View source for Winston Churchill

{{Short description|British statesman and writer (1874–1965)}}
{{Redirect|Churchill||Churchill (disambiguation)|and|Winston Churchill (disambiguation)}}
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{{Use British English|date=March 2026}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2026}}
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{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix = [[The Right Honourable]]
| name             = Sir Winston Churchill
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|KG|OM|CH|TD|DL|FRS|RA|size=100%}}
| image            = Sir Winston Churchill - 19086236948 (restored).jpg
| alt              = Three-quarter length portrait photograph of Churchill, 67, wearing a suit, standing and holding onto the back of a chair
| caption          = ''[[The Roaring Lion]]'', 1941
| office           = [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom]]
| monarch          = {{plainlist|
* [[George VI]]
* [[Elizabeth II]]
}}
| term_start       = 26 October 1951
| term_end         = 5 April 1955
| 1blankname       = [[Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Deputy]]
| 1namedata        = [[Anthony Eden]]
| predecessor      = [[Clement Attlee]]
| successor        = Anthony Eden
| monarch1         = George VI
| 1blankname1      = [[Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Deputy]]
| 1namedata1       = Clement Attlee (''de facto''; 1942–1945)
| term_start1      = 10 May 1940
| term_end1        = 26 July 1945
| predecessor1     = [[Neville Chamberlain]]
| successor1       = Clement Attlee
{{collapsed infobox section begin
| cont = yes
| Senior political offices
| titlestyle = border:1px dashed lightgrey;
}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| embed           = yes
| office          = [[Father of the House (United Kingdom)|Father of the House of Commons]]
| term_start      = 8 October 1959
| term_end        = 25 September 1964
| predecessor     = [[David Grenfell]]
| successor       = [[Rab Butler]]
| office1         = [[Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom)|Leader of the Opposition]]
| prime_minister1 = Clement Attlee
| term_start1     = 26 July 1945
| term_end1       = 26 October 1951
| predecessor1    = Clement Attlee
| successor1      = Clement Attlee
| office2         = [[Leader of the Conservative Party (UK)|Leader of the Conservative Party]]
| term_start2     = 9 October 1940
| term_end2       = 6 April 1955
| predecessor2    = Neville Chamberlain
| successor2      = Anthony Eden
{{Collapsed infobox section end}}
}}
{{Collapsed infobox section begin
| cont = yes
| Ministerial offices {{nobold|1939{{nbnd}}1952}}
| titlestyle = border:1px dashed lightgrey;
}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| embed           = yes
| office          = [[Minister of Defence (United Kingdom)|Minister of Defence]]
| prime_minister  = ''Himself''
| term_start      = 28 October 1951
| term_end        = 1 March 1952
| predecessor     = [[Manny Shinwell]]
| successor       = [[Harold Alexander]]
| prime_minister1 = ''Himself''
| term_start1     = 10 May 1940
| term_end1       = 26 July 1945
| predecessor1    = [[Ernle Chatfield]] ([[Minister for Co-ordination of Defence|Coordination of Defence]])
| successor1      = Clement Attlee
| office2         = [[First Lord of the Admiralty]]
| prime_minister2 = Neville Chamberlain
| term_start2     = 3 September 1939
| term_end2       = 11 May 1940
| predecessor2    = [[James Stanhope, 7th Earl Stanhope|James Stanhope]]
| successor2      = [[A. V. Alexander]]
{{Collapsed infobox section end}}
}}
{{collapsed infobox section begin
| cont = yes
| Ministerial offices {{nobold|1908{{nbnd}}1929}}
| titlestyle = border:1px dashed lightgrey;
}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| embed           = yes
| office          = [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]]
| prime_minister  = [[Stanley Baldwin]]
| term_start      = 6 November 1924
| term_end        = 4 June 1929
| predecessor     = [[Philip Snowden]]
| successor       = Philip Snowden
| office1         = [[Secretary of State for the Colonies]]
| prime_minister1 = [[David Lloyd George]]
| term_start1     = 13 February 1921
| term_end1       = 19 October 1922
| predecessor1    = [[Alfred Milner]]
| successor1      = [[Victor Cavendish]]
| office2         = [[Secretary of State for Air]]
| prime_minister2 = David Lloyd George
| term_start2     = 10 January 1919
| term_end2       = 13 February 1921
| predecessor2    = [[William Weir, 1st Viscount Weir|William Weir]]
| successor2      = [[Frederick Guest]]
| office3         = [[Secretary of State for War]]
| prime_minister3 = David Lloyd George
| term_start3     = 10 January 1919
| term_end3       = 13 February 1921
| predecessor3    = The Viscount Milner
| successor3      = [[Laming Worthington-Evans]]
| office4         = [[Minister of Munitions]]
| prime_minister4 = David Lloyd George
| term_start4     = 17 July 1917
| term_end4       = 10 January 1919
| predecessor4    = [[Christopher Addison]]
| successor4      = [[Andrew Weir, 1st Baron Inverforth|Andrew Weir]]
| office5         = [[Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster]]
| prime_minister5 = [[H. H. Asquith]]
| term5           = {{Start and end dates|1915|05|25|1915|11|25|df=y}}
| predecessor5    = [[Edwin Montagu]]
| successor5      = [[Herbert Samuel]]
| office6         = First Lord of the Admiralty
| prime_minister6 = H. H. Asquith
| term_start6     = 24 October 1911
| term_end6       = 25 May 1915
| predecessor6    = [[Reginald McKenna]]
| successor6      = [[Arthur Balfour]]
| office7         = [[Home Secretary]]
| prime_minister7 = H. H. Asquith
| term_start7     = 19 February 1910
| term_end7       = 24 October 1911
| predecessor7    = [[Herbert Gladstone]]
| successor7      = Reginald McKenna
| office8         = [[President of the Board of Trade]]
| prime_minister8 = H. H. Asquith
| term_start8     = 12 April 1908
| term_end8       = 14 February 1910
| predecessor8    = David Lloyd George
| successor8      = [[Sydney Buxton]]
{{Collapsed infobox section end}}
}}
{{collapsed infobox section begin
| Parliamentary offices
| titlestyle = border:1px dashed lightgrey;
}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| embed = yes
| office9 = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]]
| constituency9 = [[Epping (UK Parliament constituency)|Epping]] (1924–1945)<br>[[Woodford (UK Parliament constituency)|Woodford]] (1945–1964)
| term_start9 = 29 October 1924
| term_end9 = 25 September 1964
| predecessor9 = [[Leonard Lyle]]
| successor9 = ''Constituency abolished''
| term_start10 = 24 October 1900
| term_end10 = 26 October 1922
| predecessor10 = [[Walter Runciman, 1st Viscount Runciman of Doxford|Walter Runciman]]
| successor10 = {{plainlist|
* [[Edwin Scrymgeour]]
* [[E. D. Morel]]
}}
| alongside10 = [[Alexander Wilkie]] <small>(1908–1922)</small>
| constituency10 = [[Oldham (UK Parliament constituency)|Oldham]] (1900–1906)<br>[[Manchester North West]] (1906–1908)<br>[[Dundee (UK Parliament constituency)|Dundee]] (1908–1922)
}}
{{Collapsed infobox section end}}
| birth_name       = <!--Only use if birth name is different from common or later name.-->
| birth_date       = {{birth date|1874|11|30|df=y}}
| birth_place      = [[Blenheim, Oxfordshire]], England
| death_date       = {{death date and age|1965|1|24|1874|11|30|df=yes}}
| death_place      = [[Hyde Park Gate]], London, England
| resting_place    = [[St Martin's Church, Bladon]], Oxfordshire
| party            = [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] {{awrap|(1899–1904, 1924–1964)}}
| other_party      = [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]] (1904–1924)<br>[[Constitutionalist (UK)|Constitutionalist]] (1924)
| spouse           = {{marriage|[[Clementine Hozier]]|12 September 1908}}
| children         = 5, including [[Diana Churchill|Diana]], [[Randolph Churchill|Randolph]], [[Sarah Churchill (actress)|Sarah]] and [[Mary Soames|Mary]]
| parents          = {{plainlist|
* [[Lord Randolph Churchill]]
* [[Jennie Jerome|Jeanette "Jennie" Jerome]]
}}
| relatives        = [[Spencer family]]
| education        = [[Royal Military College, Sandhurst]]
| occupation       = {{hlist|Historian|[[Winston Churchill as a painter|painter]]|politician|military officer|[[Winston Churchill as a writer|writer]]}}
| awards           = [[List of honours of Winston Churchill|Full list]]
<!--Military service-->
{{collapsed infobox section begin
| cont = yes
| Military positions
| titlestyle = border:1px dashed lightgrey;
}}
| allegiance       = [[British Empire]]
| branch           = {{plainlist|
* [[British Army]]
* [[Territorial Army (United Kingdom)|Territorial Army]] (from 1902)
}}
| unit             = {{plainlist|
* [[4th Queen's Own Hussars]]
* [[Siege of Malakand#Malakand Field Force|Malakand Field Force]]
* [[21st Lancers]]
* [[South African Light Horse]]
* {{longitem|[[Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars]]}}
* [[Grenadier Guards]]
* [[Royal Scots Fusiliers]]
}}
| service_years    = 1893–1924
| rank             = [[Colonel (United Kingdom)|Colonel]]<br>([[List of honours of Winston Churchill#Military ranks and titles|Full list]])
| commands         = 6th bn, Royal Scots Fusiliers
| battles          = {{plainlist|
* [[Military history of the North-West Frontier|North-West Frontier]]
* [[Mahdist War]]
* [[Second Boer War]]{{POW}}
* [[First World War]]
}}
| mawards          = [[List of honours of Winston Churchill#Orders, decorations and medals|Full list]]
{{Collapsed infobox section end}}
| module           = {{Listen voice
| name        = Churchill
| filename    = Winston Churchill - Be Ye Men of Valour.ogg
| description = [[Be ye men of valour]]
| recorded    = 19 May 1940
}}
}}

