Winston Churchill, Part 1 | Preparing for Destiny

It is said that famous men are unusually the product of unhappy childhood. The stern compression of circumstances, the twinges of adversity, the spur of slights and taunts in early years, are needed to evoke that ruthless fixity of purpose and tenacious mother-wit without which great actions are seldom accomplished.” 

-          Winston Churchill, Marlborough

They walked through the park and coming up on a stream, found the shallows and tried to cross. He went first, forging the way for her to show the best path. At the midpoint his shoe slipped upon a rock and he fell in.

She and their friend laughed. As he composed himself, he joined them and raised his wet face to the warm sun. They offered to help him out of the water, but he refused. The cold water of the stream falling over his submerged legs and waist, he continued his conversation them both occasionally splashing and popping bubbles as they formed from the foam. When Winston Churchill finally rose from the water, he took no assistance and issued no complaint. “Accept the circumstances in which we fall. The strength in knowing we are all wet is reality of accepting our station. From there, we may walk on.”

The three merged back on to the path, and walked on.

Early Life and Influence

Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was born to Lord Randolph and Jennie Churchill on November 30, 1874 in his ancestral home of Blenheim Palace. Direct decedents of the Dukes of Marlborough, the Churchill family were part of the highest levels of British aristocracy. Despite this – and due to some unsavory actions by his father, Randolph Churchill – Winston and his family spent his early years in Dublin. His earliest memory was of a speech given by his grandfather at the unveiling of a statue in Phoenix Park where he, at the age of three, gained a reverence for the British monarchy that he would carry for the rest of his life. His other memory was of being thrown from a donkey after encountering the march by the Rifle Brigade, in which he sustained a “concussion of the brain”, later saying, “This was my first introduction to Irish politics.”

His mother was a socialite and his father an elected official to the House of Commons, which left little time for Winston or his brother Jack. The neglect of Winston is well-recorded both in the journal of Lord Randolph and the diary of Jennie, the later only including small notes of “saw the children” among a sea of entries detailing teas, social events, and evenings with suitors. One saving grace during this period in Winston’s life was the influence of his loving nanny, Elizabeth Everest, whom he would write about later as, “She had been my dearest and most intimate friend during the whole of the twenty years I had lived.” At the age of seven he was sent to St. Georges School in Ascot, Berkshire, where he performed poorly and regularly misbehaved. It was during this time that he began his lifelong habit of memorizing large amounts of text and prose. After a terrible experience at St. Georges, he was sent to Brunswick School in Hove. There he became a voracious reader, consuming any and all books he could access in addition to pursuing other activities that he would later use in his life such as learning French, history, riding, swimming and memorizing poetry.  He barely passed entrance exams for the elite Harrow School where he would stay until is acceptance into the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst. For fifteen months he was trained as a cavalryman before graduating in 1894.

During this time his father, Lord Randolph began to degrade mentally due to an undisclosed illness. His mother – from whom he was now entirely estranged – went to his father’s side and the two decided to do a round-the-world trip. Winston later recalled, “I never saw him again, except as a swiftly fading shadow.” His father’s death had a profound effect on the young Winston. Napoleon – one of Winston’s heroes – said if you want to know a man look at the world when he was twenty. For Winston, his early habits of romanticization spilled over into – or originated from – his need to know his father and make him proud. This need would be present for the rest of his life.

The Rising Leader

In late 1894, a twenty-year-old Winston gave his first public speech. Not long after he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 4th Queen’s Own Hussars regiment of the British Army, and did his best to use his mother’s influence to be sent into an active war zone. He and a friend went to Cuba to observe the war of independence where Winston encountered his first taste of combat. Winston took this experience with him when he traveled to India which was under British control. There, he sought to remedy his self-diagnosed illness of being poorly educated by reading widely, beginning with Gibbon’s 4,000 page, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire – which he reread two additional times in his life. He also spent time learning about politics, asking family and friends back home to send him copies of The Annual Register so he could stay attuned to British politics. He would also request speeches from the Parliamentary floor and other writings linked to that branch of government. These verbal engagements captivated a young Churchill, influenced his rising interest in politics, and inspired his hard-fought ability to speak publicly that he would master later in life. While in India, Winston fought in a large battle in the Swat Valley of Northwest India which later in life he simply – and fatalistically and sarcastically – described as, “They wanted to shoot us and we wanted to shoot at them. So a lot of people were killed, and on our side their widows have had to be pensioned by the Imperial Government, and the others badly wounded and hopped around for the rest of their lives, and it was all very exciting, and for those who did not get kill or hurt, very jolly.”

