WINSTON CHURCHILL: BIOGRAPHY, GOVERNMENT AND PUBLISHED WORKS - ARTE - 2025

Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965) was a British statesman, politician, author, journalist, historian, and military man. He is known for having served as one of the main leaders during World War II. He also served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on two occasions; His first term began in 1940 and he returned to office in 1951.

Churchill was charged with creating a strong coalition within the UK and quickly changed the outcome of the contest against Germany led by Adolf Hitler. His skills as a speaker not only won him the support of Parliament, but the confidence of the British people.

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He came from a British aristocratic family, he also had American ancestry. From a young age he stood out as a correspondent during various armed conflicts in which Great Britain was involved.

At the beginning of his public life he was a member of the Conservative Party, but soon joined the cause of the Liberal Party, with which he felt more affinity. In those years he reached several important positions such as that of a member of Parliament, a position for which he was first selected in 1900.

At the beginning of the First World War, Churchill served as first lord of the Admiralty, until the Battle of Gallipoli took place, due to which he was separated from the government for a time.

Then he returned to the head of the ministerial portfolios of Armament and State. Also at that time, Churchill was in charge of the Secretary of State for War and State of the Air, among other positions.

During the interwar period, Churchill constantly warned publicly about the threat posed by the Nazis, who were led by Adolf Hitler.

In 1940 he obtained the post of Prime Minister, then replaced Neville Chamberlain, who was characterized by his soft policy towards Germany. Churchill won the support of the majority of the political sectors in Parliament in the face of the armed conflict.

In his second chance as prime minister, he took the reins of the country during the transition between George VI and his daughter Elizabeth II. During that period, he prioritized the UK's foreign relations.

He resigned in 1955 because of the physical and mental decay that he suffered not only because of his advanced age, but also because he was the victim of two strokes.

Biography

Early years

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was born on November 30, 1874 in Oxfordshire, England. He came into the world in Blenheim Palace, which had been his family's home for several generations.

He was a descendant of the Dukes of Marlborough, a British royal house created in 1702. Churchill came from a line of prominent politicians and military men. His father, Lord Randolph Churchill, had been a member of Parliament, as had his grandfather John Spencer Churchill.

His mother, Jenny Jerome, came from a wealthy American family. Jerome and Churchill met in 1873 and were married in Paris the following year.

When Winston Churchill was 2 years old his family moved to Dublin. There he was educated by a tutor and was cared for by a nanny named Elizabeth Everest.

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He had a brother named Jack, who was 6 years younger than him. Young Winston's relationship with his father was very cold and although he assured that he loved his mother very much, he also affirmed that their treatment had been distant.

Most of their training took place in boarding schools, as was the custom in many of the wealthy and noble families of the time.

Education

Around 1881 Winston Churchill was sent to St. George School, but he was never comfortable in the institution and was recognized for his misconduct and poor academic performance.

When he was 9 years old, the young Churchill was enrolled in the Brunswick School in Hove, where he obtained better grades. However, his demeanor remained.

In April 1888 he entered the Harrow School and demonstrated his intellectual qualities and his interest and talent for history. Then, Churchill had his first approaches with the letters when publishing some poetry and other texts in the Harrovian magazine of his house of studies.

His father insisted that he take a military career, and he did so, albeit with poor academic results.

Military career

Academy

After taking the test twice, he was admitted to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst on his third attempt. Churchill received the position of cadet in the Cavalry and entered the Academy in September 1893.

He stayed at the institution for 15 months, after which he graduated in December 1894, at the age of 20. He obtained the eighth position among the 150 young people who were received together with him.

Cuba

When Winston Churchill was 21 years old, in 1895, he formally began his military career. At that time he secured an appointment as a second lieutenant in the Queen's Fourth Hussar Regiment, which was part of the British Navy.

So he started earning a salary of £ 150 a year. However, the recent graduate Churchill had not been in action yet. So the following year he made use of family influence to get sent to a war zone.

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Winston Churchill's destination was Cuba. That was when he was able to observe the Cuban War of Independence. Churchill was part of a coalition with Spanish troops trying to quell the uprising.

Also during this period he used to spend time in the United States of America, a country he deeply admired, both for its institutions and for its population.

India

At the end of 1896 Winston Churchill arrived in India. In the then British rule it remained for 1 year and 7 months. At that time he devoted himself to reading great works such as those of Plato or Darwin and the economist Adam Smith with whose ideas he felt great affinity.

He took advantage of his stay in India to cultivate himself intellectually and it was at this time that Winston Churchill discovered his political leanings and his positions on many of the most momentous issues of the time.

He never felt a cultural affinity with India or with his compatriots who were established there.

Sudan

Although Herbert Kitchener at first did not want to receive Winston Churchill in the campaign that was being fought in Sudan, in 1898 he had to do so since the young man used the influences he had in London to get signed up for that campaign.

Kitchener claimed that the boy only sought recognition and medals easily. However, Churchill had to participate in the battle that took place at Omdurmam as one of the members of the cavalry.

During his stay in Sudan he also served as a correspondent and later used that experience to publish one of his works called The River War.

South Africa

Shortly before the outbreak of the Second Boer War, Churchill headed to South Africa to serve as a reporter. Around October 1899 he was made a prisoner of war in Pretoria. However, in December of the same year he managed to escape and made his way to Durban.

