Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill (http://rohrbachlibrary.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/churchill.jpg)

Winston Churchill grew up and lived in a different time in comparison to us and because of this the challenges he faced are ones that we cannot relate to but he met each and every one of his obstacles and tackled them with pride and honor. He was born on the 30th of November 1874, he was born into a modestly wealthy family. His mother died when he was very young and his relationship with his father was far from close. He grew up and was raised in a way by boarding school after boarding school. After this period of his life, he did very poorly in school for which he was punished by his then distant father.

His military career began when he transferred to Harrow School where he excelled at English and History and soon became the school’s fencing champion. He then joined the Harrow Rifle Corps and from here on in his achievements went from higher plateau to higher plateau until he achieved arguably the most impressive thing that any human being has ever done.

Winston Churchill achieved many things in the army as his career there expanded, as did his achievements. His greatest included escaping from a prisoner of war camp and traveling through the dessert for hundreds of miles only to rejoin the army and request to be placed directly into the next battle. It was for this show of courage and charisma for which he would almost be awarded the Victoria Cross and this would be the manner in which he would address all his challenges in the future. Not only did he participate in the battles but he also worked as a war correspondent for several prominent newspapers in England which gave people back home the impression that he was not only a national hero for his escape in South Africa, but also that he was an intellectual.

Over the next several years he was promoted from rank to rank until 1900 when he decided to run for election in the English political system. He was elected and over the next couple of years he shifted in and out of the political spot light but was never the center of attention for an extended period of time. When the First World War started he was placed in the Landship Commission which was another word for tank commission meaning if it were not for Churchill there would not have been tanks on the field of modern combat. After the First World War his political career went into decline and it was until mid-way through the Great Depression during the 1930s that he came back into power.

Throughout the 1930s Hitler was gradually gaining power and it seemed that Churchill was the only outspoken member of Parliament who vehemently opposed Hitler and believed that world governments should act before it was too late. He tried to convince the then prime minister of England, Neville Chamberlain, to stop his method of appeasement and to act decisively and if necessary use force.

Unfortunately the world and the then prime minster did not heed the warning of Churchill and war was declared on the third of September 1939. Winston Churchill was then elected soon after in a landslide because everyone then realized he was the only one who was ready to handle the current situation having once been in the army and being heavily involved in the First World War. As well as this everyone now realized that he had been right the entire time about the Germans, and Hitler.

Throughout the war he led England against German occupied Europe and at times he literally stood alone with the United Kingdom, being the only unoccupied country that was in open war with Germany. He made many inspirational speeches, made crucial political alliances, and against all odds helped lead the Allied nations to an invaluable victory against the evil Nazi-led Germany. His contributions to history have been monumental. Even though at times he was seen as a war-mongering old man, he will go done in history as the greatest Briton ever, not just in my opinion, but as well in a national poll taken in 2001.

Winston Churchill grew up for the most part at his family’s ancestral home which was Blenheim Palace, Oxforshire. He then later moved with his wife to 33 Eccleston Square, quickly followed by a move to his eventual permanent residence of Chartwell where he lived until he died of a stroke at the age of ninety.

I have always looked up to Winston Churchill because my mother has a degree in history and therefore drags me to all sorts of historical places and through this I have come to the conclusion that no-one other than Winston Churchill could have led a nation to resist the Germans and therefore I believe that it is in part just because of him that we are still able to speak English and not German.