that the motives for the trip are both the desire to cover a historical moment and the opportunity to derive personal, including financial, benefit from the publication of the book . As a result, the War Department granted the request, appointing him to the supernumerary position of lieutenant; the order of appointment specifically noted that in the event of injury or death he could not count on payments from War Department funds.

Although the rebels had numerical superiority, the allied Anglo-Egyptian army had an overwhelming technological advantage - repeating small arms, artillery, gunboats and the latest innovation of the time - Maxim machine guns. At the pitched battle of Omdurman, Churchill took part in the last cavalry charge of the British army. He himself described this episode:

I broke into a trot and galloped towards individual [opponents], shooting them in the face with a pistol, and killed several - three for sure, two unlikely, and one more very doubtful.

In his reports, he criticized the commander of the British troops, his future cabinet colleague, General Kitchener, for his cruel treatment of prisoners and wounded and for his disrespect for local customs. “He is a great general, but no one has ever accused him of being a great gentleman,” Churchill said about him in a private conversation, an apt description, however, quickly became public. Although the criticism was largely fair, the public reaction to it was ambiguous; the position of a publicist and accuser did not fit well with the official duty of a junior officer.

After the end of the campaign, Churchill returned to India to take part in a national polo tournament. During a short stop in England, he speaks several times at Conservative rallies. Almost immediately after the end of the tournament, which his team won by winning a hard-fought final match, he retired in March 1899.

Debut in politics

By the time of his resignation, Churchill had gained some fame as a journalist, and his book about the Sudan campaign, The War on the River. "The River War") became a bestseller.

Boer War

By the autumn of 1899, relations with the Boer republics had deteriorated sharply, and when in September the Transvaal and the Orange Republic rejected British proposals to enfranchise English workers in the gold mines, it became obvious that war was inevitable.

Lord Loreburn, leader of the House of Lords, publicly called the Home Secretary's actions "irresponsible and reckless."

At the same time, deteriorating relations with Germany prompted Churchill to take up foreign policy issues. From ideas and information obtained from military specialists, Churchill drew up a memorandum on the “military aspects of the continental problem” and presented it to the Prime Minister. This document was an undoubted success for Churchill. He testified that Churchill, having a very modest military education, which was given to him by the school of cavalry officers, was able to quickly and professionally understand a number of important military issues.

Expenditures on the naval forces were the largest expenditure item in the British budget. Churchill was tasked with implementing reforms while improving cost efficiency. The changes he initiated were quite large-scale: the main headquarters of the Navy was organized, naval aviation was established, new types of warships were designed and laid down. Thus, according to the original plans, the shipbuilding program of 1912 was supposed to consist of 4 improved battleships of the type "Iron Duke". However, the new First Lord of the Admiralty ordered the project to be reworked for the main caliber of 15 inches, despite the fact that design work the creation of such weapons had not even been completed yet. As a result, very successful battleships of the type were created Queen Elizabeth, who served in the British Navy until 1948.

One of the most important decisions was the transfer of the military fleet from coal to liquid fuel. Despite the obvious advantages, the Navy Department opposed this step for a long time, for strategic reasons - coal-rich Britain had absolutely no oil reserves. To make the transition of the fleet to oil possible, Churchill initiated the allocation of 2.2 million pounds to purchase a 51% stake in the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. In addition to purely technical aspects, the decision had far-reaching political consequences - the Persian Gulf region became an area of British strategic interests. The chairman of the Royal Commission on the conversion of the fleet to liquid fuel was Lord Fisher, a prominent British admiral. The joint work of Churchill and Fisher ended in May of the year due to the latter's categorical disagreement with the landing on Gallipoli.

First World War

Britain officially entered the First World War on 3 August 1914, but on 28 July, the day Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, Churchill ordered the fleet to move to battle positions off the coast of England, permission to do so was obtained retrospectively from the Prime Minister .

As Chairman of the Landship Commission Landships Committee) Churchill took part in the development of the first tanks and the creation of tank forces.

Interwar period

Return to the Conservative Party

Political isolation

After the Conservatives' defeat in the 1929 elections, Churchill did not seek election to the party's governing bodies due to disagreements with Conservative leaders over trade tariffs and Indian independence. When Ramsay Macdonald formed a coalition government in 1931, Churchill did not receive an offer to join the cabinet.

He devoted the next few years to literary works, the most significant work of that period being Marlborough: His Life and Times. Marlborough: His Life and Times listen)) is a biography of his ancestor John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough.

In parliament, he organized the so-called “Churchill group” - a small faction within the Conservative Party. The faction opposed granting independence and even dominion status to India, and for a tougher foreign policy, in particular for more active opposition to the rearmament of Germany.

In the pre-war years, he harshly criticized the policy of appeasement of Hitler pursued by the Chamberlain government and after the Munich Agreement he said in the House of Commons:

You had a choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor, now you will receive war.