'''Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill'''{{efn|The surname is the [[Double-barrelled name#British tradition|double-barrelled]] ''[[Duke of Marlborough (title)|Spencer Churchill]]'' (unhyphenated), but he is known by the surname ''Churchill''. His father dropped the Spencer.{{sfn|Price|2009|p=12}}}} (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and [[Winston Churchill as a writer|writer]] who was [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom]] from 1940 to 1945, [[Winston Churchill in the Second World War|during the Second World War]], and again from 1951 to 1955. For some 62 of the years between 1900 and 1964, he was a [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (MP) and represented a total of five [[Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom|constituencies]] over that time. Ideologically an adherent to [[economic liberalism]] and [[imperialism]], he was for most of his career a member of the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]], which he led from 1940 to 1955. He was a member of the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]] from 1904 to 1924.

<!--Early life and career prior to the Second World War-->
Of mixed English and American parentage, Churchill was born in [[Oxfordshire]] into the wealthy, aristocratic [[Spencer family]]. He joined the [[British Army]] in 1895 and saw action in [[British Raj|British India]], the [[Mahdist War]] and the [[Second Boer War]], gaining fame as a [[war correspondent]] and writing books about his campaigns. Elected a Conservative MP in 1900, he defected to the Liberals in 1904. In [[H. H. