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Articles
Churchill’s Travels: Fifty-six Countries, Ninety Years
- By PER ERIKSSON
- | April 22, 2024
- Category: Personal Matters Resources
Winston Churchill was a grand traveler throughout his life and visited a vast number of countries. His travels largely occurred when aircraft were either non-existent or rarely used. They sometimes were taken at great risk of his life. Among contemporary statesmen, Churchill must have been one of the most well-travelled, if not the record-holder. Of course, his travels included repeat visits to several countries. A lifetime Francophile, he went to France countless times. The more distant United States and Canada received him frequently.
The following is a chronological list of fifty-six countries, the dates of his first visit, what he did there, and his comments about each (if not on the same date, the year is provided). I have omitted places he passed aboard ship where I cannot confirm he went ashore. If his remarks were addressed to anyone in particular, they are identified. (In very old age, his words are sometimes quoted by others present.) For ease of reference, the presentation is chronological by year or alphabetical if all in the same year. An appendix lists the countries alphabetically. The name of each country is that by which it is known today. If a country had another name when Churchill visited, it is noted in parentheses.
This list has no claim to be complete, and we continue to confirm the dates of his first visits. One advantage of online publishing online corrections can be entered seriatim. Comments and corrections are most welcome. Please email The Churchill Project.
Youth 1874-1894
United Kingdom, 1874. Born at Blenheim Palace, seat of the Seventh Duke of Marlborough. “Although present on that occasion I have no clear recollection of the events leading up to it.” (Passim.)
Ireland (then part of UK), 1877. Winston’s grandfather, the Seventh Duke, is named Viceroy of Ireland. “My earliest memories are Ireland [and of] the old Duke, the formidable grandpapa, talking loudly to the crowd….” (1930)
France, 1883. To Paris with his father. “[One] of the monuments was covered with wreaths and crepe and I at once asked him why. He replied, ‘These are monuments of the Provinces of France. Two of them, Alsace and Lorraine, have been taken from France by the Germans in the last war. The French are very unhappy about it and hope some day to get them back.’ I remember quite distinctly thinking to myself, ‘I hope they will get them back.’ (1930)
Switzerland, 1893. Climbs the Wetterhorn and Monte Rosa. “The spectacle of the sunrise striking the peaks of the Bernese Oberland is a marvel of light and colour unsurpassed in my experience.” (1930)
Belgium, 1894. Visits the Waterloo battlefield. “Our ancestors after the Napoleonic wars at least sought for finality…. In fact, never was there a period after the battle of Waterloo when France, so long the dominating power, could be a menace to Europe.” (1937)
War Correspondent, 1895-1898
Cuba, 1895. Observes fighting between the Spanish and Cuban rebels. “The Spanish officer whose hammock was slung between me and the enemy’s fire was a man of substantial physique; indeed one might almost have called him fat. I have never been prejudiced against fat men.” (1930)
United States, 1895. On the first of sixteen visits to the United States, visits New York and West Point. To his brother: “This is a very great country, my dear Jack. Not pretty or romantic but great and utilitarian…. Everything is eminently practical.”
Egypt, 1896. En route India, reaches Port Said on 20 September: “a dirty, squalid and uninteresting place and I do not regret that we steam at noon today [21st].”
India, 1896. Arrives at Bombay with the Fourth Hussars, to be based in Bangalore. To his mother: “Above all write yourself long, long, letters. Every word is thoroughly appreciated out here in this godless land of snobs and bores.”
Pakistan (then Northwest Frontier of India), 1897. Attached to Malakand Field Force, sent to protect Punjabi and other farmers from the rapacity of Afridi, Talib and other raider tribes. “Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result.” (1898)
Sudan (then the Mahdist State of Mahdiyya), 1898. Attached to the 21st Lancers, who famously charged at Omdurman. “It was very stimulating, but I did think, ‘Suppose there is a spoil-sport in the hole with a machine gun?’” (1955)
Soldier and Author, 1899-1900
Portugal, 1899. Stops at Madeira en route to South Africa, very seasick but enjoying the local wines, including a vintage Madeira. To his mother: “[D]o you realize this Madeira was made when Marie Antoinette was still alive?”