Original text(English)

You were given the choice between war and dishonour. You chose dishonour, and you will have war

World War II

Return to government

On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland and World War II began. On September 3 at 11 a.m., the United Kingdom officially entered the war, and within 10 days the entire British Commonwealth. On the same day, Winston Churchill was asked to take up the post of First Lord of the Admiralty with voting rights on the War Council. There is a legend that, having learned about this, the ships of the British Navy and naval bases exchanged a message with the text: “Winston is back.”

Although there were no active hostilities on land after the defeat of the Polish army and the capitulation of Poland, the so-called “strange war” was going on. fighting at sea almost immediately entered the active phase.

Prime Minister

Anti-Hitler coalition

After the war

On January 1, 1946, the King presented Churchill with the honorary Order of Merit (which has only been awarded to 24 people) and offers to make him a Knight of the Order of the Garter (Churchill refuses).

Most famous performances

Churchill's speech in the House of Commons about Stalin

Russia was very lucky that when it was in its death throes, it had such a tough military leader at its head. This is an outstanding personality, suitable for harsh times. The man is inexhaustibly brave, powerful, direct in his actions and even rude in his statements... However, he retained a sense of humor, which is very important for all people and nations, and especially for big people and great nations. Stalin also impressed me with his cool wisdom, in the complete absence of any illusions. I hope that I have made him believe that we will be faithful and reliable comrades in this war - but this, after all, is proven by deeds, not words.

Original text(English)

It is very fortunate for Russia in her agony to have this great rugged war chief at her head. He is a man of massive outstanding personality, suited to the sombre and stormy times in wich his life has been cast; a man of inexhaustible courage and will-power and a man direct and even blunt in speech … Above all, he is a man with that saving sense of humor which is of high importance to all men and all nations, but particularly to great men and great nations. Stalin also left upon me the impression of a deep, cool wisdom and complete absence of illusions of any kind. I believe I made him feel that we were good and faithful comrades in this war - but this, after all, is a matter which deeds not words will prove.

This statement becomes more understandable when compared with the following (from a radio speech on June 22, 1941):

If Hitler invades hell, I will at least present the House of Commons with a positive account of the devil.

Original text(English)

If Hitler invaded Hell I would make at least a favorable reference to the devil in the House of Commons.

A similar speech by Churchill about Stalin in the House of Commons on December 21, 1959 is often quoted, the authenticity of which has been questioned by some researchers. A number of researchers consider this speech to be a hoax, since its original was not discovered on the specified date.

In early November 1945, Churchill gave a speech in the House of Commons in which he said, in part:

I personally cannot feel anything other than the greatest admiration for this truly great man, the father of his country, who ruled the destiny of his country in times of peace and a victorious defender in times of war. Even if we had Soviet government Since there have been strong differences of opinion on many political points - political, social, and even, we think, moral - a mood must not be allowed to exist in England which could disturb or weaken these great ties between our two peoples, the ties which have been our glory. and safety during the recent terrible convulsions.

On October 9, 1954, in a speech before the Conservative Party Conference, Peace Through Strength, he said:

Stalin was the dictator of Russia for many years, and the more I studied his career, the more shocked I became at the terrible mistakes he made and the extreme cruelty with which he acted towards the people and the masses. Stalin was our ally in the fight against Hitler when Russia was attacked, but when Hitler was destroyed, Stalin became our main threat.
After our common victory, it became obvious that his actions had once again divided the world. Apparently, he was driven by dreams of world domination. He turned a third of Europe into a satellite Soviet Union, imposing communism on them. It was an unfortunate event after everything we had been through.
But it’s already been a year since Stalin died - this is certain, and since then I have cherished the hope that a new perspective is opening up here for Russia, a new hope for peaceful coexistence with the Russian people, and it is our duty to patiently and courageously make sure that there is a chance here, or not.

Original text(English)

Stalin was for many years Dictator of Russia and the more I have studied his career the more I am shocked by the terrible mistakes he made and the utter ruthlessness he showed to men and masses with whom he acted. Stalin was our ally against Hitler when Russia was invaded but when Hitler was destroyed Stalin made himself our principal object of dread. After our victory joint certain became his conduct divided the world again. He seemed to be carried away by his dream of world domination. He actually reduced a third of Europe to a Soviet satellite condition under compulsory communism. These were heartbreaking events after all we have gone through. But a year ago Stalin died - that is certain - and ever since that event I have cherished the hope that there"s new outlook in Russia, a new hope of peaceful co-existence with the Russian nation and that it is our duty patiently and daringly to make sure whether there is such a chance or not.

Fulton speech

Notes

Links

D. Medvedev. Churchill: Private life. M. "RIPOL Classic Publishing House", 2008, ISBN 978-5-386-00897-0
N. Rose. Churchill. Stormy life. lane E. F. Levinoy, M. "Publishing House Ast", 2004, ISBN 5-17-014478-4
Never Give In! The Best of Winston Churchill's Speeches. (Selected Speeches of Churchill), Hyperion, NY, 2003, ISBN 0-7868-8870-9
R.Holmes,In the Footsteps of Churchill. Basic Books, NY, 2005, ISBN 0-465-03082-3

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill ( Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill). Born November 30, 1874 at Blenheim Palace, UK - died January 24, 1965 in London. British statesman and politician, Prime Minister of Great Britain in 1940-1945 and 1951-1955; military man (colonel), journalist, writer, honorary member of the British Academy (1952), Nobel Prize laureate in literature (1953).

