Winston Churchill

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill was born on 30 November 1874 to Lord Randolph Harry Spencer Churchill and Lady Randolph Churchill(Jennie Jerome). Independent and rebellious by nature, Churchill generally did poorly in school, for which he was punished. He was educated at three independent schools: St. George's School in Ascot, Berkshire, followed by Brunswick School in Hove, near Brighton (the school has since been renamed Stoke Brunswick School and relocated to Ashurst Wood in West Sussex), and then at Harrow School on 17 April 1888, where his military career began. Within weeks of his arrival, he had joined the Harrow Rifle Corps. . He earned high marks in English and history and was also the school's fencing champion.

He was rarely visited by his mother (then known as Lady Randolph), and wrote letters begging her to either come to the school or to allow him to come home. His relationship with his father was a distant one, he once remarked that they barely spoke to each other. Due to this lack of parental contact he became very close to his nanny, Elizabeth Anne Everest. When, his father died when he was 45, Churchill was convinced that he would die young too, and thus this made him determined to be quick about making his mark on the world

Army(In brief)

From 1896 to 1897 Churchill served as a soldier and journalist in India, and wrote the basis for THE STORY OF THE MALAKAND FIELD FORCE (1898). "Writing is an adventure," Churchill once said. "To begin with, it is a toy and amusement. Then it becomes a mistress, then it becomes a master, then it becomes a tyrant. The last phase it that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster and fling him to the public."

In 1898 Churchill fought at the battle of Omdurman in Sudan, depicting his experiences in THE RIVER WAR, AN ACCOUNT OF THE RECONQUEST OF THE SUDAN (1899). Churchill's several books dealing with his early career include MY AFRICAN JOURNEY (1908) and MY EARLY LIFE (1930). Churchill resigned his commission in 1899, and was assigned to cover the Boer War for the London Morning Post. His adventures, capture by the Boers, and a daring escape, made Churchill celebrity and hero on his return to England in 1900.


Political Career

'Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, the whole world, including the Unites States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age, made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will say, "This was their finest hour."' (Churchill in his speech on June 18, 1940)

In the 1900 General Election Churchill was elected as the Conservative MP for Oldham. As a result of reading, Poverty, A Study Of Town Life by Seebohm Rowntree he became a supporter of social reform. In 1904, unconvinced by his party leaders desire for change, Churchill decided to join the Liberal Party.
In the 1906 General Election Churchill won North West Manchester and immediately became a member of the new Liberal government as Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies. When Herbert Asquith replaced Henry Campbell-Bannerman as Prime Minister in 1908 he promoted Churchill to his cabinet as President of the Board of Trade. While in this post he carried through important social legislation including the establishment of employment exchanges.
At the election of 1922 Churchill was defeated as an Anti-Socialist. A rabid anti-Bolshevik, he further alienated critics by a third abortive military expedition - to help the White Russians on the Murman Coast. He left Parliament in 1922, and returned to the House as a Conservative. From this period he is remembered for his role as chancellor of the exchequer (1924-29) for the part he played in defeating the General strike of 1926 as an opponent of organized labour when the latter came into direct conflict with the principle of public order and government. In 1923 Lord Alfred Douglas accused Churchill of having arranged the wartime death of Lord Kitchener. Douglas's source was a bogus captain who had been certified as a lunatic. Much later he addressed a sonnet to Winston Churchill. False news annoyed Churchill but also BBC - he saw it as a rival to his own British Gazette, edited from his official address at Downing Street.
With the outbreak of World War II Churchill was appointed first lord of the Admiralty. On May 10, 1940, he became Prime Minister, and established close ties with U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. His radio speeches strenghtened the nation's determination to win the war. "We shall not flag nor fail. We shall go on to the end. . . . We shall fight on the beaches . . . we shall fight in the fields and in the streets . . . we shall never surrender." In 2001, some sixty years later, President George W. Bush used an adaptation of these words in his speeches after a terrorist attack against World Trade Center on September 11. In November 1943 Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin met in Teheran and at the meeting Churchill presented Stalin with a sword of honor for the people of Stalingrad. The Yalta meeting with Roosevelt and Stalin resulted in the dissection of Europe into opposing political jurisdictions. His strategic misjudgment was blamed for the wartime success of Germany in Africa, Norway, and the Aegean. He had difficulties to tolerate Charles de Gaulle, and he told to a friend: "Of all the crosses I have to bear, the heaviest is the Cross of Lorraine." During the war Churchill was relatively healthy but in 1943 and 1944 he suffered pneumonia; also his long, official meals with Stalin, which could take four-five hours, gave him stomach pains. On 8 May Churchill announced the unconditional surrender of Germany. His Conservative party was defeated by the Labour party in the 1945 election, but he continued as Opposition leader in the House of Commons: against Indian independence, and in favor of the United Nations, a unified Europe, and manufacture of the hydrogen bomb.

Brief Outline

In 1951 Churchill became prime minister, and was knighted in 1953. Next year he was acclaimed by the Queen and Parliament as 'the greatest living Briton'. Churchill's efforts to bring an end to the first phase of the Cold War by a summit conference between himself, Eisenhower and Stalin (1952-55) turned out to be fruitless. He resigned from the prime minister's office in 1955 and was succeeded by Anthony Eden. He had suffered a paralytic stroke a few year before, and Lord Moran, his physician, gave him some stimulant, perhaps amphetamine. It is possible that Churchill took drugs, "Dr. Moran's green pills", before important political meetings. His diet was not healthy - he was overweight, did not take any unnecessary steps in his old days, and his servants helped him to dress and undress. After his retirement he published the monumental A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING PEOPLE (1956-58), which mostly dealt with politics and war. At Westerham, Kent, Churchill concentrated in painting, masonry, and horse racing. He frequently dictated letters to his secretaries half-dressed and often roamed around his rooms at Chartwell nude when he awoke. During this last period of his life, when he was not in the center of political power, he also suffered from depression.


Feelings

I feel that Winston Churchill is a great leader as he served his country well and was determined not let his country fall to their enemies. He was a brave soldier as well. However, in spite of his greatness he has his bad points as well. Although he knew that he was overweight, he did not do anything to make himself healthier, tasking his servants to dress and undress him. It could be that he was too used to the rich man's lifestyle. However, all in all I feel that Winston Churchill was a great man