Each person has its prototype models for following, idols or simply people, which biographies motivate to act. The world history has a lot of biographies examples of well-known people. These biographies inspire people to perform any deeds in their life. It could be people who have lived the century ago but also it could be our contemporaries. Sportsmen or rock stars inspire some people, others are inspired by businessmen and politicians inspire the others. But what unites them all in one is that they are leaders. And even today, after centuries have passed and when the world quickly changes, we still remember them. We remember their actions, their speeches and their contribution to the history. Their ideas continue to remain urgent and to promote people rallying. Their ideas continue to be relevant and contribute to the unity of the people.
The world history has given us a lot of great leaders. Some of them were smart politicians, others were tyrants and dictators. They had charisma, the conviction of the character and great speaking abilities. These people were deciding the fates of the nations and the fate of the world. Sir Winston Churchill was one of them.
Winston Churchill is one of the most prominent politicians in the UK and the world history. He was prime minister in 1940-1945 and 1951-1955, respectively. This multifaceted personality expressed himself not only in politics but also in literature. In 1953, Churchill received the Nobel Prize for his creativity. The British named Winston Churchill the greatest politician in the UK history of the representative of the nation, based on BBC poll in 2002. Thanks to him, the British were able to resist in the two World Wars. A politician was known for his historical speeches, inspiring his people to do the great exploits.
Winston Churchill was born in England, Oxfordshire in 1874. The full name is Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill. The aristocratic origin opened the way to the elite closed educational institution for him. When joined the army in 1895 he took part in different war expeditions in India and Sudan. In youth, Churchill had established himself as a brave officer and war correspondent. During the Second Anglo-Boer War, he was a war correspondent for The Morning Post, was imprisoned and made a spectacular escape from camp Pretoria.
When he returned to England, he devoted himself to the political activity. Having been elected to parliament from Conservative Party in 1904 he moved to the liberal party. His main motive in political course change was the disagreement with Chamberlain protective policy. As a liberal politic, he was making a fast career move. During the 1905-1911, he took different positions in government authorities. For example, he was the Minister of Trade, Minister of Internal Affairs and made some reforms in social sectors.
Before the World War I Churchill became Lord of Admiralty. He understood that war with Germany was going to happen soon. That is why he made a very important decision for Great Britain to develop the Royal Navy. He paid attention to the development of capital ships. According to Churchills idea, the capital ships should have the heaviest armament and solid armor and their main goal was to inflict crushing blows both on the sea and on the land. During Churchill Admiralty, the Royal Navy had the largest fleet in the world.
Every great politician has not only successes but also failures. During the World War I Churchills failure was the Gallipoli Campaign. This operation was developed by Churchill. His plan was eloquent. The idea was to capture Constantinople and give sea route to the allied Russia Empire. But unfortunately, for Churchill it didn't happen. The Allied forces suffered significant losses both at sea and on the land. And Churchill had to resign and moved to French front as an officer.
It seems that such setback could give up any political career but not for Churchill. The love for England and his people forced him to return to the politics. After the World War I he was in the head of military and aviation ministry. Also, Churchill was violently opposed to the Soviet Russia and the ideological inspirer of war with communism.
Post war period is characterized by liberalism crises in the UK. The new political and international conjuncture forced him to join the Conservative Party. In 1924, he became The Chancellor of the Exchequer. On that post-Churchill implemented the recovery of the gold parity of the pound sterling, favorable for England. Further in UK government, defending the UK interests Churchill subsequently opposes the political preferences for India. Having not succeeded in Indias case Churchill decided to leave the government.
Being a simple parliamentarian Churchill manifests himself like a speaker and writer. He was known by ardent speeches. During that period, he wrote and published a lot of books. Also, Churchill criticized the rearming of Third Reich and a policy of appeasement of Nazi German pointing out that it could lead to the next big war.
Churchill was right. The beginning of World War II became The Churchills finest hour. During this period, he became the head of national government and Minister of Defense simultaneously. Also, he became House of Commons of the United Kingdom and Conservative Party leader. Churchill concentrated the main levers to mobilize the country in the resolute fight against Nazi Germany in his hands. He came to power in very important for England and Europe moment. Invasion of German superior forces was the main threat.
It was at that critical for England moment when Churchills best qualities as a leader of the British nation were shown. The extremely rigid, consistent defense of Britain and governmental interests made him one of the most prominent politician and public figure in the UK history. Defending to the end despite everything, indeed with an iron grip of hardened English bulldog ready to grab his opponent's throat Churchill became known as the principled politician in the world.