According to a poll conducted in 2002 by the BBC, he was named the greatest Briton in history.

One of the leaders of the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition that won the Second World War. His speech of May 13, 1940, known as “Blood, Sweat, and Tears,” became a classic of oratory and political art: “I will repeat before the House what I have already said to those who have joined the new Government: “I I can offer nothing but blood, toil, tears and sweat. "We have before us many long months of struggle and suffering. I will answer: to wage war on sea, land and air, with all our might, and with all the strength that God can bestow upon us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, the like of which has never been equaled in the dark and sorrowful record of human crimes.

This is our policy. What is our goal, you ask? I can answer in one word: victory - victory at any cost, victory despite all the horrors; victory, no matter how long and thorny the path to it may be; without victory we will not survive. It is necessary to understand: the British Empire will not be able to survive - everything for which it existed will perish, everything that humanity has defended for centuries, what it has strived for for centuries and what it will strive for will perish. However, I accept my responsibilities with energy and hope. I am sure that people will not let our cause die. Now I feel the right to demand help from everyone, and I say: “Let’s go forward together, combining our forces.”

Winston Churchill was born on November 30, 1874 at Blenheim Palace, the family estate of the Dukes of Marlborough, a branch of the Spencer family.

Churchill's father - Lord Randolph Henry Spencer Churchill, the third son of the 7th Duke of Marlborough, was a famous politician, a member of the House of Commons from the Conservative Party, and served as Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Mother - Lady Randolph Churchill, nee Jennie Jerome, was the daughter of a wealthy American businessman.

Both the father, busy with his political career, and the mother, passionate about social life, paid little attention to their son. Since 1875, the care of the child was entrusted to the nanny, Elizabeth Anne Everest. She sincerely loved her pupil and was one of the people closest to Churchill.

When Churchill was eight years old, he was sent to St. George's Preparatory School. Corporal punishment was practiced at school, and Winston, who constantly violated discipline, was often subjected to it. After the nanny who regularly visited him discovered traces of defects on the boy’s body, she immediately informed his mother, and he was transferred to Thomson Sisters’ School in Brighton. Academic progress, especially after transfer, was satisfactory, but the behavioral assessment read: “The number of students in the class is 13. Place is 13th”.

In 1886 he suffered from severe pneumonia. Poor health and questionable academic success prompted his parents to send him not to Eton College, where Marlborough men had studied for many generations, but to the equally prestigious Harrow.

In 1889, he was transferred to the “army class”, where, in addition to teaching general education subjects, students were prepared for a military career. He graduated from school as one of only 12 students who managed to pass exams in all subjects; his success in studying history was especially noted. At Harrow he took up fencing and achieved notable success, becoming the school champion in 1892.

On June 28, 1893, Churchill passed the exams at the third attempt. Royal Military School Sandhurst. There were difficulties with written work in Latin. Due to his low grades (92nd out of 102), he becomes a cavalry cadet and is promoted to the more prestigious infantry class due to the fact that several applicants who showed better results refused to enroll. He studied at Sandhurst from September 1893 to December 1894, graduating twentieth in a class of 130 (according to other sources, eighth in a class of 150).

That same year, he experienced two bereavements: his father died in January, and in July his beloved nanny died of peritonitis.

After receiving the rank, Churchill was enlisted in Her Majesty's 4th Hussars. Perhaps it was then that he realized that a military career did not really appeal to him: “The longer I serve, the more I enjoy serving, but the more I become convinced that it is not for me.”, he wrote to his mother on August 16, 1895.

In 1895, thanks to Lady Randolph's extensive connections, Churchill was sent to Cuba as a war correspondent for the Daily Graphic to cover the local uprising against the Spanish, but remained on active service.

Assigned to the Spanish troops, he came under fire for the first time. The newspaper published five of his articles, some of which were reprinted by The New York Times. The articles were received favorably by readers, and the fee was 25 guineas, which at that time was a very significant amount for Churchill.

The Spanish government awarded him the Red Cross medal, and this gave Churchill's popularity a scandalous character, since it gave rise to the British press to doubt the neutrality of the correspondent. In addition to the award and literary fame, he acquired two habits in Cuba that accompanied him throughout his life: smoking Cuban cigars and taking an afternoon siesta.

On his way back to England, Churchill visited the United States for the first time.

In October 1896, the regiment was sent to India. and is based in Bangalore. Churchill reads a lot, thus trying to compensate for the lack of a university education, and becomes one of the best players in the regiment's polo team. According to the recollections of his subordinates, he conscientiously treated his officer duties and devoted a lot of time to training with soldiers and sergeants, but the routine of service weighed on him, he went on vacation to England twice (including to the celebrations on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the reign of Queen Victoria), and traveled around India, visiting Calcutta and Hyderabad.

In the fall of 1897, again using his personal connections and the capabilities of his mother, he sought assignment to an expeditionary force aimed at suppressing the uprising of Pashtun tribes (primarily the Mohmands) in the mountainous region of Malakand, in the north-west of the country. This campaign turned out to be much more brutal and dangerous than the Cuban one.

