Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill (1874-1965) was a British statesman and politician, twice elected Prime Minister of Great Britain. Writer and journalist, was a Nobel Prize laureate in literature. He had the military rank of colonel. He was an honorary member of the British Academy.
In 2002, the BBC broadcaster conducted a poll in which Churchill was named the greatest Briton in history.
Childhood
In the English county of Oxfordshire, on the outskirts of the small town of Woodstock, Blenheim Palace is located. Now it is the largest palace and park ensemble in England and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. And at the beginning of the 18th century there was the residence of the Duke of Marlborough. On November 30, 1874, a boy was born at Blenheim Palace - a descendant of the Dukes of Marlborough, he was given the name Winston.
Father, Lord Randolph Henry Spencer Churchill, is the third son of the seventh Duke of Marlborough. He was an active politician and represented the Conservative Party, was a deputy in the House of Commons, and also worked for some time as Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Mother, Lady Randolph Churchill, (nee Jenny Jerome), was the heiress of a wealthy American entrepreneur.
The parents met in the summer of 1873 during the royal sailing regatta. In April 1874 they got married. They were completely absorbed in social life - balls, races, receptions, dinner parties. Mom adored all this luxury so much that she did not miss a single social event even during pregnancy. And she went into labor when a ball was being held at Blenheim Palace. The baby was born in the room where the guests were folding their coats.
Churchill's aristocratic origins meant that the baby would be surrounded by luxury and wealth from the first days. But to a small child You also need care, affection and attention. My father could not imagine a day of his life without politics; my mother was one of the first socialites. Such a social and social life of the parents did not leave them time to take care of their little son.
The baby was not even a year old when a nanny, Elizabeth Ann Everest, was hired for him, who fell in love with the boy with all her heart, becoming his very true friend and a loved one. Elizabeth gave the child all her devotion and care, thereby replacing her mother's love. It was to the nanny that Churchill trusted his first secrets.
Studies
When Winston was seven years old, he began studying at preparatory school St. George in the small town of Ascot, Berkshire. In this educational institution, more attention was paid not to teaching, but to the upbringing of children, and corporal punishment was often used against violators of discipline. Little Churchill’s character could be called independent and rebellious, so the rods were passed along his back more than once.
Winston did not like studying at St. George's School, and even more so he did not want to put up with such cruel internal rules. His nanny Elizabeth visited him regularly, and when she noticed that the boy had constant signs of caning, she told his mother about it. The parents transferred their son to another private school, Brunswick (sisters Charlotte and Kate Thomson), located on the south coast of England, in the city of Brighton. Here Winston studied satisfactorily, categorically did not accept mathematics, Greek and Latin languages. But I became very interested in English and French languages, history. But in terms of behavior, as before, he took last place among the students in the class.
At the age of 11, the boy became seriously ill and suffered from pneumonia. Winston's poor health and not very good academic performance prompted Churchill's parents to send their son to one of the oldest British public schools for boys, Harrow. This decision was surprising, because for several generations the men in the Marlborough family studied only at Eton College, but Harrow was an equally prestigious educational institution.
His father wanted Winston to further connect his life with jurisprudence. But his performance at school was not up to par, so he chose an alternative career - military affairs. In 1889, at Harrow School, the teenager was transferred to an “army” class, where, in addition to general education subjects, students were taught military sciences. At the same time, Churchill became interested in fencing, so much so that he achieved excellent results, even winning the school championship in 1892.
In December 1892, Winston attempted to enter the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. Churchill failed his exams twice, and his father sent him to study with Captain James. It was something like a preparatory course before entering the military academy.
But in January 1893, a misfortune happened: during the winter holidays, while having fun with teenagers, Winston unsuccessfully jumped from a bridge and received numerous injuries. He was unconscious for three days, and then was bedridden for another three months. During this time, he had no choice but to listen to his father’s conversations with his friends and visitors. It was during this period that Churchill became particularly interested in politics.
In the summer of 1893, Winston finally entered the Royal Academy, but due to the low results shown in the exams, he was only enrolled as a cavalry cadet. In February 1895, he completed his studies and was enlisted in the 4th Her Royal Majesty's Hussars with the rank of junior lieutenant.
That same year, Winston suffered the first difficult losses and moments in his life. First his father died, who was only 45 years old. The saddest thing is that Randolph Churchill, having reached the peak of his political career, with my own hands and destroyed it, plunging headlong into secular entertainment and travel. Despite the fact that Randolph devoted so little time to his son, Winston respected him and always believed that it was his father who contributed to the formation of his political views.
Following her father, her beloved nanny Elizabeth died of peritonitis.
The army and the first literary experience
In 1895, his mother connected her connections and helped ensure that Churchill was sent to Cuba as a war correspondent, while he continued to be on active service. In Cuba, the population rebelled against the Spaniards, Winston covered these events, was assigned to the active Spanish troops and even managed to be under fire.
