William Churchill and World War II, Research Paper Example

Introduction

Few figures of the 20^th century have had a greater impact on the world than Winston Churchill, and this is all the more remarkable because Churchill does not actually rank with the great scientists, artists, or even military commanders of the time. In a very real sense, the greatness of Churchill arose to meet an urgent need, and one dominant in the mid-20^th century: the global crisis posed by Adolf Hitler and the consequent struggles of World War II, which set in motion political scenarios still in place today. Churchill was, ultimately, a statesman. He served Great Britain over the course of his lifetime, and in a variety of capacities. He was also an artist, a renowned orator, world leader, historian, and writer. What has firmly established Churchill’s place in history, however, was how he both inspired and personified the spirit of England during the war, and how this spirit became identified as the force of good, opposing the Axis forces of Nazi Germany. In leading Britain, Churchill essentially set the tone for the free world, and the inspiration he sought to give to his own nation took on vital, international proportions.

In the modern world, and so long after the reality, it is easy to minimize such a role. This is often the case when great epochs pass, as the resolutions of the conflicts tend to lessen the real danger of the times as faced by those then living. The simple truth was, nonetheless, that there was a strong likelihood that Nazi Germany would be victorious at the close of World War II, and that all European nations would be subjected to Hitler’s rule. At the same time, as Germany’s might increased as it swept over Easter Europe, England was not in an especially strong position to defend itself. Then, the United States was facing serious issues of its own, and was divided about joining in on a war effort so far from its own shores. This, then, was the moment in time when Churchill’s greatness was given space in which to emerge. Through brilliant and potent rhetoric, his speeches to the British people actually reinforced a frightened, island nation and set in motion a national pride of incomparable proportions. This, in turn, served to generate a greater resistance in all the Allies, and had a vast influence in turning the tide of the war. Rarely in history have one man’s contributions as a political leader and statesman had such an impact, in symbolizing and urging on a common cause. As noted, Churchill’s entire life was distinguished, and his accomplishments many. There were also issues regarding his fading popularity with the British, as well as conflicts in his life and career stemming from his aristocratic background. Nonetheless, Winston Churchill will live on in the annals of modern history as an active and enormously powerful motivating presence during World War II, and one that greatly affected the course of the war.

Personal Background

One of the most extraordinary aspects of Churchill’s life is that he became the quintessential “man of the people” to the British, even as he was born into one of the highest levels of the English aristocracy. Born in 1874, Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill was the son of Lord Randolph Churchill, and the family was a near branch of the prestigious Dukes of Marlborough; Winston’s ancestor George Spencer, in fact, was granted the title in 1817. While the title of “duke” was of itself the greatest honor the royal family could bestow, the Marlboroughs enjoyed a level of prestige remarkably high, even by Victorian standards (Keegan 18-20). More exactly, the crown rewarded the family with vast estates and properties, exceeding even those given to Lords Nelson and the Duke of Wellington. Young Winston, by position and by the timing if his entry into the world, was truly born to the highest aristocracy of the English 19^th century.

At the same time, in a strange way, Winston was also very much a product of a modern union. His mother, Jennie Jerome Churchill, was an American heiress born in Brooklyn and, according to the customs of the age, raised to marry a titled European. This was a kind of commercial and social arrangement common to the times, and to those spheres of society; American fortunes were being made just as British lords of high rank were losing their territorial holds and incomes, and these marriages were seen as mutually advantageous. The American family gained great prestige, and the British peers then had millions to maintain their estates. With the Churchills, however, it was not a perfect union. The Spencer-Churchill line viewed the Jeromes as vulgar, and Clara Jerome, Jennie’s mother, was after a French prince for her daughter (Perry 3-4). Nonetheless, again, each side could offer what the other needed, and it may be argued that young Winston was exposed from birth to “political” conflicts in the family estate of Blenheim.

That young Winston was politicized early in life seems more likely, given the fact that a diplomatic crisis of a kind led to him being moved to Dublin at the age of two. His father had engaged in a scandal with the Prince of Wales, so Disraeli, then Prime Minister, felt it would be better for the families and the nation if the Churchills left the country for a while. Until he was six, then, Winston was tutored in Ireland. The family still moved in aristocratic circles, but

Churchill later recalled being impressed by the religious and political tensions occurring in the country, and perceived even by his himself as a boy. He specifically remembered a state of

nervousness gripping him, regarding those religious tensions (Perry 9-10). By 1880, Ireland was left and the family once again made its home at the massive, ancestral estate of Blenheim.