During the operation, Churchill showed unconditional bravery, although the risks were often unnecessary, caused by bravado rather than necessity. He wrote to his mother: “I strive for a reputation as a brave man more than anything else in this world.”.

In a letter addressed to his grandmother, the Duchess of Marlborough, he equally criticizes both sides for their cruelty and the campaign itself for its senselessness.

Letters from the front lines were published by The Daily Telegraph, and at the end of the campaign his book was published in a circulation of 8,500 copies "History of the Malakand Field Corps"(“The Story of the Malakand Field Force”). Due to the hasty preparation for printing, a huge number of typographical errors crept into the book; Churchill counted more than 200 typos and from then on always demanded that typesetters submit proofs for personal verification.

Having returned safely from Malakand, Churchill immediately began to push for a trip to North Africa to cover the suppression of the Mahdist uprising in Sudan. The desire to go on another journalistic trip did not meet with the understanding of the command, and he writes directly to the Prime Minister, Lord Salisbury, honestly admitting that the motives for the trip are both the desire to cover a historical moment and the opportunity to gain personal, including financial, benefit from the publication of the book .

As a result, the War Department granted the request, appointing him to the supernumerary position of lieutenant; the order of appointment specifically noted that in the event of injury or death he could not count on payments from the funds of the War Department.

Although the rebels had numerical superiority, the allied Anglo-Egyptian army had an overwhelming technological advantage - multi-shot small arms, artillery, gunboats and a novelty of that time - Maxim machine guns.

Given the tenacity of the local fanatics, a colossal massacre was a foregone conclusion. In general battle of Omdurman Churchill took part in the last cavalry charge of the British army. He himself described this episode (due to a problem with his hand, he was not armed with the usual bladed weapon for an officer, which helped him a lot in his exploits): “I broke into a trot and galloped towards individual [opponents], shooting them in the face with a pistol, and killed several - three for sure, two unlikely, and one more very doubtful.”.

In his reports, he criticized the commander of the British troops, his future cabinet colleague, General Kitchener, for his cruel treatment of prisoners and wounded and for his disrespect for local customs, in particular, for the tombstone of his main enemy. “He is a great general, but no one has ever accused him of being a great gentleman.”, - Churchill said about him in a private conversation; an apt description, however, quickly became public. Although the criticism was largely fair, the public reaction to it was ambiguous; the position of a publicist and accuser did not fit well with the official duty of a junior officer.

By the time of his resignation, Churchill had become famous in certain circles as a journalist, and his book about the Sudan campaign "War on the River"(The River War) became a bestseller.

In July 1899 he received an offer to stand for Parliament as a Conservative Party member for Oldham. The first attempt to take a seat in the House of Commons was unsuccessful, not through the fault of Churchill himself: the constituency was dominated by nonconformists and voters were dissatisfied with the recently adopted, at the initiative of the Conservatives, “The Clerical Tithes Bill,” which provided funding for the Church of England from local taxes . Churchill during election campaign declared his disagreement with the law, but this had no effect, and both mandates from Oldham went to the Liberals.

September 18 owners The Daily Mail offered Churchill a trip to South Africa as a war correspondent.. Without giving any answer, he reported this to the editor of the Morning Post, for which he worked during the Sudan campaign, and was offered a monthly salary of 250 pounds plus compensation for all expenses. This was a very significant sum (about 8 thousand pounds in modern terms), more than had ever been offered to a journalist, and Churchill immediately agreed. He left England on October 14, two days after the outbreak of war.

On November 15, Churchill went on a reconnaissance raid on an armored train, commanded by Captain Haldane, his acquaintance from Malakand. Soon the armored train was fired upon by Boer artillery. When trying to escape from fire at high speed in reverse, the train crashed into boulders with which the enemy blocked the path to cut off the retreat. A repair platform and two armored cars derailed; the only gun of the armored train, which had become immobile, was disabled by a direct hit.

Churchill volunteered to command the clearing of the path, Haldane tried to establish defenses and cover the workers. According to eyewitnesses, Churchill acted fearlessly under fire, but when the path was cleared, it turned out that the coupling of the carriage remaining on the rails had been broken by a shell, and the only thing left for Haldane was to load the seriously wounded onto the locomotive and send them to the rear.

About 50 British remained in the face of many times superior enemy forces. As Churchill himself wrote, the Boers advanced “with a courage equal to humanity,” calling on the enemy to surrender, and Haldane and his soldiers were captured. Churchill tried to escape, but was detained by Boer cavalry and placed in a prisoner of war camp set up at the State Model School in Pretoria.

December 12 Churchill escapes from the camp. The other two participants in the escape, Haldane and Sergeant Major Brookie, did not manage to get over the fence unnoticed by the sentries, and Churchill waited for them for some time in the bushes on the opposite side of the wall. He was subsequently accused of abandoning his comrades, but there is no evidence of this, and in 1912 he sued the Blackwoods Magazine magazine on charges of libel, the publication was forced to print a retraction and apologize before the trial.

