Wintston Churchill will long be remembered for successfully leading Britain through WW2 and his vehement stance against Hitler and the Nazis. He was also a journalist and writer-winning the Nobel Peace Prize for Literature.
At Blenheim Castle, located in the county of Oxfordshire in England, a garden party was held in the evening with a thousand shining lights whilst its guests gather for a second a second dance. Notably the owner's wife, Jenny Jerome, was absent. Somewhere behind closed doors of the residence, she was giving birth to Winston Churchill.
Churchill was nonchalant towards his studies at Sandhurst's military academy and found himself as the war correspondent during the bloody battle of Omdurman. 11,000 Egyptians were murdered by the pounding British artillery. He would later write as Prime Minister of a beleaguered England, "Thus ended the Battle Omdurman, was the most signal triumph ever gained by the arms of science over barbarians".
Amidst the Boer War, Churchill, who was then a wartime correspondent for "The Daily Telegraph", was captured after the train he was traveling on was derailed in South Africa. He manages to escape during incredible circumstances and returns home a hero.
After these events he gains the nick-name "The Last Lion". Churchill then left the military for a different kind of battle - in the political ring. Crowned with glory after his escape, Churchill then becomes a member of Parliament as a Conservative before finally joining the Liberals four years later
And so the lion entered the arena: in the space of 14 years, Churchill held the roles of Chairman of the Department of Commerce, Interior Minister, Minister of Munitions, Secretary of State for War and for Air and Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies. His stubborn character, most notably during the railway strike of 1911, earned him the reputation as a strict leader towards the working classes.
Meanwhile : Tsunamy in Italy & Sicily : 100,000 dead ...more
Two years after being ousted from government, Church returned to the political stage as Chancellor of the Exchequer. He had growing suspicious about European activity, noticing early on the threat posed by the rise of Nazi Germany, but his warnings unfortunately went unheeded. On the other hand, as far as Italy was concerned, the country's leader Mussolini had his support but he would regret it.
Churchill succeeded an ill Chamberlain as Prime Minister. In doing so, he promised to give England nothing but "blood, toil, tears and sweat", and organized the evacuation of Dunkirk which in turn led to De Gaulle's launch of his famous "Appeal of 18th June " speech a month later.
The last barrier between the free world remained with Churchill standing alone, facing the armies of the Third Reich. For one year, known as "The Lonely Year", the man known for "V for Victory" and his penchant for whiskey and cigars, stood up to the German U-Boats and the Luftwaffe. As he declared on August 20th 1940 to the Commons, "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few".
Yet the national hero was defeated in the elections with Churchill proclaiming his famous speech at Fulton. Ever the visionary, he predicted the fall of the "Iron Curtain", which would cut Europe in two for more than 50 years
As an author he won the Nobel Peace Prize for his three volumes of memoirs. A hard nosed politician, as well as a soldier, journalist and painter in his free time, Churchill will be remembered just as much for his clairvoyant quotes - laced in irony and black humor. One time when De Gaulle criticized his gait, Churchill quipped back in response; "What do you want then? It's not given to all to be dressed as the unknown soldier!"
Throughout his life he had countless brushes with death, and was particularly worried he would catch syphilis (from which his father had died of at 45 years old). He died at 90 years old.