Mozambique (then Portuguese East Africa), 1899. Arrives after escape from Pretoria (see below). “I pushed my head out of the tarpaulin and sang and shouted and crowed at the top of my voice. Indeed, I was so carried away by thankfulness and delight that I fired my revolver two or three times in the air as a feu de joie. None of these follies led to any evil results.” (1930)
South Africa (then including Transvaal and Cape Colony) 1899. Arrives Cape Town; captured by the Boers two weeks later. To Boer War Secretary Louis d’Souza: “I do not concede that your Government was justified in holding me…and I have consequently resolved to escape. Regretting that I am unable to bid you a more ceremonious or a personal farewell…”
Canada, 1900. Lectures on his South African adventures. To his mother: I have had a most successful meeting at Winnipeg. Fancy twenty years ago there were only a few mud huts—tents…and last night a magnificent audience of men in evening dress & ladies half out of it, filled a fine opera house and we took $1150 at the doors.” (1901)
On the Continent, 1906
Austria, 1906. Travels to Vienna on his way to Italy. “[T]he control of Vienna enables the economic fortunes of all the States of the Danubian Basin to be manipulated, exploited, and controlled….” (1938)
Czech Republic (then part of Austria-Hungary), 1906. Shoots hare and partridges at Baron de Forest’s estate in Eichhorn, Moravia. “I go on by the night train to Vienna and Eichhorn. It has been very pleasant.”
Germany, 1906. Travels to Berlin en route to German army maneuvers. “This army is a terrible engine. It marches sometimes thirty-five miles in a day. It is in number as the sands of the sea—and with all the modern conveniences.” (1909)
Italy, 1906. “Forty miles an hour across Italy: Bologna, Ravenna, Rimini, Urbino, San Martino, Perugia, Siena. Such a lot of churches we have seen and saints and pictures ‘galore.’ Today is the Atonement and our Jehu is fasting in solitude.”
Poland, 1906. Observes German maneuvers with Kaiser Wilhelm II in Breslau (now Wroclaw, Poland). “[T]he soul of Poland is indestructible…. She will rise again like a rock, which may for a spell be submerged by a tidal wave, but which remains a rock.” (1944)
Mediterranean and Africa, 1907-08
Cyprus (then Ottoman Empire, British administered), 1907. Travels en route to British East Africa. “Greek unity demonstration, though aggressive, not hostile to British Government…. Island has been terribly starved by Treasury and bears deep mark in moral and material conditions.”
Kenya (then British East Africa), 1907. “From the railway one can see literally every animal in the zoo. Zebras, lions, rhinoceros, antelopes of every kind, ostriches, giraffes all—on their day—and often five or six different kinds are in sight at the same moment.”
Malta (then British colony), 1907. First of six visits. “Here we are installed in much state in this wonderful old Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Malta…. I have spent all day receiving functionaries. It is a wonderful place altogether.”
Somalia (then British Somaliland), 1907. “I have availed myself of this [authority] to include Berbera, Somaliland, in my tour. I think [to spend] two days looking into the affairs of the Somaliland Protectorate—upon which we spend £76,000 a year with uncommonly little return.”
Uganda (then a British colony), 1907. Kampala “is buried under the leaves of innumerable banana plantations, which afford shade and food to its people, and amid which their huts are thickly scattered and absolutely concealed.” (1908)
Yemen (then British Aden), 1907. Stops after passing through the Red Sea. “[T]he advantages of coming under the Colonial Office are indisputable. We already look after all the other fortresses on the road to India—Malta, Gibraltar, the Cape, and Aden is only the last link.”
