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“The World Crisis” (4) Dardanelles: Success Has 1000 Fathers
04
Mar
2024
The War Council waxed euphoric over Dardanelles prospects, "turning eagerly from the dreary vista of a ‘slogging match’ on the Western Front." Next, why not a naval attack up the Danube, landing at Salonika, and sending a fleet up the Adriatic? One member envisioned the end of the Ottoman Empire and expansion of the British Empire as far as Palestine. None of these naively optimistic visions were voiced by Winston Churchill.
“Fighting Retreat” by Walter Reid: Did Churchill Really Hate India?
26
Feb
2024
The promise of Dominion status required only that Congress, the Muslim League and the princes agree on power-sharing at a federal Centre. To blame Churchill for the internal divisions that obstructed such a coalition obfuscates reality. A power-sharing deal between Nehru and Jinnah would have made nonsense of Churchill’s fears. Instead, India’s fragile imperial unity fell apart under majoritarian strains. That gave Churchill the dubious distinction of being proved right.
Churchill in Film and Video: Part 1, Dramatizations
23
Feb
2024
1
Churchill bio-films began well and generally of high quality for decades. Four of the all-time classics appeared early: “Young Winston” (1972), “The Wilderness Years” “The Gathering Storm” and “Jennie” (1974), and “The Wilderness Years” (1981). A long, mixed spell ensued, though there were many honorable mentions. In 2018, Garry Oldman starred in another superb production, “Darkest Hour,” proving that there is hope yet.
Moments in Time : The Churchills at Colonsay, September 1912
19
Feb
2024
Churchill’s many voyages aboard HMS Enchantress are relatively little known, although occasionally snippets come out. With the help of Dr. Leigh Knight of Colonsay, we unearthed the hitherto almost unknown account of his 1912 visit to the Hebrides, during fleet manoeuvres in September 1912—and a century-old vision that came true during his visit.
Pericles and Churchill: Matching Leadership, Millennia Apart
15
Feb
2024
Pericles sought to preserve Athens, its glory, power and reputation. Churchill demanded struggle not only for Britain, but for the very meaning of Britain—something larger than its borders, more powerful than its military strength and, ultimately more important than its survival: liberty. Churchill’s war was a battle for the freedom of man, to be defended first at home and then upon whatever far-flung fields the conflict would rage.
“The World Crisis” (3): Antwerp—Folly or Success?
13
Feb
2024
“Only one man of all your people had the prevision of what the loss of Antwerp would entail and that man was Mr. Churchill. Delaying an enemy is often of far greater service than the defeat of the enemy. The delay the Royal Naval Division caused was of inestimable service to us. These three days allowed the French and British Armies to move northwest. Otherwise, our whole army might have been captured and the Northern French Ports secured by the enemy.” —King Albert of the Belgians
Who Really “Shaped” Winston Churchill?
09
Feb
2024
“Mirrors of Greatness” mainly substitutes figures Churchill interacted with for those who actually shaped him. Where are the people who really influenced Churchill before he was “firmly set” in his character—in his mid-twenties? Besides Bourke Cockran, whom he revered all his life, where are Elizabeth Everest, Lady Randolph Churchill, Pamela Plowden, John Morley, Bindon Blood and Bishop James Welldon? None are included.
“Churchill Always Admired and Offered Peace to Mussolini”
06
Feb
2024
One tends to say polite things about a nation’s leader when he has promised to pay your country a lot of money. Things changed when Mussolini declared war on the Allies in June 1940. Three years later he was deposed, and Churchill told Parliament. “The keystone of the Fascist arch has crumbled.” Long before then, Mussolini had long gone from “renowned chief” to “hyena” in the Churchill lexicon.
“The World Crisis” (2): The Marne and Its Meaning
29
Jan
2024
“One must suppose upon the whole that the Marne was the greatest battle ever fought in the world,” Winston Churchill wrote in 1931. Its scale, he added, “far exceeded anything that has ever happened.” It actually “decided the World War,” for “never after the Marne had Germany a chance of absolute triumph.”
Writers and Writing: Churchill to the Authors’ Club
22
Jan
2024
“Someone—I forget who—has said: ‘Words are the only things which last forever.’ That is, to my mind, always a wonderful thought. The most durable structures raised in stone by the strength of man, the mightiest monuments of his power, crumble into dust, while the words endure. And, leaping across the gulf of three thousand years, they light the world for us today.”
Jack Pease Insights on the 1911-15 Liberal Government
15
Jan
2024
Pease enhances our understanding Cabinet decisions during the Great War’s first critical months, hitherto mainly represented by Asquith’s gossipy letters to his lady friend. But virtually every entry is accompanied by a superb editorial gloss that not only fills in the context but acts as a review of all recent scholarship on the subject covered, or alluded to in the entry. Everything is good about this book—except the price.
Great Writing: Churchill as Biographer, Novelist, Explorer, Memoirist
11
Jan
2024
“Churchill offers a striking and a moving picture. A close observance of the words, however, will show that its vividness is built up entirely by the use of simple words simply arrayed. It owes nothing to elaboration, nothing to stilted conception. Its effectiveness is the direct result of clarity.”