Winston Churchill did not distinguish himself in school, despite having access to the best education in England. It has been speculated that this was due, not to a lack of intelligence, but to a kind of early awareness of the possibilities open to him. As the son of a duke’s younger brother, it was understood that he would have no title or life of automatic privilege waiting for him, and that he would have to make his own fortunes in the world. Young men of his social class typically entered either the military, the church, or politics, and Churchill was very drawn to an army life. Moreover, he saw such a life as easing him into political spheres later on; England’s tradition, like that of the United States, was to promote military leaders into high government positions, and this was a course Churchill seems to have set his sights on. His father had suffered a significant loss of esteem, and Churchill would later remark that he went into his country’s service, both in the military and in politics, as a means of redeeming the family name and of vindicating his father. The young Churchill threw himself into British military life, and distinguished himself in Indian service and in the Boer War (Wrigley xix). He was, in the early years of his manhood, gaining a reputation as a brave, capable soldier and leader.

It is important to note, given Churchill’s later impact on international affairs, that he deliberately entered into as broad a military experience as possible. For instance, commissioned as a second lieutenant in the British cavalry in 1895, he spent many months becoming expert at horseback riding. More interestingly, when granted a leave of five months, Churchill decided to spend the time, not enjoying himself in London or at the family estate, but in observing how Spanish troops were dealing with rebellion in Cuba, then a Spanish holding. Also, and going to his awareness of advantages for the future, he established a relationship with London’s Daily Graphic, in which he would report to the paper as a correspondent (Severance 20). Following his adventures in Cuba, in which Churchill actually was involved in battle, he returned to England determined to gain more international experience, and as a British soldier. He tried very hard to be accepted in Lord Kitchener’s regiment going to Egypt, as he then sought a position as a war journalist in Crete, where the Greeks and the Turks were fighting. Eventually, he had to settle for a commission in India, where he used the time to study. Back in England again, and with conflicts escalating in Egypt, he was finally permitted to join Kitchener’s forces in the Sudan, although even this required calling in family influence. Churchill took part in the last cavalry charge the British would ever make, as he lived in severe battle condition. The legacy of this experience was also political; when he wrote his memoirs of that time, Churchill strongly criticized Lord Kitchener’s treatment of the enemy after they had been conquered (Severance 21). Once home again, he was finally poised to begin the career that would make him famous throughout the world.

Politics and Parliament

In assessing Churchill’s role in the World War II years, a critical fact must be acknowledged. Namely, he came to that period of history with an enormous range of military and political history behind him. After coming home to England and resigning from the British Army in 1899, Churchill immediately and seriously began his active political life. By 1900, and at the age of twenty-six, he was elected to the House of Commons, and then had a voice in Parliament as one of the youngest MPs. This advance had been greatly abetted by his reputation as having been an excellent soldier, as well as the connections of rank and family still very powerful in England. Initially a Conservative, in accordance with his desire to follow his father’s political path, Churchill soon grew skeptical of those interests, and increasingly favored Liberal causes, including a dangerous demand that the British military conduct itself more economically. Meanwhile, as he was making a national name for himself, Churchill was also doing what politicians of the day had to do to survive. Parliament members were expected to both support themselves independently, as well as move in the highest levels of the society, and Churchill accomplished both by making himself something of a celebrity; he toured, he wrote books and newspaper articles, and he generated an annual income of 10,000 pounds this way. While never wealthy, he was nonetheless financially able to remain in the top tiers of English life, and in the combined social and political arena necessary for a great career (Ball 21). Then, with great efforts, Churchill also slowly overcame the lisp and stutter impairing his speech, as he used his energy to compensate for his relatively small, unimposing physical presence.

When the first stirrings of what would be called the “Great War”, and later would be known as World War I, Churchill had already been a long-established and powerful presence on the British political scene. Having risen in the ranks of Parliament to oversee various departments of government, he was serving as Home Secretary during most of the first decade of the 20^th century. This was a unique position, in that it was similar to the Homeland Security Department of the United States developed following the September 11, 2001 attacks; more exactly, he was in charge of investigating foreign threats to England. Later, as First Lord, this responsibility would be broadened to include actual protection from invasion. Consequently, and in a very real sense, the first World War enabled Churchill to gain all the skills he would require to guide England through the second. Moreover, holding these critical positions, the nation very much relied upon Churchill’s estimation of how serious a threat the Germans were at the time. Essentially, the international conflict was based on the competing naval abilities of England and Germany. Germans in England were soon unwelcome, and Churchill began rallying for a patriotic fervor to join the cause of war (Rasor 66). Even as England responded, however, Churchill’s position in the government shifted, and he lost a great deal of influence during key years of the war. This was at least partially due to the fact that Churchill seemed to represented a divided agenda; on one level, he was urging all-out resistance to German and Prussian domination, yet on another he was greatly concerned with economizing in the naval and defense budgets (Rasor 66). The former efforts, however, dominated. Invasion scares were common in England in the early years of the second decade, and Churchill seems to have honed his oratory skills to both heighten them and to antagonize the Germans. In a famous speech he delivered in 1912, Churchill referred to the German navy as a “luxury fleet”, and his political standing made the remark an insult the Germans took to heart (Rasor 68). A few years later, when the war was nearing its end, Churchill broke with diplomatic tradition and blatantly accused the U.S. of waiting too long before coming to the aid of its European friends, particularly as so many American lives had been lost in the German sinking of the Lusitania in 1915 (Rasor 74). Throughout the remainder of the decade, Churchill, serving as Secretary of State for War, was perhaps the most recognized and familiar political presence in the British government. After the war, Churchill occupied positions both within and outside of England. It would be his reputation as a fiercely patriotic British leader, however, that would confirm his needed authority in the years leading to World War II.