Prelude to the Great War, 1913-14
Albania, 1913. Fishing and hunting near Valona. “If a world war should be forced upon us…it might well be that the earliest decisions would be reached in the Mediterranean, and these decisions would bring consequential disasters upon the Italian armies in Abyssinia, Libya, Spain and Albania.” (1939)
Bosnia and Herzegovina (then part of Austria-Hungary), 1913. Travels to Trebinje. “The southern Slavs lay astride the Imperial frontiers…. [L]arge numbers of Slavonic folk dwelt north of the Danube and in the provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina.” (1931)
Montenegro, 1913. Visits Kotor aboard the Admiralty yacht HMS Enchantress . “History reeked with the wrongs which Montenegro, Bulgaria and Greece had suffered at Turkish hands. By the desperate struggles of generations they had freed themselves from Turkish yoke.” (1931)
Spain, 1914. Easter in Madrid with Clementine. “The Spaniards have long memories, and I was not at all surprised when, in the Great War, they showed themselves extremely frigid towards a combination which included the descendants of the Napoleonic invaders.” (1931)
Between the World Wars, 1921-1935
Israel (then Palestine Mandate), 1921. “[I]t is manifestly right that the Jews…should have a national centre and a National Home…. And where else could that be but in this land of Palestine, with which for more than 3000 years they have been intimately and profoundly associated?”
Monaco, 1922. Loses a small fortune gambling. To his wife: “[In] the lap of luxury at Monte Carlo…. the Monegasques gathered in crowds and welcomed me on every occasion with the greatest fervour. We had our meals on the veranda facing the Casino but I did not transgress the eighty paces which separated me from that unsinkable institution.” (1945)
Greece, 1927. Travels to Athens. “Now, I am a great admirer of the Greeks, although, of course, I have to depend upon what others tell me about them, and I would like to see our educationists imitate in one respect, at least, the Greek example. How is it that the Greeks made their language the most graceful and compendious mode of expression ever known among men?” (1908)
The Bahamas (then a British colony), 1932. “I listened to speeches affirming the long-proved loyalty of The Bahamas to the British Crown…. These admirable sentiments are supported by a public revenue which, though reduced in this hard year, is nevertheless four times what it was before the United States voted dry and felt thirsty.”
Jordan (then Palestine Mandate), 1934. Visits the ancient city of Petra. “I have no hostility for the Arabs…. The Emir Abdullah is in Transjordania, where I put him one Sunday afternoon at Jerusalem.” (1936)
* * *
Lebanon, 1934. Beirut on holiday with Clementine. To Desmond Morton, sent to quell Beirut rioting: “Take my aircraft and a case of scotch for ‘Jumbo,’ [General Wilson] a case of arak for [Lebanese Prime Minister] Riad Al Sohl, and six cases of champagne for the Frenchman.” Reconciliation was promptly achieved. (1943)
Luxembourg, 1934. Visits while researching Marlborough. After the war he travels again to Luxembourg, where he is awarded honorary citizenship. “And when one considers countries like Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, and so on…I cannot see why there should not be a continuous confluence of ideas and goodwill between them all.” (1948)
Netherlands, 1934. Visits while researching Marlborough. “In the long, fierce convulsions in Europe which followed the Reformation…Holland and England were left as the foremost upholders of freedom. Our ancestors stood together on the bloody dykes, and there are few cities in the Netherlands which do not enshrine the memories of brave resolves and famous feats of arms.” (1946)
Syria (then Syria Mandate), 1934. “The French troops [in 1920] threw the Emir Faisal out of Damascus [and] settled down in the occupation of this splendid province, repressed the subsequent revolts with the utmost sternness….” (1935)
Turkey, 1934. Travels to Turkey on a Mediterranean cruise with Lord Moyne. Returns in 1943: “Do you know what happened to me today? The Turkish President kissed me. The truth is I’m irresistible. But don’t tell Anthony [Eden], he’s jealous.” (1943)
Morocco (then French overseas territory), 1935. First visit to Marrakesh, “the Paris of the Sahara…. including fortune-tellers, snake-charmers, masses of food and drink, and on the whole the largest and most elaborately organized brothels in the African continent. All these institutions were of long and ancient repute.” (1943)
Wartime Travels, 1941-44
Iceland, 1941. Stops on return from Atlantic Charter meeting in Newfoundland. “I found time to see the new airfields we were making, and also to visit the wonderful hot springs and the glass-houses they are made to serve. I thought immediately that they should also be used to heat Reykjavik, and…am glad that it has now been carried out.” (1950)
Russia, 1942. First meeting with Stalin, Moscow. “I pondered on my mission to this sullen, sinister Bolshevik State I had once tried so hard to strangle at its birth, and which, until Hitler appeared, I had regarded as the mortal foe of civilised freedom. What was it my duty to say to them now?” (written 1950)
Iran (then Persia), 1943. Tehran Conference. “There I sat with the great Russian bear on one side of me, with paws outstretched, and on the other side the great American buffalo and between the two sat the poor little English donkey who was the only one, the only one of the three, who knew the right way home.” (1944)
Algeria (then French overseas territory), 1943. Allied planning conference in Algiers. “The murder of Darlan still imposed many precautions on all prominent figures. The cabinet continued to show concern about my safety, and evidently wanted me home as soon as possible. This at least was complimentary.” (written 1951)
* * *
Libya (then Italian North Africa), 1943. Visits British Eighth Army, Tripoli. “Let me then assure you, soldiers and airmen, that your fellow-countrymen regard your joint work with admiration and gratitude, and that after the war when a man is asked what he did it will be quite sufficient for him to say, ‘I marched and fought with the Desert Army.’”
Tunisia (then French protectorate), 1943. Rallies troops in Carthage. To his bodyguard: “Thompson, I am tired out in body, soul and spirit. All is planned and ready. In what better place could I die than here in the ruins of Carthage?”
Vatican City, 1944. Meets with Pope Pius XII. “[The Pope] declaimed a fine passage from Macaulay’s essay on Ranke’s History of the Papacy, setting forth how the Roman Catholic Church in the course of two thousand years had outlived all other institutions. He felt that there must be something in a faith that could survive so many centuries and had held captive so many men.”
Ukraine (then part of USSR), 1945. Yalta Conference, Crimea. “There could be no greater advantage to the famine areas of Central Europe than the re-establishment of a peaceful state in the Ukraine on the basis which permitted economic and commercial transactions to take place. It is there in the Ukraine, and not in the starving regions of Russia reduced to destitution under Bolshevik rule, that an addition to the food supply may be hoped for.” (1920)
Postwar Travels, 1946-53
Norway, 1948. Receives honorary degree from Oslo University. “Your Majesty, you have said [that] after the fall of France, that we were all alone. Well, I am very glad to be able to say that at that time we had the Norwegian Merchant Navy… [and] many millions of tons of merchant shipping, manned by hardy and courageous men from Norway, played a very definite part in our existence.”
Denmark, 1950. Tours Carlsberg brewery where a special, strong beer, 9% alcohol with cognac flavors, had been brewed for him. “Here I may mention a debt which Britain owes to the ancient Danes. We did not regard it as such at the time. The Danish sailors from the ‘long ships’ who fought ashore as soldiers brought with them into England a new principle represented by a class, the peasant-yeoman-proprietor. The sailors became soldiers. The soldiers became farmers.”
Jamaica (then a British colony), 1953. Arrives via presidential aircraft provided by President Truman. “I am resting in this pleasant but rather warm and today cloudy Island. We had a very rough flight here.” Sends condolences on the death of Eddie Marsh: “All his long life was serene, and he left that world I trust without a pang and I am sure without a fear.”
Croatia (then part of Yugoslavia), 1960. Meets Marshal Tito in Split, then travels to Dubrovnik. “In the autumn of 1941, Marshal Tito’s Partisans began a wild and furious war for existence against the Germans…. For them, it was death or freedom…. Led with great skill, organized on the guerrilla principle, they were at once elusive and deadly.” (1944)
Caribbean Cruising, 1960-61
Barbados (then a British colony), 1960. “You should have one of these cigars, Governor.” The Governor-General, Sir John Strow, recalled: “He asked about the habits of the flying fish, which was on the menu. Luckily I was fairly well informed on the subject…. He proceeded to ask ‘supplementaries’ as if he was teasing a Government minister from the Opposition benches.”