His first articles were a success, were paid with a good fee for those times, and the Spanish government even awarded Churchill a Red Cross medal. In Cuba, Winston acquired not only literary fame as a correspondent, but also two habits that he did not get rid of until the end of his life - smoking cigars and resting after dinner (siesta).
Returning from Cuba, Winston visited America for the first time.
In 1896, Churchill's regiment was sent to India; in 1897, he himself ensured that he was assigned to the expeditionary force that suppressed the Mohmand uprising in the mountainous region of Malakand. The British daily newspaper The Daily Telegraph published his letters from the front lines, and when the campaign was over, Churchill’s book “The History of the Malakand Field Corps” was published, which sold 8,500 copies.
After covering the Mahdist uprising in Sudan in 1899, Winston retired. By this time, he had already established himself as a famous journalist, and his work “War on the River” (about the Sudanese company) became a bestseller.
He decided to devote himself to politics, but soon received an offer to go to South Africa as a war correspondent. The fee was so tempting that Churchill immediately agreed. During this Anglo-Boer War, Winston ended up in a prisoner of war camp, from where he escaped, then returned to the battlefields. This escape and return to the army brought him popularity, which provided Churchill with considerable support in his future political career. Most voters were ready to vote for him, regardless of Winston's political views.
Policy
Churchill returned to England from South Africa as a real hero, which helped him easily win the parliamentary elections.
Churchill's political career was meteoric:
- 1901 – Deputy Minister for Colonial Affairs;
- 1908 – Minister of Industry and Trade;
- 1910 – Minister of Internal Affairs;
- 1911 – First Lord of the Admiralty;
- 1917 – Minister of Armaments;
- 1919 – Minister of War and Minister of Aviation;
- 1924 – Chancellor of the Exchequer;
- 1940 – Prime Minister of Great Britain.
During the Second World War, despite the fact that Churchill was an ardent opponent of Bolshevism, Great Britain declared war on Hitler and supported Stalin, creating a victorious coalition with the United States and the Soviet Union:
- In August 1941, on the battleship Prince of Wales, Winston conferred with US President Roosevelt, and in three days they developed one of the main documents of the anti-Hitler coalition - the Atlantic Charter.
- In August 1942, Churchill flew to Moscow, where he met with Stalin to sign the Atlantic Charter.
- In 1943, the first meeting of the leaders of the “Big Three”: Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt took place in Tehran.
- In the fall of 1944, Churchill again visited Moscow, where negotiations took place with Stalin on the issue of dividing Europe into spheres of influence (such initiatives were rejected by the Soviet side).
- In February 1945, the famous Yalta Conference took place at the Livadia Palace, where the leaders of the Big Three met for the second time and considered the establishment of a post-war world order. In changing the political map of the world, the leaders made concessions to each other, and agreement was reached on almost all points.
- In the summer of 1945, the Potsdam Conference took place, where the leaders of Great Britain, the USA and the USSR met again, only this time it was Truman instead of Roosevelt. This was the last meeting of the anti-Hitler coalition, where decisions were made on the further treatment of defeated German citizens, the prosecution of war criminals, and the issue of transferring Germany’s eastern borders to the West was resolved, as a result of which its territory was reduced by 25% compared to 1937.
After the war, despite his age, health problems and the entreaties of his family, Churchill decided to participate in the elections, but this time the Conservatives lost to Labour. Winston led the opposition bloc, but was not active and took up literary activities.
In the fall of 1951, Churchill again took up the post of Prime Minister of Great Britain; at that time he was 76 years old. In the spring of 1955, he resigned due to health reasons and age.
In 1953, Winston Churchill's literary work was awarded the Nobel Prize.
Personal life
The love story of Winston and his wife Clementine Hozier is very beautiful and tender. They met in 1904 and married four years later.
The family had five children - one boy (Randolph) and four girls (Diana, Sarah, Marigold and Mary). One of the daughters, Marigold, died as a child.
Winston lived with his wife for 57 years and always told her that he was eternally grateful that she made him happy. Over all the years they lived, they wrote each other about 1,700 notes, postcards, telegrams and letters.
Death
Winston suffered his first micro-stroke back in August 1949, and five months later he was diagnosed with cerebral vasospasm. After 75 years, eczema and heart failure were added, and deafness began to develop. In 1952, after suffering another stroke, he did not speak coherently for a long time. And in 1953 after repeated attack paralysis of the left side occurred. After a few months, the ability to speak and move was restored.
The great politician died of another stroke on January 24, 1965. Winston rested in the family grave of the Spencer-Churchill family near Blenheim Palace.
Churchill was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940-1945 and again from 1951-1955. He is rightly considered one of the greatest wartime leaders of the 20th century. Not limited to government and political activity Churchill was also an officer in the British Army, historian, writer and artist.