Also, Churchill was the military strategist. He took part in the development of the major strategic war operations. The Dunkirk operation was one of them. The situation with allied forces in northern France was terrible. They were surrounded by the land and nailed to the sea. Churchill understood that allied forces could not resist to superior German forces. The plan was grand and simple at the same time. The evacuation of the allied forces was the main solution in this situation. Churchill and his headquarter managed to mobilize all types of vessels whether big or small, war or fishing ships.
As Dildy and Gerrard (2010) describe that during the week almost 330 000 people were evacuated to England. And this operation developed by Churchills headquarter took place in war history. Due to this operation, Churchill saved a lot of soldiers and operation effectiveness for Britain defense.
Winston Churchill was a man of great power of will. It is enough to recall how courageously he endured the diseases without ceasing to work in good of England. During World War II he survived six cases of pneumonia. In general, his behavior during the war, his speeches in parliament and on the radio can be regarded as a model of resistance and his nation motivation. It was Churchill who invented the famous symbolic gesture V - Victory.
Churchill was a man of action. He didnt like to sit in the headquarters or in cabinets that much. Prime minister was visiting his soldiers to boost morale. In 1944 after the Operation Overlord when allied forces assaulted northern France Churchill visited General Montgomery in his headquarter. His deed was brave indeed. Headquarters was located only 3 miles away from the front line. It was a definite threat to come across German units in the chaos of the fighting as there was no front solid line. Thus, Churchill wanted to inspire allied soldiers to fight against Nazi.
Also prime minister appeared before the nation frequently to uphold the spirit of the British. After the devastating booming runs on Coventry by Luftwaffe, he appeared in the almost destroyed city. It would seem that any man who saw the terrible destruction made by German forces would be scared to death. But it was not Churchill. While examining the ruined city prime minister showed to the nation that Britain would never give up fighting for victory. However, we only can imagine his feeling at that time.
Churchill knew how to inspire his nation to fight against Nazi. It is enough to recall his speeches and calls to a nation. The greatest one was on 4-th of June 1940 which he delivered to House of Commons. Dockter (2015) writes that this speech is known as we shall fight on the beaches. In this speech he called to Parliament, House of Commons and British nation to be ready for a long fight against Nazi German. The most well-known part of the speech was its perorations. Dockter (2015) insists, that Churchill was finishing his speech with encouraging words we shall never surrender. On 22nd of June, Churchill addressed to the nation on the radio. In his speech he supported the Soviet Union in its fight against Germany.
Churchill preferred to act in his nation favor. During the war, the prime minister took part in numerous international conferences, negotiations and correspondence with the USA and USSR leaders. A couple of times he had meetings in Moscow with Stalin. He was repeatedly crossing the Atlantic to meet Franklin Roosevelt. He took part in very important for whole world Tehran Conference in 1943, Yalta Conference in 1945 and post-war Potsdam Conference. On these conferences, Churchill consistently advocated Britain interests and took care of post-war Europes future.
On the 8th of May 1945, Churchill was the first world leader to announce about the complete and unconditional Nazi German capitulation. He broadcasted to the nation and said that it was the great day in Britain's history and the great victory for his nation.
In 1945, Churchill lost the elections and resigned. Who would have thought that nation leader, the post-war triumphalism on the high of his fame could lose the elections? Churchill never gave up, never lost the will to fight as should behave any decent politician. Every time he rose and went to new heights of power.
After the retirement, he didnt stop the political activity. Since then he began the anti-Soviet and anti-communism activity. The USSR was a threat to Western Europe. The Soviet Union had a large army on Eastern borders of Western Europe. So USSR could start a new war any time. And the European countries didn't have enough forces to resist. Communist regimes began to spread all over the world. The Cold War period has begun and it was the new era in Churchill's political life.
His famous speech at Westminster College in Fulton, USA considered being a start of Cold War between USSR and the Western countries. In his speech, Churchill called democratic countries to be united to fight against the Soviet Union and to prevent the communism spread. Also, he insisted that the Unites States and Great Britain should fight for freedom and against tyranny. In this speech, Churchill used the Iron Curtain expression for the first time. It meant the Europe division to Western and Eastern Europe.
Winston Churchill was at the forefront of the European Union. A few months after the Fulton speech, he made a speech in Zurich, much less known, but no less important "Europe, awake!" He called the states of Western Europe the winners and losers in the World War II to unite against communism. It must be recognized that communism sentiments were widely spread in Western Europe due to the post-war social standards.
In October 1951, after the general elections, Winston Church...
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