Antigua (then a British colony), 1960. Visits during cruise aboard the Onassis yacht Christina. “My mind is very empty all day.” Lord Moran: “The police beat the retreat [then] played familiar hymns, ending with ‘Abide with me, fast falls the eventide,’ and ‘The day Thou gavest, Lord, is ended.’ Winston…did not leave his car. He was put out. He had wanted to be taken over to Nelson’s dockyard. After Napoleon, Nelson has been his idol.”
Saint Lucia (then a British colony, West Indies Federation), 1960. Arrived aboard Christina. Administrator Ian Turbott: “We put on a full Beating Retreat ceremony…. He rather enjoyed startling some guests when they asked him something by loudly saying ‘No’ (to any question at all), and then he would turn to me and say in his deep voice: ‘I didn’t hear the proposition—even if I did, it is better to say no to start with.'”
Trinidad (then a British colony, now part of Trinidad and Tobago), 1961. Visits Port-of-Spain during cruise aboard the Onassis yacht Christina. Governor-General Lord Hailes: “[W]hat immense pleasure it gave Diana and me, and those thousands who greeted you, to see you in Port of Spain. I have never seen such crowds and such enthusiasm in Port of Spain, and it was very moving….”
Appendix: Alphabetical List
All the countries visited including present and past names with years of first arrival:
Aden 1907, Algeria 1943, Albania 1913, Antigua 1960, Austria 1906, Austria-Hungary 1906, Bahamas 1932, Barbados 1960, Belgium 1894, Bosnia and Herzegovina 1913 British East Africa 1907, British Somaliland 1907, Canada 1900, Cape Colony 1899, Cuba 1895, Croatia 1960, Cyprus 1907, Czech Republic 1906, Denmark 1950, Egypt 1896, France 1883, French Overseas Territory 1935, Germany 1906, Greece 1927, Iceland 1941, Ireland 1877, India 1896, Israel 1921 Italian North Africa 1943, Italy 1906, Jamaica 1953, Jordan 1934, Kenya 1907, Lebanon 1934, Libya 1943, Luxembourg 1934.
Mahdiyya 1898, Malta 1907, Monaco 1922, Montenegro, 1913, Morocco 1935, Mozambique 1899, Netherlands 1934, Northwest Frontier, India 1897, Norway 1948, Ottoman Empire 1907, Pakistan 1897, Palestine Mandate 1921, Poland 1906, Portugal 1899, Portuguese East Africa 1899, Russia 1942, Saint Lucia 1960, Somalia 1907, South Africa 1899, Spain 1914, Sudan 1898, Switzerland 1893, Syria 1934, Syrian Mandate 1934, Transvaal 1899 Trinidad and Tobago 1961, Turkey 1934, Uganda 1907, Ukraine 1945, United Kingdom 1874, United States 1895, Vatican City 1944, West Indies Federation 1961, Yemen 1907.
The author
Per Eriksson studied business and law, and is a self-employed minerals dealer living in Waterloo, Belgium since the early 1990s. “I always wanted to study history but in the process of making a living it became a pastime. I am a great Anglophile and reader, lately of the ‘Chips’ Channon Diaries and Andrew Roberts’ works on Churchill’s life and times. Also I enjoy rugby and cricket, though I don’t really understand the latter.” (Lord Roberts replies, “Not to worry, the British don’t understand it either.”) We thank Mr. Eriksson (who has himself visited forty-seven U.S. states and twenty-seven capitals) for the interest that prompted him to share his research with the Churchill Project.
Many thanks for the very helpful compilation of first visits to countries. First visits to Egypt and to what is now Mozambique are out of order. WSC’s first visit to Egypt (excepting, as the compiler states, his possible stop at Port Said en route to India earlier) was in 1898, rather than in 1899, because he advanced into the Sudan by traveling from the Mediterranean Sea coast of Egypt to the southern border on his way to Omdurman. Mozambique is listed in the right year, but should be lower on the list, after South Africa, in 1899.
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Actually he first went ashore in Egypt in 1896 (revised accordingly). For ease of reference, no attempt is made to arrange countries of the same years in the order he visited them, which in some cases is not known. “The presentation is chronological by year or alphabetical if all in the same year.”