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill was born on November 30, 1874 in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England, into the aristocratic family of the Dukes of Marlborough, in the Spencer family. His father, Lord Randolph Churchill, was a charismatic politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer. His mother, Jennie Jerome, the daughter of a wealthy American businessman, was a socialite. Winston's parents devoted little time to him, and from 1875, his nanny Elizabeth Anne Everest, who sincerely fell in love with her pupil, was involved in his upbringing.
While studying at St. George's School, Ascot, Churchill, rebellious and independent by nature, was subjected to corporal punishment. When the nanny discovered signs of beatings and complained to his mother, the boy was transferred to another school, near Brighton. From April 17, 1888, he studied at Harrow School, where he excelled in history and fencing and joined the rifle corps on June 28, 1893. Churchill, having overcome his difficulties with written work in Latin, entered. Royal Military College Sandhurst (RMC, Sandhurst), where he entered the infantry class.
On February 20, 1895, he was promoted to junior lieutenant. Back in January of this year, he suffered the loss of his father, and in July his nanny Elizabeth died of peritonitis. As a young officer, Churchill saw action in British India, was given a supernumerary commission as a lieutenant during the Mahdist uprising in Sudan, and escaped from a POW camp on his second attempt during the second Boer War. Winston earned his fame as a war correspondent and author of works about military campaigns.
Having been at the forefront of big politics for fifty years, Churchill held many political and government positions. Before the outbreak of the First World War he served as President of the Board of Trade, Home Secretary and First Lord of the Admiralty. As Churchill's minister at the age of 35, he was repeatedly criticized by many political fronts for his methods of pacifying the unrest, and it is worth noting that there were plenty of mass protests by workers and suffragist actions during that period.
During the First World War, Winston remained First Lord until, in 1915, the Dardanelles operation, created on his initiative, ended in a government crisis and a real disaster for allied forces. Churchill resigned and went to Western Front with the rank of Commander of the 6th Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers. In July 1917 he returned to the government as Minister of Armaments, and in 1919 he became Minister of War and Minister of Aviation.
In 1921-1922 Churchill became Secretary of State for Colonial Affairs, and in the period 1924-1929. was Chancellor of the Exchequer during the administration of Stanley Baldwin. Overly reliant on the role of advisers, Churchill oversaw a failed program to return the British economy to the gold standard. His actions, including an attempt to raise the value of sterling to pre-war levels, contributed to an economic recession and mass unemployment.
Following the resignation of Neville Chamberlain, Churchill officially took office as Prime Minister on May 10, 1940. His refusal to reach a compromise peace helped inspire the British Resistance, especially in the early difficult days World War II, when England alone defended its active opposition to Adolf Hitler. Churchill remained Prime Minister of Great Britain until victory over Nazi Germany became certain. After winning the 1951 election, Churchill served a second term until his retirement in 1955.
Winston's wife was Clementine Churchill, whom he met in 1904. The couple had five children: Randolph, Diana, Sarah, Marigold and Mary. On January 15, 1965, Churchill suffered a serious stroke, which left him seriously ill. He died at his home in London nine days later, at the age of 90, on Sunday morning, January 24, 1965. On this same day 70 years ago, his father died.
Churchill became the only British Prime Minister to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature and was the first to be made an Honorary Citizen of the United States.
Churchill, Winston Leonard Spencer
(Churchill, Winston Leonard Spencer) (1874 - 1965)
Among the works of Winston Churchill are journalism, books of historical and memoir genre: “The History of the Malakand Field Force” (1898; first book; notes on the operation in North-West India), “War on the River” (The River War; 2 volumes; 1899; notes on the operation in Sudan), “From London to Ladysmith via Pretoria” (1900), “Life of Lord Randolph Churchill” (1905; in print). published in January 1906; memories of his father), “The World Crisis, 1916–1918; 4 volumes; 1923-1929; about the history of the First World War,” “Marlborough: His Life and Times” ( Marlborough, his Life and Time; 6 volumes; biography of Duke John Churchill of Marlborough), "My early years"(1930; first book of autobiography, covering the period from birth to 1901), "Reflections and Adventures", (1932; second book of autobiography), "Great Contemporaries" (1937; third book of autobiography), "Second world war", "History of English-speaking peoples".
Sources of information:
Men are most attracted to two types of people: the women we'd like to have and the men we'd like to be. This month the plan has been exceeded, all that remains is to write about Winston Churchill - and we will consider November a success.
Born on fur coats
When you are born in 1874, and even in a family belonging to the highest British nobility, you should absolutely not be born seven months old: there will be no scandal. The Spencer-Churchill family, Dukes of Marlborough, tried their best to hush up the rumors. The whole point is that Randolph Churchill’s young wife, the charming American Jenny, danced too hard at a ball at the family estate of Blenheim. So Winston-Leonard had to make his first cry in the dressing room - the maids only managed to lay the tablecloth on a pile of ladies' fur coats, and the doctor ran up when everything was almost done. True, the baby, a strong red-haired man, did not look premature at all, so evil tongues still whispered that the American millionaire bride did not seem to waste any time during her engagement to the duke's son.
