English statesman, writer and prime minister, b. 30 November 1874 (Blendheim Palace, Oxfordshire, England), d. 24 January 1965 (London)
Winston Churchill was a member of the British ruling class by birth. His father, Lord Randolph Churchill, was a conservative (Tory) politician who traced his family back to the first Duke of Marlborough of the early 18th century. As is customary in such families, the young Winston grew up looked after by an employed nurse and neglected by his parents. Sent to an elite school, he showed little academic ability. His father decided that the only choice could be a military career, and after two unsuccessful attempts Winston managed to pass the entry examinations to the Royal Military College.
From his completion of the College in 1895 until 1899 Churchill served in the colonies, mainly India and Egypt, where he developed his interest in writing by serving as a war correspondent and writing a romance novel in his sparetime.
His income as a writer allowed Churchill to leave the military and enter politics. For the next 30 years he stood as a candidate for parliament for the conservatives, for the liberals and as an independent. His convictions combined romantic admiration for Britain as as a world power with advocacy of free trade. The latter aspect dominated during the years 1904 - 1911, when his support of liberal policies led him to embrace some degree of social reform - he was instrumental in completing legislation for the 8-hour day in the mining industry, setting up trade boards that fixed the minimum wage, and introducing labour exchanges to combat unemployment, measures for which the Torys branded him a traitor to their class. He lost the respect of the trade unions during his term as Home Secretary (minister of the interor) in 1911, when he came down heavily on public unrest.
World War I changed Churchill's emphasis back to defence of the British empire. He returned briefly to military duty in 1915. The establishment of a Soviet government in 1917 made him an ardent anti-communist and anti-socialist. He lost his parliamentary seat in 1922, but in 1924 he was back in parliament and appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer (finance mininster). His actions were in part responsible for a general strike in 1926, and he lost his position when the government fell in 1929.
During the next 10 years Churchill devoted himself to the writing of historical works and to warning the government of the threat of war with Hitler's Germany. With the help of a physics professor from Oxford University he set up a private intelligence centre that rivalled the government's intelligence network. In 1935 he was appointed to the government's secret committee on air-defence research.
When World War II broke out Churchill was the only politician who recognized the gravity of the situation. In 1939 he was put in charge of the navy. In 1940 he became prime minister of a war coalition government that included Torys, Liberals and Labour. He declared: "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat." His determination and tenacity allowed Britain to withstand the German onslaught. Hitler's attack on the Soviet Union made him set aside his anti-communism and form a true alliance with Stalin, sending support and weaponry to the Soviet Union.
As victory became more and more certain, all parties wanted to distance themselves from their opponents, and Churchill's coalition government crumbled. Churchill was elected prime minister again in 1951 but did not have much to offer in peacetime. His support for the idea of European union (directed mainly against the Soviet Union) was unpopular, and his beloved British Empire was being dismantled. Churchill retired in 1955.
Churchill's standing among historians of the Western World as a statesman is mainly the result of his leadership during World War II, for which he was highly regarded by all sections of society. As a writer Churchill was also very successful; he received the Nobel Price for Literature in 1953. Among his major works are
The final assessment will have to take into account the atrocities for which Churchill has to bear responsibility. During his term as Minister for War and Minister for Air at the end of World War I, when he was faced in 1920 with an uprising in Iraq against British rule, he promoted "the provision of some kind of asphyxiating bombs" and said: "I do not understand this squeamishness about the use of gas. I am strongly in favour of using poison gas against uncivilised tribes."
Towards the end of World War II Churchill ordered the bombing of several German cities (in which the USA participated) when Germany's capitulation was already imminent. The deployment of incendiary bombs on the civilian population was of no military value; in every city it resulted in tens of thousands of civilian deaths.