Jumping on a freight train, he reached Witbank, where he was hidden in a mine for several days, and then helped to smuggle a train across the front line by English mining engineer Daniel Dewsnap. The Boers set a reward of 25 pounds for Churchill's capture.

Escape from captivity made him famous, he received several offers to stand for Parliament, including a telegram from Oldham voters promising to vote for him “regardless of political leanings,” but chose to remain in the active army, receiving the post of lieutenant in the light cavalry without pay, while continuing to work as special correspondent for the Morning Post.

He has been in many battles. For his courage during the Battle of Diamond Hill, the last operation in which he took part, General Hamilton nominated him for the Victoria Cross, but this idea did not take off, since Churchill had resigned by that time.

In July 1900, Churchill returned to England and soon stood again as a candidate for Oldham (Lancashire). In addition to the reputation of a hero and the promise of voters, it helped that the engineer Dusnap, who helped him, turned out to be from Oldham, and Churchill did not forget to mention this in his election speeches. He beat the Liberal candidate by 222 votes and, at age 26, became a member of the House of Commons for the first time. In the elections, the Conservatives gained a majority and became the ruling party.

In the same year he published his only major work of art- novel "Savrola". Many Churchill biographers and literary scholars believe that in the image of Savrola, the main character of the novel, the author portrayed himself.

On 18 February 1901 he made his first speech in the House of Commons on the post-war settlement in South Africa. He called for mercy to be shown to the defeated Boers, “to help them come to terms with defeat.” The speech made an impression, and the uttered phrase “if I were a Boer, I hope that I would fight on the battlefield” was later repeatedly used, paraphrased, by many politicians.

On May 13, he unexpectedly sharply criticized the project to increase military spending, presented by Secretary of War William Brodrick. What was unusual was not only the criticism of the cabinet formed by his own party, but also the fact that Churchill forwarded the text of the speech to the editorial office of the Morning Post in advance.

The conflicts between the young parliamentarian and his own party did not end there. In 1902-1903, he repeatedly expressed disagreement on issues of free trade (Churchill opposed the introduction of import duties on grain) and colonial policy. Against this background, his transition to the Liberal Party on May 31, 1904 looked like a fairly logical step.

On December 12, 1905, Winston Churchill was appointed Under Secretary of State for the Colonies(the position of minister was held by Lord Elgin) in the Campbell-Bannerman government, in this capacity he was involved in the development of a constitution for the defeated Boer republics.

In April 1908, due to sharply deteriorating health, Campbell-Bannerman became unable to perform the duties of Prime Minister, and a number of reshuffles took place in the cabinet: Herbert Asquith, who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer, became head of government, his place was taken by David Lloyd George, former Minister of Trade and industry, and Churchill receives this position on April 12. Both Lloyd George and Churchill advocated reducing government and, in particular, military spending.

A solution was found that was funny and characteristic at the same time. The Admiralty demanded six ships, economists suggested four, and in the end we agreed on eight.

Churchill was a staunch supporter of the social reforms carried out by Asquith's cabinet, and in 1908 he initiated the minimum wage law. The law, passed by an overwhelming majority, established standards for working hours and wages for the first time in England.

On February 14, 1910, at the age of 35, Churchill became Home Secretary., one of the most powerful positions in the country. The ministerial salary was 5,000 pounds, and he left literary activity, returning to this activity only in 1923.

In the summer of 1911, a strike of sailors and port workers began. In August, riots broke out in Liverpool. On August 14, marines from the warship Antrim, which arrived in the city on Churchill's orders, opened fire on the crowd and wounded 8 people. On the 15th he managed to meet with the leaders of the striking dockers and defuse the situation in London, but already on August 19th the railway workers threatened to join the strike.

In conditions when in the cities, paralyzed by strikes and riots, there is already a shortage of food, and the likelihood of a riot becomes threatening, Churchill mobilizes 50 thousand soldiers and abolishes the provision according to which the army can be brought in only at the request of local civil authorities.

By August 20, thanks to the mediation of Lloyd George, the threat of a general strike was averted. Churchill said in a telephone conversation with Lloyd George: “I learned of this with great regret. It would be better to continue and give them a good beating.”

Lord Lorburn, leader of the House of Lords, publicly called the Home Secretary's actions "irresponsible and reckless."

In October 1911, Prime Minister Asquith proposed to Churchill post of First Lord of the Admiralty, and on October 23 he was officially appointed to this position.

Formally, the move to the Admiralty was a demotion - the Ministry of the Interior was considered one of the three most important government agencies. Nevertheless, Churchill accepted Asquith's proposal without hesitation; the fleet, always one of the most important instruments of British geopolitics, during this period underwent one of the largest modernizations in its history.

The naval arms race, which began at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, and accelerated after the launch of the first dreadnought in 1906, for the first time in a long time created a situation where the superiority of the British fleet, both quantitative and qualitative, began to be threatened not only by traditional rivals Germany and France, but also the USA.