On the other hand, should at least something have darkened the baby’s life? Otherwise, the good fairies were clearly crowded in the dressing room, jostling with elbows, and the most unlucky ones even had to wait in line in the corridor. As a result, Winston Churchill was endowed with literally all the benefits that a person could wish for. He had excellent health, a pleasant appearance, was rich and indecently noble, worldwide fame, family happiness awaited him, long life and a lot of adventures, and on top of that he was generously gifted with the talents of a writer, commander, artist, speaker and athlete. True, he was never good at Latin; the only failure in his life was associated with desperate attempts to comprehend this wisdom. Apparently, the Latin fairy was unable to break through the crowd. In all other respects, Winston Churchill was perfection.
He was especially lucky that his father was only the third son of a duke, and therefore the boy was almost not threatened with the title. In England, everything is arranged in such a way that if you have a title, then the House of Commons - the most important part of the British political machine - is closed to you. You will only be allowed into the House of Lords, where you will do your best to maintain the glory of Britain - away from real politics.
Winston studied poorly. At the privileged school of Harrow, teachers unanimously spoke of him as a remarkably incapable child, the only positive feature which was only the serenity with which the boy treated corporal punishment. This stoicism led Winston's parents to the idea that, perhaps, their son was created for military career. Moreover, Winston’s nanny, who was involved in his upbringing, also hinted at this. His parents lived separately for a long time, his mother was absorbed in social life, and his father suffered from syphilis, played on the races, consumed drugs, suffered from manic-depressive psychosis and was least suitable for the role of a wise mentor *.
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To be fair, we note that during periods of enlightenment, Randolph Churchill sought to serve for the good of society, was involved in politics, and even for six months, by some miracle, worked as the British Chancellor of the Exchequer - the post was given to him by his friend, Lord Salisbury. But by the time Winston went to school, his father had really given up on himself and was actively engaged in self-destruction»
But Churchill liked his father’s advice to enter the military college at Sandhurst. Having failed his exams several times (hello, Latin!), he finally entered and graduated educational institution among the best students. Winston was assigned to the elite 4th Hussars, stationed in England at that time. The peaceful garrison life irritated him. Bust of Napoleon standing on desk, grinned at Winston more and more maliciously. The great Corsican, it seems, no longer believed that the red-haired Briton could compete with him: any hero needs a war, even a small one, and there was no war.
Blood and ink
In 1895, the Cuban revolt began. The islanders finally decided to overthrow their Spaniards, and Winston, sensing the possibility of a battle, rushed to write a request for leave. Before the ink had dried on the commander’s signature, the guy was already sailing to Cuba to sow death among the rebels. Three weeks of battle as part of a punitive expedition brought Winston a Spanish order, faith in his military success and a lot of regrets that the rebels turned out to be just a peasant rabble, armed haphazardly and fighting without the slightest idea of strategy and tactics. Winston Churchill wanted a real war.
As luck would have it, it was decided to transfer his regiment to Bangalore, India. Nothing worse could be imagined than this. Winston was given an officer's cottage with a huge garden, where hundreds of types of roses grew, on which three gardeners worked; Indian servants and maids were bustling around the house. And he was languishing with melancholy. There was absolutely nothing to do here: Churchill loved to play polo, but even with it you can’t kill more than 8–10 hours a day. He found India disgusting, the Hindu religion nauseating, and he sincerely considered Indians to be second-class citizens.
A diplomat is a person who will think twice before saying anything.
W. Churchill
Out of grief, Winston even became addicted to reading, an activity he had hitherto disrespected. With amazement, he realized that he loved literature. I read voraciously - novels, biographies and historical works. Completely holes in school education he still did not shut up: later on, political opponents more than once accused him of ignorance and poor knowledge of ancient authors (hello again, Latin!). And he himself began to actively write - he created a couple of stories, an unfinished novel and a bunch of essays. It worked out well, and Churchill decided to try to combine two things that interested him, literature and war, by becoming a war correspondent. In subsequent years, he fights in Afghanistan, Egypt and South Africa - "with a notebook, and even with a machine gun." Wherever there was trouble on the planet, Churchill immediately applied for enlistment in the forward detachments there. His descriptions of the campaigns, accurate, witty and colorful, were in demand and were published in the largest newspapers in Britain.
With amazement, Winston discovers that journalistic work brings in much more income than military work: the fees exceed his officer's salary by an order of magnitude; the Morning Post alone pays him 250 pounds a month*.