The Second World War

Winston Churchill was elected to the office of Prime Minister in 1940 and, as has been noted, the election was largely based on the decades of international and Parliamentary experience Churchill has acquired. After the first war, he had been entrusted to a variety of important and sensitive posts, including resolving the problems in Ireland regarding Home Rule, and helping to fulfill the British promise of a Jewish establishment in Palestine. More importantly, he had learned crucial lessons from the first war experience, specifically in regard to divided leadership (Gilbert 44). The value of these lessons cannot be overstated, for the threat facing Europe in the 1930s was immense. Year by year, Germany, under the rule of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party, was consolidating its power and expanding it conquests. By the summer of 1940, Belgium, Holland, and France were either under German control or were completely demobilized by it. Then, air raids on Britain were already occurring. Churchill’s strategy was to concentrate on cohesion, above all. He gave high-ranking military positions to men who has opposed him in the past, because he was concerned only with their capabilities during the present crisis. It seems as though Parliament, as well as the structure of the British government, was still inclined to be divisive, even under the German menace. To forestall this, Churchill demanded unity before anything else. In an address to the House of Commons two days before he was made prime Minister, Churchill said: “Let pre-war feuds die…Let us keep our hatreds for the common enemy. Let party interests be ignored” (Gilbert 48). At the time, this was strikingly daring rhetoric, but it accomplished its purpose. The more Churchill demanded a unified Britain, the more pressure was on his fellow politicians to comply, for to oppose this would translate into disastrous unpopularity with the people, or worse.

A great many volumes have been written, seeking to explain the power Churchill had over his people, and which greatly influenced the tides of international events in these war years. On one level, it has been established that Churchill always believed himself to be selected by destiny to do a crucial task in the world. Even as a young man, the confidence he exhibited in battle was based on this. Before first going to India in 1897, he wrote: “’I have faith in my star – that I am intended to do something in this world’” (Gilbert 51). It is unlikely that even he could know how this fate would evolve, because it relied very much on the career he carved out for himself, and the persona he crafted out of a fierce nationalism. It may be argued that no other national leader has quite personified the spirit of a people as did Churchill. There have been American presidents associated with this kind of presence, as well as spiritual leaders, like Gandhi, who are seen as representing an entire culture. With Churchill, however, there was an engine driving the persona, and it was the potent engine of war. Moreover, this was a war with Germany at its center, and Churchill’s entire political life had been forged under the same circumstances. It could be argued that, as England again faced a direct conflict with Germany, it relied completely on the man who had helped see it through the first.

All the studies of Churchill’s influence seek to define exactly what he accomplished and how he did it. More importantly, they examine whether the man deserves the acclaim that has been given to him, as the most impactful presence of the World War II Allies. That acclaim has come from some of the most respected names of the 20^th century. Scholar Henry Jaffa declared that Churchill was not only the “man of the century”, but the man of many centuries. Henry Kissinger called him a “quintessential hero”, and a poll taken by the British Broadcasting Company in 2002 revealed that millions in England viewed him as the greatest Briton of all time (Buchanan 351). He was the “British Bulldog” who defied the power of the Nazi menace, and who fueled nationalist pride in a way that translated to almost mythic proportions. In a very real sense, Churchill’s leadership, very much founded on his personal presence and his speeches to the people, gave World War II a classic aspect. Even though this was a modern war being fought with modern technologies, his stance and the ideals he insisted upon reflected ancient European struggles. With Churchill at the helm of the state, the Nazi threat was not unlike the invasion of the Spanish Armada in the 16^th century. In both scenarios, a national and cultural spirit became an immense part of the national defense, and Churchill virtually insisted on developing this patriotic fever.