After his time in India, he petitioned to serve in the Sudan under Herbert Kitchener, at which he succeeded. The war was bloody and revealing for Churchill as he became increasingly critical of Kitchener’s methods and treatment of enemy wounded, especially after the Battle of Omdurman where the British fought a major Sudanese leader and his forces and as a result, did not elect to stay once his service was up. Once back in England, he wrote his second book, The River War, documenting the campaign and his experiences in South Africa. During this time, he conducted his first political campaign as “conservative and Tory Democrat” but lost narrowly to his liberal opponent.

As news of a second Boer War began to spread in 1899, Winston sailed as a journalist writing for both The Daily Mail and The Morning Post to Cape Town with plans to proceed to Ladysmith, which was under siege by Boer troops.  During the journey, his train was derailed by shelling from the Boers and he was taken as a prisoner of war. After a short period, the 25-year-old Winston learned the guard rotation and during an opportune moment, scaled the fence surrounding the camp and escaped. Having gained his freedom, he now needed to cross over three hundred miles of enemy territory with no map, compass, food, or money. He looked the stars to guide him. “Orion shone brightly…he should lead me to freedom.” Upon his return he lauded with praise for his escape from the camp. He used this new-found notoriety to once again attempt to gain public office as an MP. This time he was successful, elected as one of the Conservative candidates at Oldham in October 1900.

As stated by Andrew Roberts in his book, Churchill: Walking with Destiny, “Before the new MP had even taken his seat, he had fought in four wars, published five books, written 215 newspaper and magazine articles, participated in the greatest cavalry charge in a half a century and made a spectacular escape from prison. ‘At twenty-five he had fought in more continents than any soldier in his tour save Napoleon,’ a contemporary profile of him was to proclaim, ‘and seen as many campaigns as any living general.’”

This Glorious, Delicious War – WW1 and Consequences

His Conservative loyalty didn’t last long. Dissatisfaction with conservative policies, infighting within the party and his outspoken support of liberal candidates lead him to “cross the floor” in 1904, defecting from the Conservatives to sit as a member of the Liberal Party, which gain the majority in the election that same year. Winston served in several positions in the new government, such President of the Board of Trade, Home Secretary, and finally, First Lord of the Admiralty. As First Lord, Churchill spent years building up naval bases, fleets, and stations, all while researching new technology that could give the British and edge in combat. This increased in 1912 as a result of Germany passing its Navy Law and strengthening its maritime forces. As the Germans continued their military buildup, Churchill was more and more convinced that war was on the horizon. Preparing the British fleet for the impending conflict was his singular focus, as described by a commandant, “Everything…was subordinated in his mind to a single purpose – getting the Fleet ready for a war in which Germany would be the Enemy.”

The First World War – for more information, see "No Peace Till Victory" in Season One – began in 1914 and the prepared Churchill “embarked on the Great War like a dynamo”, organizing meetings, attending War Cabinet meetings, and streamlining communications and decision-making at the Admiralty. It wasn’t long before the navy transported over 120,000 troops to France, began the blockade of German seaports, the landing of Marines in strategic locations, and sending submarines to intercept German naval supply lines. As the war drew on and the casualties mounted, Churchill looked to the Royal Navy to break the stalemate through an offensive. His attention went to aiding the Russians in the East by launching an offensive against Turkey in the Dardanelles. The Gallipoli campaign saw almost 350,000 British and Allied forces combat 315,000 Turkish forces. The ten-month campaign ended in absolute disaster, with over 305,000 British and Allied forces being killed or wounded, resulting in a full withdrawal. The blame was laid on Churchill, who stepped down the from the Admiralty – though he still remained an MP. Instead of retreating into private life, he went to the trenches of Europe to fight the Germans. This move was the first step in the restoration of his name in both the public and private realm. Upon his return to England, he went on to serve as the Minister of Munitions, Secretary of State for War and Air, and the Secretary of State for the Colonies.