* - Note Phacochoerus "a Funtik:
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At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, for 250 pounds you could buy a horse of good blood, three pairs of tails, or pay a housekeeper’s salary for five years
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At the same time, Churchill understands that he no longer sees the war as either a heroic or glorious cause. The filth of war and the instant ethical impoverishment of the people forced to participate in it deprived him of any idealistic ideas about his profession. “Sometimes I wonder,” he writes, “do people in the rest of the world really know what we’re doing here?” When you dream about exploits and slaughters, dead children with their genitals torn out do not come to your mind; you don’t think that your friend’s burnt body will smell deliciously like roast beef; you somehow forget that in addition to blood, a person contains a lot of crap, which splashes your face when you hit with a saber... No, the descendant of a family of warriors and a brilliant graduate of Sandhurst is not shocked. He's just tired and sick of his own former romance.
Parliamentary trials
Meanwhile, Churchill was becoming popular at home. His essays are read avidly, the story of his brave escape from Boer captivity is told to each other by schoolchildren, his books “The History of the Malakand Field Army” and “The War on the River” are called one of the best military works of the century. And in 1899, 25-year-old Churchill resigned. From now on, he plans to earn money by writing and seek fame in a new field - in politics. “It’s almost no different from war,” he joked many years later. “Only in battle can you be killed once, but in politics they can do this to you every day.”
A young man of such noble origin, a protégé of the Prince of Wales, and also famous for his military and literary exploits - such a shot will be a tasty morsel for any party. The Conservative Party won the fight for Churchill. And I was right. A couple of years later, Churchill was already entering parliament. It turns out that he can not only write, but also speak - passionately, but clearly; with conviction and sincerity, but not without humor. His speeches equally attract grimy Scottish miners and ironed members of parliament. Although such eloquence irritates some. For example, Deputy Balfour, in whose presence Churchill was called a “promising young man,” remarked: “Oh yes, this young man promises a lot! It’s a shame he’s no longer good for anything.”
Balfour was wrong: love for flowery phrases and pithy images in no way replaced Churchill’s ideas and principles. And he showed himself in all his glory when Chamberlain, the leader of the Conservatives, suddenly came out for government regulation in trade.
Churchill immediately responded with an article in which he voted with five hands for unrestricted, free trade, thus supporting the Liberal Party. From now on, he was not on the same path with the conservatives, and a hasty transition to the liberals seemed something akin to betrayal. Therefore, he withdrew from politics for the time being and sat down to write an epoch-making work - a two-volume biography of his father, who by that time had been dead for four years. In this book, Churchill demonstrated the aerobatics of varnishing reality: by talentedly and respectfully describing Randolph Churchill, the son managed to mold this syphilitic, drug addict and loser into an impeccable image of a renowned politician, sage and almost saint. Unfortunately, the pathos was somewhat spoiled by the fact that, when talking about his mother in this biography, Churchill attached snow-white wings to her too. But, unlike her late husband, Lady Jenny was still alive and, just to the delight of the public, noisily divorced and remarried her lover - a guy 25 years younger than her.
Young minister and husband
Having paid his filial duty, Churchill decided that the pause taken would be enough, and headed to the camp of the liberal party. From now on, conservatives treat him as an immoral defector, and he adds fuel to the fire: he criticizes their weaknesses and miscalculations, makes angry speeches and is so intemperate in his language in debates that even his supporters call him “obnoxious” and “terrible” behind his back. .
If we now study Churchill’s speeches of that time, we can see that it was then that his ideological position was finally revealed and cemented.
He is an unconditional supporter of the empire and the colonial system. He is convinced that the highest duty of a developed nation is to bring prosperity and culture to undeveloped nations. It’s okay if the porters are men dressed in uniforms with guns.
He stubbornly and naively believes that in any matter there can be only one truth.
A smart person does not make all the mistakes himself; he gives others a chance.
W. Churchill
He does not believe in the equality of all people and in the equality of all nations, since life experience tells him the opposite.
He believes in fate, and has no doubt that it always plays on the side of good and truth.
Liberals win and Churchill rises to the top political world. Alternately, he becomes Deputy Minister for Colonial Affairs, Minister of the Interior, and finally, Minister navy(if we remember the situation British Empire as the mistress of the seas, it becomes clear that the owner of the Admiralty there is also one of the top officials of the state).
At the same time, Churchill continues to write thick works, mainly devoted to the art of war, travels around the Mediterranean and Africa, and gets married.
Churchill on at the moment turned 33 years old, but his personal life is a desert. There is no information that he ever had any mistresses. He was in love three times, but all the novels ended unsuccessfully, the relationship did not even survive to the engagement, and Winston was the first to cool off, discovering in his chosen ones something that he could not reconcile with in a woman - a lack of intelligence.
At one of the social dinners, Churchill's neighbor turned out to be 24-year-old Scot Clementine Hosier - a beautiful, reserved girl who already had a reputation in society as a bore and a bluestocking. She persistently educated herself, did not like empty fun, fought for women's rights, and if she resembled, as befits a young girl, a flower, it was a very prickly one - something like the burdock of her native Scotland.
