Allied Leaders of World War II/Churchill

"Winston Churchill"

Churchill was born in southern England, in Oxfordshire. His father's family was in the line of the Dukes of Marlborough,* and his mother was an American, the daughter of a millionaire. He became a cavalry officer in the late 1800s, and he then served as a war correspondent in Cuba, where Cuban rebels were battling the Spanish (Cuba was then a Spanish possession). It was in Cuba where he developed his famous cigar smoking. He later went to South Africa (as a correspondent), where the Boer War was in progress. He was captured, but escaped and managed to travel some distance to safety, making him a well known name in Britain, and not long thereafter, he was elected to Parliament as a member of the Conservative Party.** During World War One, Churchill was "First Lord of the Admiralty,"*** where his reputation suffered due to misadventures in the Mediterranean area, but he then took active command of a battalion in an effort to re-establish himself in the military and in the public mind. It wasn't long before he returned to England where he served in several government posts in the last part of the war and into the postwar era. It was during this time he developed a reputation as a staunch anti-communist.

In the mid 1920s, Churchill was elected to Parliament (again), but as an independent, although a short time later he became a member of the Conservative Party (again), and he then became a member of the Conservative government of Stanley Baldwin, where he supported the return of Britain to the gold standard, which in turn helped foster a deflationary recession, during which he firmly opposed a labor strike. It was during this era that Churchill praised Italian dictator Benito Mussolini for his firm approach to Italian government. Churchill had moved substantially to the political right. When a coalition government headed by Labour Party**** leader Ramsey MacDonald was formed heading into the 1930s, Churchill was left out, although he continued to be controversial. One of the hot issues of the 1930s in Britain was the status of India, then a British colony.***** Churchill did not favor independence for India, even saying the independence movement there would have to be "crushed," and using harsh words to describe the Indian leaders, including Mohandas Gandhi, better known to some as "Mahatma Gandhi."

Where Churchill eventually gained ground politically, was over the issue of Germany, especially after fascist Adolf Hitler began aggressive foreign policy moves, but his fervent anti-communism gave him something of a split personality regarding fascism, as he continued to offer up kind words for Mussolini, and "seemingly" supported the fascist and fascist-supported forces in Spain under General Franco, which would eventually replace the Spanish Republic at the end of the Spanish Civil War.^ He even had some positive comments about Hitler and Nazism in the mid 1930s, especially when contrasted to communism. On the other hand, throughout much of the mid 1930s, and certainly thereafter, Churchill spoke in favor of Britain needing to modernize its armed forces and rearm in the face of possible German aggression. This was the beginning of a new phase in Churchill's life, a phase that would make him internationally known, and a great leader.

Part Two will deal with the World War Two era.

* The first Duke of Marlborough, a title created by Queen Anne, was a Churchill in 1702. He had no surviving sons, but Parliament permitted his eldest daughter to retain the title. She married an earl with the family name "Spencer;" thus, the name of succeeding Dukes of Marlborough became "Spencer," but a few generations later, by special permission of the Crown, the hyphenated name "Spencer-Churchill" was used, to pay homage the the original holder and their Churchill ancestor. Thereafter, some used only "Churchill" for the name, while others used the double form.

** Within a couple of years Churchill saw the need for reforms in Britain, and he changed to the Liberal Party. This would not be his only change.

*** Churchill saw the potential for aircraft to support ships, and he developed an arm of the Royal Navy which dealt with aircraft. Later too in colonial affairs, Churchill supported the use of aircraft to bomb rebellious tribesmen to conserve on the use of ground troops.

**** American spelling uses "labor" versus British "labour," just as with "favor" versus British "favour," and "honor" versus "honour."

***** At that time, India included Pakistan. Later, upon Indian independence in 1947, Pakistan, heavily Muslim in population, was created as a separate country, but in two parts: West Pakistan, the Pakistan of today, and East Pakistan, which lay about 1000 miles away, and which became a separate nation itself in late 1971, as Bangladesh.

^ The Spanish Civil War is complex, but in very simple terms, the government was "leftist," including communists, and its opponents "rightists," including fascists, and Churchill's anti-communism seemed to cause him to side with the "rightists." For a little more info, see my article: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2011/07/german-question-part-one-hundred-twenty.html

WORD HISTORY:
Bitter-This goes back to Indo European "bheid," which meant "to split, to cut," and it is the source of "bite." This gave Old Germanic "bitraz/bitras," which meant "bitter; that is, "biting in taste." This gave Anglo-Saxon (Old English) "biter" (presumed to have had a short "i") and then "bitter," as it has remained for all of these centuries. Of course the meaning has broadened beyond taste to "a mood of anger or even cruelty." Common throughout the other Germanic languages: German, Low German, Dutch, West Frisian, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian all have "bitter," while Icelandic has "bitur."