That year of 1940, when Churchill became Prime Minister, was among the the most years in England’s history. It was certainly so for Churchill, who often referred to it as the greatest year of his life and career. The German invasion of France began in May of that year, just as Churchill was elected, and he immediately represented British response by presiding over the legendary Battle of Britain and the evacuation of the island of Dunkirk. What is less known is that, in this crucial time, Churchill was weighing different options. Just before Dunkirk, he was considering negotiations with Germany, which would cede to the nation certain territories in exchange for an assurance of British independence. It was a momentous decision, and it relied on a conviction that Hitler’s ambitions could be reasonably met, or controlled. High-level meetings occurred between Churchill, Foreign Secretary Halifax, and former Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, and this is when Churchill seems to have admitted the possibility of negotiation. The reality was that England was in serious trouble, as the U.S. and the Soviet Union had not yet committed support to the Allied cause (Buchanan 359). Halifax had suggested that talks with Hitler could be engaged through Mussolini, and Churchill listened.

What actually turned the tide is not known, but the most likely cause was Hitler himself. Simply, convinced of success, Hitler did not perceive any need to negotiate, as he also had a strategy in mind to disarm any threat from England. In July of 1940, Hitler informed his generals that the conquest of Russia would completely destroy any English hopes of salvation, as Germany would then have control over most of Europe. Russia was Britain’s great ally; without its support, England would fall, and this was always Hitler’s primary aim. In August of that year, he told his Field Marshal Keitel: “’The ultimate objective of the Reich is the defeat of Great Britain’” (Buchanan 366). Equally importantly, and probably going to Churchill’s decision to fight to the end, Churchill himself fully understood the importance of England to Hitler: “’Hitler knows that he has to break us in this island or lose the war’” (Buchanan 366). The reality was inescapable; the longer Britain held out, the more likely it was that the U.S. and Russia would rise to the German challenge, and this would be a combined force even Hitler saw as too formidable.

History, of course, records all the many and violent battles of World War II, as well as the sometimes internecine struggles between allies. For example, Churchill’s relationship with Soviet Premier Stalin during these years was, at best, ambivalent; Stalin insulted Churchill and, allied or not, Churchill came to see that the Russians intended to devastate Poland as effectively as the Germans (Buchanan 374). Other scenarios of negotiation and shifting interests occurred as well, but these were largely hidden to the public. What the British saw in the war years was a single leader committed to standing firm against an insatiably hungry, evil power. What they also received was a rime Minister who had a remarkable understanding of the powers of both persona and the language of his people. Much about Churchill’s person and manner of speaking was plainly archaic. He had been born and raised an aristocrat from another era, and there was something inherently outrageous in this character in the modern world of the time. Nonetheless, all this became his greatest strength, even beyond that of strategy. On one level, Churchill’s old-fashion and hyper-British persona elicited traditional feelings of pride in the English. He relied on this, for Churchill never lost sight of the fact that the people themselves were both what was at stake and the greatest weapon the nation had. Then, his very aristocratic, flamboyant speech worked as great oration always does: it stirred the people by virtue of its grandeur. Noted American journalist Edward R. Murrow put it, perhaps, best when he said that Churchill mobilized the English language and sent it into war (Catherwood 88). Even as he knew that his rhetoric was largely directed to heads of state, and also crucial in attracting U.S. and Russian sympathies and efforts as the war in Europe developed, he never lost sight of his main audience, the British people. Essentially, Churchill was the voice and spirit of an island country defying the massive power of an invading force, and he instilled in the people the same spirit of national pride he drew upon.

Conclusion

From an early life as a privileged boy of Victorian society, Winston Churchill forged a career in the military and in politics largely to echo his father’s achievements, and to make a place for himself based on a sense of personal destiny. His efforts in the British government during World War I prepared him for how this destiny would finally take shape, as the nation relied on him to lead it in a fight for survival. Statecraft and strategy, not always of the most skilled kind, were exercised by Churchill in the tumultuous years of World War II, but nothing compares to his legacy as an inspirational leader. Employing rhetoric both grandiose and archaic, he touched millions, generated necessary support from other world powers, and became the voice of freedom in a world very much under the threat of conquest. The achievement is universally acknowledged, even if the talents of the man are sometimes questioned. Winston Churchill must live on in the annals of history as an enormously powerful inspiration and motivating presence during World War II, and one that greatly affected the course of the war.

References

Ball, Stuart. Winston Churchill. New York: New York University Press, 2003.

Buchanan, Patrick Joseph. Churchill, Hitler, and the Unnecessary War: How Britain Lost Its Empire and the West Lost the World. New York, Random House, 2008.

Catherwood, Christopher. Winston Churchill: The Flawed Genius of World War II. New York: Berkley Caliber, 2010.

Gilbert, Martin. Winston Churchill’s War Leadership. New York: Random House, 2004.

Keegan, John. Winston Churchill: A Life. New York: Penguin, 2007.

Perry, John. Winston Churchill. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2010.

Rasor, Eugene L. Winston S. Churchill, 1874-1965: A Comprehensive Historiography and Annotated Bibliography. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2000.

Severance, John B. Winston Churchill: Soldier, Statesman, Artist. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1996.

Wrigley, Chris. Winston Churchill: A Biographical Companion. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2002.