Thus, according to the original plans, the shipbuilding program of 1912 was supposed to consist of 4 improved battleships of the Iron Duke type. However, the new First Lord of the Admiralty ordered the project to be reworked for the main caliber of 15 inches, despite the fact that the design work for the creation of such guns had not even been completed. As a result, very successful battleships of the Queen Elizabeth type were created, which served in the British Navy until 1948.

One of the most important decisions was the transfer of the military fleet from coal to liquid fuel. Despite the obvious advantages, the Navy Department for a long time opposed this step, for strategic reasons - coal-rich Britain had absolutely no oil reserves. To make the transition of the fleet to oil possible, Churchill initiated the allocation of 2.2 million pounds to purchase a 51% stake in the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. In addition to purely technical aspects, the decision had far-reaching political consequences - the Persian Gulf region became an area of British strategic interests. The chairman of the Royal Commission on the conversion of the fleet to liquid fuel was Lord Fisher, an outstanding British admiral. The joint work of Churchill and Fisher ended in May 1915 due to the latter's categorical disagreement with the landing on Gallipoli.

Great Britain officially entered the First World War on August 3, 1914, but on July 28, the day Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, Churchill ordered the fleet to move to battle positions off the coast of England, permission for this was obtained retrospectively from the Prime Minister .

On October 5, Churchill arrived in Antwerp and personally led the defense of the city, which the Belgian government offered to surrender to the Germans. Despite all efforts, the city fell on October 10, killing 2,500 soldiers. Churchill was accused of wasting resources and lives, although many noted that the defense of Antwerp helped hold Calais and Dunkirk.

As Chairman of the Landship Commission Churchill took part in the development of the first tanks and the creation of tank forces.

In 1915, he became one of the initiators of the Dardanelles operation, which ended disastrously for the Allied forces and caused a government crisis. Churchill largely took responsibility for the fiasco, and when a new coalition government was formed, the Conservatives demanded his resignation as First Lord of the Admiralty.

For several months he held the sinecure position of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and on November 15 he resigned and went to Western Front, Where with the rank of colonel he commanded the 6th Battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers, occasionally visiting parliament to participate in debates.

In May 1916 he surrendered command and finally returned to England. In July 1917 he was appointed Minister of Armaments, and in January 1919 - Minister of War and Minister of Aviation. He became one of the architects of the so-called "Ten Year Rule"- the doctrine according to which military development and the military budget should be planned based on the assumption that England will not be involved in major conflicts within ten years after the end of the war.

Churchill was one of the main supporters and main initiators of intervention in Russia, declaring the need to “strangle Bolshevism in its cradle.” Although the intervention did not enjoy the support of the Prime Minister, Churchill, thanks to the tactics of political maneuvering between various factions in the government and stalling for time, managed to delay the withdrawal of British troops from Russia until 1920.

In 1921, Churchill was appointed Colonial Secretary, in this capacity signed the Anglo-Irish Treaty, according to which the Irish Free State was created.

In September, the Conservatives left the government coalition, and in the 1922 elections, Churchill, running for the Liberal Party, was defeated in Dundee. An attempt to enter parliament from Leicester in 1923 also ended in failure, after which he stood as an independent candidate, initially unsuccessfully in a by-election from the Westminster constituency (moreover, opposing the official Conservative candidate, but with the support of part of the Conservative Party, who wanted his urgent return from the politically drowning Liberals), and only in the elections of 1924 he managed to regain his seat in the House of Commons. The following year he officially joined the Conservative Party.

In 1924, Churchill, quite unexpectedly for himself, received a second position in the state - Chancellor of the Exchequer in the government of Stanley Baldwin. In this position, having neither the inclination for financial matters nor the desire to study them persistently and persistently, as he often did on other occasions, and therefore being extremely susceptible to the influence of advisers, Churchill oversaw the unsuccessful return of the British economy to the gold standard and the rise in the value of the pound sterling to pre-war levels.

The government's actions led to deflation, rising prices for British export goods, the introduction of corresponding wage savings by industrialists, an economic recession, mass unemployment and, as a consequence, to the general strike of 1926, which government agencies managed to break up and stop with noticeable difficulty.

He devoted the next few years to literary works, the most significant work of that period is considered "Marlborough: His Life and Times"(Marlborough: His Life and Times) - biography of his ancestor John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough.

In the pre-war years, he harshly criticized the policy of appeasement of Hitler carried out by the Chamberlain government, and after the Munich Agreement in 1938, he said in the House of Commons: "You had a choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor and now you will get war.".

On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland and the Second World War began. world war. On September 3 at 11 a.m., the United Kingdom officially entered the war, and within 10 days the entire British Commonwealth. Same day Winston Churchill was asked to take over as First Lord of the Admiralty with voting rights in the Military Council. There is a legend that, having learned about this, the ships of the British Navy and naval bases exchanged a message with the text: “Winston is back.” Although no documentary evidence has yet been found that this message was actually sent.

Despite the fact that there were no active military operations on land after the defeat of the Polish army and the capitulation of Poland, the so-called “strange war” was going on, military operations at sea almost immediately entered the active phase.