At the beginning of the following year he was appointed lieutenant in the South African Light Cavalry and took part in the fight to liberate the Siege of Ladysmith in Pretoria.

Correspondent

Since he was in India, Winston Churchill started working as a war correspondent and wrote for various English media such as The Pioneer and The Daily Telegraph.

In 1940 he offered asylum to several monarchs who were displaced by the Nazi regime that was expanding throughout Europe.

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We will fight on the beaches

Victory did not seem like a given when Churchill visited France in May 1940. However, he gave two brilliant speeches that assured him the support of Parliament to keep England within the conflict. The first was “We will fight on the beaches” on June 4:

After these words, the English, who were down and without the intention of continuing to participate in the war, which they considered distant because it was a continental conflict, regained their courage and fighting spirit.

Days later Churchill gave another speech that transcended and managed to influence the mood of the English known as "The most glorious hour", which concluded as follows

The allies

After Germany continued to advance, Churchill finally made his first speech in the US Senate. Pearl Harbor had already been attacked in previous days.

Winston Churchill was in charge of preserving and caring for the alliance with the United States of America, which was the main backing of the Western force.

Finally, in June 1944, the Normandy landings took place and the Allied advance began to recover the territory occupied by the Nazis. The following year the military actions ended after the death of Hitler and the taking of Berlin by the Soviet Union.

Second term

At that time, international relations were fundamental for Winston Churchill, who came to office again on October 26, 1951. He dedicated himself to taking care of diplomacy with those he considered the natural allies of England, the United States of America.

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He faced the Mau Mau Rebellion that occurred in Kenya in 1951. His strategy was at the same time to send troops to contain the insurgents and guarantee greater freedoms to the territory. He tried to use a similar plan with the Malaysian Emergency.

However, his international efforts were not well received, as the English people were looking internally, seeking reconstruction and Churchill continued to see England as a powerful empire.

He resigned in 1955 and his successor was Anthony Eden, who had been his protégé for a long time.

Published works

Non-fiction

- The Story of the Malakand Field Force (1898).

- The River War (1899), originally published in two volumes.

- London to Ladysmith via Pretoria (1900).

- Ian Hamilton's March (1900).

- Lord Randolph Churchill (1906), published in two volumes.

- My African Journey (1908).

- The World Crisis (1923 - 31) published in six volumes:

1911 - 1914 (1923)

1915 (1923)

1916 - 1918 (Part 1) (1927)

1916 - 1918 (Part 2) (1927)

The Aftermath (1929)

The Eastern Front (1931)

- My Early Life (1930)

- Thoughts and Adventures (1932)

- Marlborough: His Life and Times (1933 - 38) originally published in four volumes.

- Great Contemporaries (1937).

- The Second World War (1948 - 53), published in six volumes:

The Gathering Storm (1948)

Their Finest Hour (1949)

The Grand Alliance (1950)

The Hinge of Fate (1950)

Closing the Ring (1951)

Triumph and Tragedy (1953)

- Painting as a Pastime (1948).

- A History of the English-Speaking Peoples (1956 - 58), published in four volumes:

The Birth of Britain (1956)

The New World (1956)

The Age of Revolution (1957)

The Great Democracies (1958)

Fiction

- Savrola (1900).

- Story titled "If Lee Had NOT Won the Battle of Gettysburg", within the work If It Had Happened Otherwise (1931).

- Short story entitled "The Dream" (1947).

Speeches

- Mr Broderick's Army (1903).

- For Free Trade (1906).

- Liberalism and the Social Problem (1909).

- The People's Rights (1910).

- Parliamentary Government and the Economic Problem (1930).

- India: Speeches and an Introduction (1931).

- Arms and the Covenant (1938).

- Step by Step: 1936–1939 (1939).

- Addresses Delivered (1940).

- Into Battle (1941). Also known as Blood, sweat and tears (Blood, Sweat and Tears).

- Broadcast Addresses (1941).

- The Unrelenting Struggle (1942).

- The End of the Beginning (1943).

- Winston Churchill, Prime Minister (1943).

- Onwards to Victory (1944).

- The Dawn of Liberation (1945).

- Victory (1946).

- Secret Sessions Speeches (1946).

- War Speeches (1946).

- World Spotlight Turns on Westminster (1946).

- The Sinews of Peace (1948).

- Europe Unite: Speeches 1947 and 1948 (1950).

- In the Balance: Speeches 1949 and 1950 (1951).

- The War Speeches (1952).

- Stemming the Tide: Speeches 1951 and 1952 (1953).

- The Wisdom of Sir Winston Churchill (1956).

- The Unwritten Alliance: Speeches 1953 and 1959 (1961).

- Winston S. Churchill: His Complete Speeches (1974).

References

1. Nicholas, H. (2019). Winston Churchill - Biography, World War II, & Facts. Encyclopedia Britannica. Available at: britannica.com.
2. Churchill, R. and Gilbert, M. (2019). The Official Biography of Winston Churchill - The International Churchill Society. The International Churchill Society. Available at: winstonchurchill.org.
3. En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Winston Churchill. Available at: en.wikipedia.org.
4. BBC News World. (2019). Winston Churchill: hero or villain? Britain weighs up the legacy of its wartime leader. Available at: bbc.com.
5. Jacome Roca, A. (2019). PATIENT WINSTON CHURCHILL. MEDICINE MAGAZINE. Available at: encolombia.com.