Churchill fell in love almost immediately: he was fascinated by the sharp mind, deep decency and inner nobility of Clementine, who, let us remember, was also very pretty. Churchill was not stopped either by the fact that the girl was without a dowry, or by the fact that rumor believed her to be illegitimate: her mother’s husband, Earl D. Airlie, did not recognize Clementine as his daughter. However, Clementine did not immediately give in to courtship: at first, Churchill aroused in her only deep antipathy. Forty years later he will say: “The greatest achievement of my life is that I finally managed to persuade my wife to marry me.” The choice turned out to be perfect. This marriage lasted more than fifty years, they had five children, and all her life Clementine was Churchill’s most reliable friend and assistant. In Churchill's autobiography there is a remarkable phrase of its kind: “Since I got married, I have always been happy.”
First World War
As Secretary of the Navy, Churchill decided to commit treason. In 1912, few people took aviation seriously, but Winston was one of the first to suggest that in future wars aviation would be a more powerful force than the navy. And the Admiralty had to share its head with his new hobby - naval aviation, the creation of which he devoted the lion's share of his time. Churchill even taught himself to fly a seaplane. (At Winston’s request, the designers were forced to create a unique mask for him - with a recess for a cigar. A passionate smoker, he did not tolerate any restrictions in this matter. The best way The way to get Winston mad was to suggest that he abstain from smoking. And the subject of his wife’s chronic despair was the holes that Churchill burned in his suits. Clementine even sewed special bibs for her husband to protect his clothes from fire and ash.)
It is not known whether Churchill expected the outbreak of war, but in the very first days after the assassination of Ferdinand in Sarajevo, a more militant politician than Churchill could not be found in England. Winston's party comrade Melville Adams wrote to his mother: “In the midst of general despondency, the feverish delight in which Churchill has been since the very beginning of the war cannot but cause amazement.”
The peacemaker is the one who feeds the crocodile in the hope that it will eat him last.
W. Churchill
Alas, the war began with a disaster for Churchill. The operation he carried out in the Dardanelles was not just unsuccessful - it turned out to be a disastrous, shameful fiasco, in which the English fleet acted as a whipping boy under heavy Turkish fire. Churchill was removed from his post as minister and appointed head of one of the unimportant offices. It was a collapse, complete and final. Churchill, who apparently inherited manic-depressive psychosis from his father, often fought with “black dogs,” as he called the days when he was overcome by severe depression. The “Black Dogs” of 1915 turned out to be the size of an elephant; relatives were seriously afraid that Winston would commit suicide.
A miracle saved the situation. One day, Churchill became faintly interested in how one of the guests in his house was painting. Within a week, he bought half of the store that sold painting supplies and sat down at his easel. Having never held a pencil or a brush in his life, Winston incredibly quickly learned the basics of painting technique. A month later, his landscapes looked quite tolerable, and a few years later his works, signed under the pseudonym Charles Morin, were exhibited at the National Gallery in Paris, and there were buyers for them*.
* - Note Phacochoerus "a Funtik:
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Now Churchill's landscapes with elms or palm trees cost about a million dollars each
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But the depression finally left Winston only after he received a resignation from his chancellery and was able to go to France, to the front, where he became a military general. Two years later, the Dardanelles were forgotten; Winston, who had again acquired a heroic military aura, was returned to the government and given the post of Minister of Army Supply. Here he showed himself superbly and earned the sympathy of the soldiers, who felt positive changes the hard way after old Winston himself began to resolve issues with soap, canned food and ammunition.
Between two wars
Churchill's further political fate resembled a stormy sea, where he either soared to the very heavens or fell down, carried away by the next rapid wave of circumstances.
The fight against Bolshevik Russia caused him particular trouble. Churchill advocated full, including military, support white movement, spoke of Bolshevism with disgust, threatened Russia with turning into a barbaric country of unwashed savages, and called Lenin “a cannibal crawling on a pile of skulls.”
It must be said that in Great Britain the Russian revolution was generally positively received by trade unions, labor movements and the “progressive” intelligentsia, and Churchill received the brand “enemy of the workers and damned imperialist” on his forehead, which he never parted with. He again left the liberals for the conservatives, but since 1929 the conservatives had miserably lost every election, and with them Churchill had to live outside of big politics for almost ten years. He painted, wrote multi-volume works, spent a lot of time with his family, traveled, fought with “black dogs” and bided his time.
Enemy Appears
Since 1932, Churchill began to closely monitor Hitler and the situation in Germany in general. He was one of the first European politicians to come to the understanding that what was happening in Germany was not just all sorts of growing revanchist sentiments and the usual Prussian tediousness. An interesting paradox: a Nazi and a racist in theory, Winston, having met a practical Nazi, instantly smelled the stench of danger.