On May 7, 1940, hearings were held in the House of Commons on the defeat in the Battle of Norway, and the next day a vote was taken on the issue of confidence in the government. Despite receiving a formal vote of confidence, Chamberlain decided to resign due to intense criticism of the cabinet's policies and a narrow (81 votes) majority in the vote.

Churchill and Lord Halifax were considered the most suitable candidates. On 9 May, at a meeting attended by Chamberlain, Churchill, Lord Halifax and the government's parliamentary coordinator, David Margesson, Halifax resigned and On 10 May 1940, George VI formally appointed Churchill Prime Minister. Churchill received this position not as the leader of the party that won the elections, but as a result of a confluence of extraordinary circumstances.

Churchill vs Hitler

Many historians and contemporaries considered Churchill's most important merit to be his determination to continue the war until victory, despite the fact that a number of members of his cabinet, including Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax, advocated an attempt to reach agreements with Nazi Germany. In his first speech in the House of Commons as Prime Minister on 13 May, Churchill said: “I have nothing to offer [the British] except blood, toil, tears and sweat.”.

As one of his first steps as prime minister, Churchill created and assumed the post of Secretary of Defense, concentrating in one hand the leadership of military operations and coordination between the navy, army and air force, which had previously been subordinate to different ministries.

At the beginning of July, the Battle of Britain began - massive German air raids, initially on military targets, primarily airfields, and then English cities became targets of bombing.

Churchill made regular trips to bombing sites, met with the victims, and from May 1940 to December 1941 he spoke on the radio 21 times, his speeches were heard by more than 70 percent of the British. Churchill's popularity as prime minister was unprecedentedly high; in July 1940, he was supported by 84 percent of the population, and this figure remained almost until the end of the war.

On August 12, 1941, a meeting between Churchill and Roosevelt takes place on board the battleship Prince of Wales. Within three days, politicians developed the text of the Atlantic Charter.

On August 13, 1942, Churchill flew to Moscow to meet with and sign the anti-Hitler charter.

From October 9 to October 19, 1944, Churchill was in Moscow for negotiations with Stalin, to whom he proposed dividing Europe into spheres of influence, but the Soviet side, judging by the transcript of the negotiations, rejected these initiatives, calling them “dirty.”

When the imminent victory over Germany became obvious, Churchill’s wife and relatives advised him to retire, leaving political activity at the height of his glory, but he decided to participate in the elections, which were scheduled for May 1945.

By the end of the war, economic problems came to the fore, the British economy suffered heavy damage, external debt grew, and relations with overseas colonies became complicated. The lack of a clear economic program and unsuccessful tactical moves during the election campaign (in one of his speeches, Churchill said that “Labour, when they come to power, will behave like the Gestapo”) led to the defeat of the Conservatives in the elections held on July 5. On 26 July, immediately after the results of the vote were announced, he resigned, while he formally recommended Clement Attlee to the king as his successor and refused to be awarded the Order of the Garter (citing the fact that voters had already awarded him the "Order of the Shoe").

After the election defeat, Churchill officially led the opposition, but was actually inactive and did not regularly attend House meetings. At the same time, he intensively took up literary activity; The status of a world celebrity helped to conclude a number of large contracts with periodicals - such as Life magazine, The Daily Telegraph and The New York Times - and a number of leading publishing houses. During this period, Churchill began working on one of the main memoirs - "World War II", the first volume of which went on sale on October 4, 1948.

On March 5, 1946, at Westminster College in Fulton (Missouri, USA), Churchill delivered the now famous Fulton speech, which is considered the starting point of the Cold War.

On September 19, speaking at the University of Zurich, Churchill made a speech where he called on former enemies - Germany, France and Britain - for reconciliation and the creation of a “United States of Europe”.

In 1947, he asked Senator Stiles Bridge to persuade US President Harry Truman to launch a preemptive nuclear strike on the USSR, which would “wipe off the face of the earth” the Kremlin and turn the Soviet Union into “an insignificant problem.” Otherwise, in his opinion, the USSR would have attacked the USA within 2-3 years after receiving the atomic bomb.

In August 1949, Churchill suffered his first mini-stroke, and five months later, during the tense 1950 election campaign, when he began to complain of “fog in his eyes,” his personal physician diagnosed him with “cerebral vasospasm.”

In October 1951, when Winston Churchill became Prime Minister again at the age of 76, his state of health and ability to perform his duties gave rise to serious concerns. He was treated for heart failure, eczema and developing deafness. In February 1952, he apparently suffered another stroke and lost the ability to speak coherently for several months.

In June 1953, the attack repeated, and he was paralyzed on the left side for several months. Despite this, Churchill categorically refused to resign or even move to the House of Lords, retaining the position of prime minister only in name.

On April 24, 1953, Queen Elizabeth II granted Churchill membership in the knightly order Garter, which entitled him to the title "Sir". In 1953 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature(in 1953, two candidates were submitted to the Nobel Committee for consideration - Winston Churchill and Ernest Hemingway; preference was given to the British politician, and Hemingway’s enormous contribution to literature was noted a year later).

On April 5, 1955, Churchill resigned due to age and health reasons from the post of Prime Minister of Great Britain (Anthony Eden headed the government on April 6).

