Sir Winston Churchill was undoubtedly a powerful and influential person for Britain. Churchill had countless heroic actions in his lifetime from standing up to Adolf Hitler, reconstructing Britain, and escaping war captivity. Now that you have a little insight on Winston Churchill let me take you on an awe-inspiring journey into Churchill’s life. The powerful Winston Churchill was born on November 30, 1874. He was born into an Aristocratic family and grew up in Dublin, Ireland. His father, Lord Randolph Churchill, was employed by his Grandfather who was the 7th Duke of Marlborough.
His mother was a New York socialite. Churchill did poorly in his first two schools where he showed signs of being a rebellious and independent student. He was sent to a boarding school near London, Harrow School, in April of 1888. He joined the Harrow Rifle Corps only weeks into his enrollment. This put him on an unexpected military path. Churchill decided that he wanted to join the British Royal Military College. However, it took him three times to pass the entry exam but he was persistent. Once in the school Churchill excelled and graduated 20th of 130 students.
At this time Churchill’s relationship with his parents became unquestionably distant. His father died when he was 21, Churchill knew more about his father’s reputation than he knew him personally. His mother rarely came to visit Churchill at college. Churchill went on to have an eventful military career after he graduated college. Although Churchill had a short-lived military career, it was a remarkably eventful one. Churchill served in the Indian Northwest Frontier and the Sudan when he joined the Fourth Hussars in 1895. At the Battle of Omdurman in 1998 Churchill saw a great deal of action.
In the years of Churchill’s military career he wrote two books, “The Story of the Malakand Field Force” (1898) and “The River War” (1899), about his experiences. He wrote various military reports for The Pioneer and the Daily Telegraph. When Churchill left the army in 1899, he went to work for the Morning Post as a War Correspondent. He was working on a scouting assignment during the Boer War in South Africa when he was captured by the enemy. Churchill made headlines by escaping and traveling almost 300 miles to the Portuguese Territory in Mozambique.
Churchill wrote a third book about this journey, “London to Ladysmith” (1900), when he returned to Britain. Soon after Churchill returned to Britain he begun his government career and followed in his father’s footsteps.. He became a Member of Parliament in the Conservative Party for a town in Manchester called Oldham in 1900. In 1904 Churchill switched to the Liberty Party. He was then appointed to the position of Prime Minister’s Cabinet as president of Board and Trade. Later that year he married Clementine Ogilvy Hozier. Now as President of Board and Trade he joined Chancellor Lloyd George in opposing the expansion of the British Navy.
Also Churchill introduced several reforms of the prison system, minimum wage, and help set up labor exchanges for the unemployed in 1908. Additionally he helped in passing the People’s Budget, which taxed the wealthy to pay for the new welfare programs. This was passed by the House of Commons in 1909, but ultimately turned down by the House of Lords. Finally, in 1910 it was passed. While Churchill was serving as First Lord of the Admiralty he helped the british navy to take a leap forward. He had them build an oil fired ship instead of coal fired ship. In addition Churchill set up the Royal Navy Air Service and promoted military aircrafts.
Churchill then joined the British Army commanding the battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers on the Western Front lines and seeing action in “no man’s land“. He furthermore oversaw the production of munitions, tanks, and airplanes. Churchill served as Minister of War and Colonial Secretary under Prime Minister David Lloyd George from 1919 to 1922. Churchill was defeated as a member of Parliament in 1922 due to cracks in the Liberal Party. He then switched back and joined the Conservative Party where he served as the Chancellor of the Exchequer. He returned Britain to the exceptional “gold standard”.
Churchill was out of the Government in 1929 due to the defeat of the Conservative Party. In the next few years of Churchill’s life he wrote and published “A History of English Speaking Peoples”. Churchill was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty and a member of the War cabinet on September 3, 1939, the day that Britain declared war on Germany. Churchill was Chairman of the Military Coordinating Committee by April of 1940. Germany invaded Norway later that month. Parlament lead a vote of no confidence toward Prime Minister Chamberlain in May. King George VI appointed Churchill the position Prime Minister on May 10.
A few hours later Germany’s army began its offence towards the west. Germany invaded the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. Churchill made one of his most remembered speeches to the House of Commons on June 18, 1940. He kept hope alive during the war. Churchill created a foundation for an alliance with the Soviet Union and United States. In the 1930’s Churchill had already cultivated a relationship with the U. S. President Franklin Roosevelt. By March 1941 Churchill secured U. S. aid through the Lend Lease Act. This allowed Britain to purchase war material from the U. S. on credit. The United States entered the war in December of 1941.
Churchill worked closely with the President of the U. S. and Soviet Union leader for the next few months. The three leaders then held a meeting in Teheran (1943), Yalta (February 1945), and Potsdam (July 1945) to come up with a strategy. They conjointly came up with an idea for the post war world where the United Nations would be the centerpiece. When Churchill ran for re-election he was shot down in the election in July of 1945 because he was thought of as a “war time Prime Min In the following years had not fully lost his impact. He joined the Opposition Party and became the leader.
This party continued to have an impact on the world after the war. While Churchill was on a visit to the United States he delivered another one of his famous speeches the “Iron Curtain” in March 1946. This speech warned of the Soviet control in Eastern Europe. Churchill over and above suggested that Britain remained independent. Churchill got elected as Minister of Defence in in 1951. He served at this position between October of 1951 and January of 1952. Churchill then became Prime Minister in October of 1951. He was then Knighted by Queen Elizabeth Il in 1953. While in power he set in motion several reforms.
The Mine and Quarries act of 1954, this improved the working conditions for miners. He then introduced the Housing Repairs and Rent Act of 1955, this set standards for housing. These reforms we trailed by a series of foreign policy crises in Malaya and Kenya. Churchill ordered help from their military for the countries. Although Britain put down the rebellions it showed them that they were losing their colonial rule. Churchill was now growing old and weary. He was showing signs of weak health at this time. He suffered a mild heart attack in 1943. Not long after he suffered a similar attack when he contracted pneumonia.
Churchill, at age 78, suffered from a series of strokes at his office in June of 1953. Parliament officials announced that he suffering from exhaustion. His health improved and he returned to work as Prime Minister in October. It was now obvious to Churchill that he was starting to slow down. Churchill officially retired from the position of Prime Minister in 1955. He remained a member of Parliament until the re-election in 1964 when he did not run. There were Rumors that Churchill suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. Medical experts thought differently though. They thought that his mental state was caused by the strokes he had suffered.
Although Churchill was not himself fully he still remained active in his personal and public life, mostly in the comfort of his home in Kent and Hyde Park Gate, in London. Winston Churchill suffered a massive stroke with left him immensely ill. Nine days later Churchill, at the age of ninety, died at his home in London on January 24, 1965. Britain suffered a great loss that day. Now that I have taken you on this incredible journey through Sir Winston Churchill’s life don’t you agree that he is one of the most powerful and most influential people in Britain’s history?
We now know that Winston Churchill turned the tide in WWII, built Britain back up from the ashes, and established new reform acts in Britain all during and after the war. Churchill also served as Prime Minister for an astounding nine years. He served in the government for a considerable amount of time. Sir Winston Churchill once said ” History will be kind to me for | intend to write it. ” Now I see that Winston Churchill did not only write history he became history.