Since 1933, Churchill has turned into a semblance of that Roman senator who ended all his speeches in the Senate with the call: “As for Carthage, it must be destroyed!” The militarization of Germany, the rise to power of a totalitarian ruler - all this made Churchill's sensitive ears bristle with anxiety, but virtually no one around him shared this anxiety. It seemed incredible to everyone that Germany, which had recently been defeated, would again thirst for blood; it was assumed that she spent all her energy on survival, and not on baring her teeth. Churchill, however, still hoped that Hitler’s bloody reign could lead Germany to peaceful prosperity, because often in history tyrants managed to establish a completely high-quality life in the territories under their control. The persecution of Jews also could not excite Churchill so much, who did not like these people (especially after his young daughter Sarah fled to America with an elderly divorced Jew and got a job there as a dancer in the corps de ballet). But the soldier’s instincts clearly pointed Churchill to the enemy. Alas, any of his speeches calling on Europeans to unite and sign mutual assistance agreements were perceived by the ruling liberals as militaristic antics.
In 1937, the Conservatives finally managed to achieve an electoral advantage, and Neville Chamberlain came to power. But Chamberlain, in relations with Hitler’s Germany, Mussolini’s Italy and Franco’s Spain, preferred to pursue a “policy of appeasement.” The pacification was that the British and French thought it best to turn a blind eye to any antics of Herr Hitler. When the Germans captured the Sudetenland, and the British Prime Minister, instead of announcing mobilization, flew to a meeting with the Nazis and signed the Munich Agreement, Churchill for some time was even ready to resign and break with the Conservatives. Then he said his now famous words: “You had a choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor, now you will get war."
Belligerent Prime Minister
England entered the war on September 3, 1939, two days after Germany attacked Poland. Soon, according to the secret Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, the USSR occupied part of Poland from the east. At this time, Churchill was offered to return to the post of Minister of the Navy. The proposal was accepted. And eight months later, after the fall of Scandinavia and France, after the almost complete occupation of Europe by the Germans and their allies, after Great Britain found itself in complete isolation alone with Hitler, King George VI invited Churchill to take the post of de facto leader of the country - Prime Minister .
Success is the ability to move from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.
W. Churchill
Churchill managed to turn Great Britain into a well-formed army machine in a matter of months. Moreover, if victories in North Africa and the Middle East would probably have been possible without his leadership, then the creation of combat aviation, which seized control of European air from Germany, is undoubtedly a personal achievement of the prime minister. The brigades of pilots he formed, including foreign ones, killed 1.5 million people in Germany - several times more than the Japanese who died as a result of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Churchill characterized the death of children, civilians and cultural monuments as a sad inevitability, which, however, could not spoil his appetite: in the end, the Germans elected Herr Hitler themselves. In Britain, the screws were also tightened to the limit, even women were mobilized without exception. Wartime laws left no stone unturned for traditional British freedoms, but the nation was in love with its prime minister. Moreover, he honestly warned in his first prime minister’s speech: “The only thing I can offer you now is blood, sweat and tears.” However, the abundance of these liquids eventually tired the British too. In July 1945, Churchill will have to leave the Potsdam Conference of the victorious countries and give way to the victorious Labor party Clement Attlee, whose party at the next election bought war-weary voters with promises to take everything away from the rich, distribute it to the poor and create a fair system for workers and other working people in the country.
Churchill would still become prime minister in the 50s, when the British would again return to conservative ideals and remember old heroes. He still has a lot of things ahead, including the famous Fulton speech “Muscles of the World,” in which he will announce the onset of the Cold War with the USSR, which “has lowered the Iron Curtain over half of Europe.” (After this speech, relations with the USSR will be ruined forever, but the only thing Churchill will regret is that parcels with black caviar from Stalin will henceforth stop - alas, Joseph will not send him another grain of this yummy.) He will also write a lot of books. He would live to be 90 years old, this tireless smoker, glutton and alcoholic, who started the day with whiskey and ended it with cognac, never letting go of a nibbled cigar from his lips. His funeral will be an event of national importance, and hundreds of thousands of people will pay his last respects. But the main feat of his life occurred in 1940–1945. It was he who, without knowing any doubts and not recognizing compromises, was preparing to fight the forces of darkness, as he called the Hitler machine back in those years when it was considered good manners all over the world to talk about Hitler with sympathy and understanding.
Now is not the time for the Churchills. In a world where the President of the United States hides his smoking like a naughty boy, and the rulers of Europe seriously prohibit the arrest of murderous pirates, because they may be mistreated later in prison; in a world where political correctness wins over common sense, and war is equated with crime, Winston, with his simple and weighty answers to difficult questions would not have come to court.
On the other hand, we should not forget that if it were not for people like him, this “yard” would not exist at all.
Churchill's merit in the victory over fascism is that:
1 He was absolutely confident of victory. Perhaps he was the only person in a world that believed in it then. But his radio speeches, full of optimism and sacred rage, infected people with the enthusiasm of the speaker.
2 He was able to quickly reorganize the fleet, aviation and air defense, which kept the Germans from landing in Britain.
3 He began to establish contacts with Stalin, whom he hated, offering Soviet Russia union. At the same time, the British secret services carried out several operations that made Hitler believe that such an alliance was a done deal. We are unlikely to know what the share of Churchill’s personal participation was in the fact that the Fuhrer signed the “Barbarossa” blitzkrieg plan with the USSR in December, nevertheless, the involvement Soviet Union during the war was exactly what Churchill had hoped for.