Churchill died on January 24, 1965 from a stroke. The plan for his burial, codenamed "Hope Not", was developed over many years.

Queen Elizabeth II and services Buckingham Palace took the funeral arrangements into their own hands and gave orders, coordinating their actions with Downing Street and consulting with the family of Winston Churchill. It was decided to organize a state funeral. In the entire history of Great Britain before Churchill, only ten outstanding people who were not members of the royal family were awarded this honor, among whom were the physicist and politician Gladstone.

Churchill's funeral became the largest state funeral in British history.

Within three days, access to the coffin with the body of the deceased, installed in Westminster Hall, the oldest part of the English Parliament building, was opened. On January 30 at 9:30 a.m. the funeral ceremony began. The coffin, covered with the national flag, was placed on a carriage (this was the same carriage on which the remains of Queen Victoria were carried in 1901), which was carried by 142 sailors and 8 officers of the British Navy.

Behind the coffin were members of the deceased's family: Lady Churchill, wrapped in black veils, children - Randolph, Sarah, Mary and her husband Christopher Soames, grandchildren. The men walked, the women rode in carriages, each drawn by six bay horses, driven by coachmen in scarlet liveries. Following the family with a huge drum in front were the cavalry of the Horse Guards in ceremonial uniforms, musicians of the artillery orchestra in red shakos, representatives of the British navy, and a delegation from the London police. The participants in the procession moved very slowly, taking no more than sixty-five steps per minute. The RAF band leading the procession played Beethoven's funeral march. Along the route of the procession, order was maintained by seven thousand soldiers and eight thousand policemen.

The funeral procession, reaching one and a half kilometers in length, proceeded through the entire historical part of London, first from Westminster to Whitehall, then from Trafalgar Square to St. Paul's Cathedral and from there to the Tower of London. At 9:45, when the funeral procession reached Whitehall, Big Ben chimed for the last time and fell silent until midnight. Ninety gun salvoes were fired at St. James's Park at one-minute intervals - one for each year of the deceased's life.

The funeral procession proceeded through Trafalgar Square, the Strand and Fleet Street to St. Paul's Cathedral, where a funeral service was held, attended by representatives of 112 countries. Queen Elizabeth II and the entire royal family arrived at the cathedral: the Queen Mother, the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles, as well as the first people of the kingdom: the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of London, the Archbishop of Westminster, Prime Minister Harold Wilson, members of the government and the command of the country's armed forces.

Representatives of 112 countries arrived at the ceremony, many countries were represented by heads of state and government, including French President de Gaulle, West German Chancellor Erhard, but the PRC did not send a representative. The Soviet Union was represented by a delegation consisting of Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR K. N. Rudnev, Marshal of the Soviet Union I. S. Konev and USSR Ambassador to Great Britain A. A. Soldatov. The funeral was broadcast by many television companies and was watched by 350 million people in Europe, including 25 million in the UK. Only Irish television did not broadcast live.

In accordance with the wishes of the politician, he was buried in the family grave of the Spencer-Churchill family in the cemetery of St. Martin's Church in Blaydon, near Blenheim Palace - the place of his birth. The burial ceremony took place according to a script previously written by Churchill himself. The burial took place in a small circle of family and several very close friends.

At the entrance to Blaydon, the hearse was met by boys from the surrounding villages, each of them carrying a huge candle. The pastor of the parish church said the liturgy, after which the coffin was lowered into the grave, on which was laid a wreath of roses, gladioli and lilies collected from the neighboring valley. The handwritten inscription on the wreath's ribbon read: “From a grateful Motherland and the British Commonwealth of Nations. Elizabeth R."

In 1965, a monument to Churchill by Reynolds Stone was erected in Westminster Abbey.

Interesting facts about Winston Churchill:

♦ There are reports about Churchill’s love for Armenian cognac. The authors of the book “Armenian Food: Fact, Fiction & Folklore” report that they could not find evidence of this legend in the biographies and memoirs of Churchill, nor in the memoirs of Mikoyan. According to the Churchill Museum website, his favorite brand of brandy/cognac was Hine.

♦ The cigar was an integral part of Winston Churchill's image. His biographers claimed that he smoked from 8 to 10 pieces a day, despite the fact that he treated cigarettes with contempt. Even restrictions on public smoking that took place at social and official receptions, did not apply to him. Churchill smoked before old age without paying attention to doctors' recommendations.

♦ Winston Churchill was initiated as a Mason on May 24, 1901 at Studholme Lodge No. 1591 in London. He was also a member of Rosemary Lodge No. 2851.

♦ In September 1973, a monument to Churchill was unveiled outside the Houses of Parliament in London. Queen Elizabeth II attended the opening ceremony.

♦ A heavy infantry tank of the British Army during the Second World War was named after him. The tank itself was assessed as unsatisfactory, and Churchill joked that the tank bearing his name had more shortcomings than he himself. National Park Dandenong in Australia was renamed Churchill in 1944 in honor of the politician.

♦ British coins of 1965 (crown - on death) and 2015 (5 and 20 pounds - in memory of the 50th anniversary of his death) are dedicated to Churchill.