The Wilderness Years

In 1922, he lost his seat during a change in government until 1924 when he became the Chancellor of the Exchequer officially rejoining the Conservative Party. “Everybody said that I was the worst Chancellor of the Exchequer that ever was. And now I’m inclined to agree with them. So now the world is unanimous,” said Churchill of himself in 1930. The Conservative Party was defeated in 1929 and though Winston retained his parliamentary seat, a new Labour government was forming and he soon found himself out of government.

Called the “Wilderness Years”, 1929-1939 saw an out-of-office Churchill remaining active in politics while pursuing his personal interests and generating income to compensate for his losses during the stock market crash of 1930. In 1930 he began work on Marlborough: His Life and Times, a 2,000+ page biography of his ancestor, John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough. Despite not holding office, Churchill continued to draw crowds with his parliamentary speeches and embraced speaking opportunities all over Great Britain and the United States. He delivered an average of 51 speeches per year, totaling over five hundred by the end of 1939. He wrote hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles and befriended American businessmen and celebrities such as William Randolph Hearst and Charlie Chaplin. As his oratory and writing skill kept him in the public eye, he worked behind the scenes to stay aligned and befriend new political contacts. Throughout all his activities both in public speaking and writing, a warning emerged that wove itself into the threads of his vast work during those years. It was a warning that would be unique to Churchill and which spoke of a rising evil to be answered only by action, not appeasement – Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany.

Seizing the Premiership

“Let us free the world from the approach of a catastrophe, carrying with it calamity and tribulation, beyond the tongue of man to tell.” Such speeches like this one from 1936 were common from Churchill, who argued in favor of rearmament of British forces, investment in air power, raising questions about Germany’s continued military buildup, and the need for the British government to distrust Hitler's promises. Political opponents dismissed his oratory flourishes with attacks on his judgement, citing failings in the past such as the Gallipoli Campaign. In 1937, Neville Chamberlain became prime minister, a move that was at first celebrated by Churchill. It soon became apparent that Chamberlain’s goal was appeasement rather than action, since the prime minister believed that the world had seen enough war and thought trade agreements and defensive alliances would stop the German and Italian juggernauts.

This culminated in 1938 with the Munich Agreement, which saw Great Britain allow Nazi Germany to annex what was then Czechoslovakia. The pact was celebrated across Europe as a deterrent to war and Chamberlain returned to Great Britain as a hero. Back in the House of Commons, Churchill eviscerated the agreement as a total and unmitigated disaster. “This is only the beginning of the reckoning. This is only the first sip, the first foretaste of a biter cup which will be proffered to us year by year…unless by supreme recover of moral health and martial vigor, we arise again an take our stand for freedom as in the olden time.” As history has shown, Churchill was right. Nazi forces continued to move across Europe, asking for peace after each advancement and pressuring the world to answer with either a declaration or war or a signature proving that they would do nothing to stop it. One year later, Great Britain declared war on Germany after its invasion of Poland, and Churchill was reappointed First Lord of the Admiralty.

Throughout for the next nine months Churchill would work to slow the Nazi advancement through the launching of offensives in Norway and raiding enemy shipping at sea. Due the rate which German forces were advancing and the tactics utilized within the advance, this work was largely unsuccessful. In May 1940, the Nazis invaded France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Earlier that same week, the Labour Party opposition had pushed for a vote of no confidence in the Chamberlain government. The prime minister responded by trying to form a coalition but it was made clear that the majority would not serve under his leadership. In contrast, there was considerable support for both Winston and Lord Edward Halifax, the Foreign Secretary, who turned down the premiership. At this, Chamberlain – knowing that he was finished – advised the King to send for Churchill who accepted the role as Prime Minister on May 10, 1940. The years that followed would be the test that Winston had prepared for his entire life.

“At last, I had the authority to give direction over the whole scene. I felt as if I were walking with destiny, and that all my past life had been but a preparation for this hour and for this trial…I thought I knew a good deal about it all, and I was sure I should not fail. I could discipline the bloody business at last. I had no feeling of personal inadequacy, or anything of that sort. Therefore, although impatient for the morning, I slept soundly and had no need for cheering dreams. Facts are better than dreams. I went to bed at three o’clock, and in the morning, I said to Clemmie (my wife), there is only one man who can turn me out and that is Hitler.”