4 He managed to convince the Americans, too busy with their problems in the Pacific region, that the time had come to help. And help a lot. After a meeting with Churchill, President Roosevelt signed a decree on Lend-Lease - the supply of equipment, raw materials, provisions and ammunition to England, Russia and France for $50 billion*.
* - Note Phacochoerus "a Funtik:
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Multiply this amount by 14 - and you will understand how much it will be in modern equivalent»
5 He turned out to be an excellent crisis manager. Churchill combined a rational military strategy with a reasonable internal one. A network of civil defense and mutual aid deployed throughout the country protected the British from many of the boring horrors of war: there was no famine on the besieged island, and convoys delivered food and medicine from the United States.
6 He provided massive support from everyone partisan movements in the occupied territories. Yugoslav, French, and Polish underground fighters received from Britain not only monetary and military assistance, but also informational assistance: English radio stations began producing programs in many languages.
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Sir Winston Churchill(full name: Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill) born November 30, 1874. His birthplace was Blenheim Palace, the family estate of the Dukes of Marlborough.
Read a short biography of the greatest Briton in history in this article. The title of “greatest Briton in history” was awarded to Winston Churchill by the BBC after conducting a survey in 2002.
Parents
Winston's father- Lord Randolph Henry Churchill. He was the third son of the seventh Duke of Marlborough. Churchill Sr. was a politician and served as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Mother– Lady Randolph Churchill is the daughter of a wealthy businessman from America.
From childhood, Winston Churchill grew up in an atmosphere of luxury and nobility. At the same time, he did not receive special care from his parents. His character was typical of a Briton - arrogant, proud, ironic. The most striking trait is stubbornness.
Studies
Churchill's stubbornness greatly influenced his life. When he studied, he chose only those subjects that he liked. The rest were simply ignored. Favorite items that stood out were: literature and English.
Winston had big gaps in subjects such as botany, chemistry and mathematics. When he failed twice entrance exams to the Royal School, he resigned himself and took up his unloved subjects in order to go to study and become a military man. The third time he succeeded.
Military career
Winston Churchill graduated from the Royal College in 1895 and was one of the best among graduates. He received the rank of junior lieutenant.
According to the distribution, he was enrolled in 4th Royal Hussars. He received his first baptism by fire in Cuba, although he served there as a war correspondent. It was in Cuba that two habits were instilled in him that accompanied him throughout his entire life: relaxing after lunch and smoking a cigar.
In 1899, Churchill travels to South Africa. At that time the Anglo-Boer War was going on there. During one of the battles the enemy captured many prisoners, Churchill was among them. However, stubbornness and an incredible desire to live in freedom forced Winston to find a way to escape from captivity and get to his home completely exhausted.
Beginning of a political career
Escape from captivity brought Winston Churchill to his homeland national hero and opened it to him new way- career as a politician. He was offered to become candidate for parliament.
In 1900 He was elected from the Conservative Party to Parliament. However, he subsequently switched sides to the liberals and joined the government.
Starting since 1908, he held various government positions: Minister of Commerce, Transport, Aviation, Minister of Navy and Minister of War. He was one of the supporters of intervention against the Soviet Union and dreamed “strangle Bolshevism in its cradle”.
Winston Churchill during World War II
Churchill was among the first to predict the possibility dire consequences Hitler's regime. At that time, the Prime Minister of England was Chamberlain, who believed that the outbreak of war in Europe would not affect Great Britain in any way.
However, already on the 3rd day after the start of the war - September 3, 1939– Great Britain officially joined the anti-Hitler coalition.
During this period, Winston Churchill headed the government, becoming Prime Minister, and called on everyone for the war to the bitter end! He was determined and called on the British to wage an active war against fascist Germany, supported the Soviet people in this struggle.
Winston Churchill was a participant in three important conferences of the 20th century: Tehran - in 1943; Potsdam and Yalta - in 1945, on which the fate of Germany was decided after the defeat in World War II, as well as the fate of all of Europe and the rest of the world.
End of political career
After the end of the war, Winston Churchill is defeated in the elections. However, a few years later he appears again on the political platform and calls on the public and authorities to fight communism.
During the Cold War - in 1951 - he becomes prime minister for the last time United Kingdom, and in 1955 completely ends his political career.
After completing his career as a politician and statesman, Winston Churchill began painting and writing books. Throughout his life he wrote about 500 paintings! And in 1953 he became Nobel laureate according to literature.
Winston Churchill died of a stroke at the age of 90 - January 24, 1965. A state funeral was held in his honor - a great honor for a person in England who does not bear the royal surname. Churchill's grave is in the churchyard of St Martin's Church, Blaydon.
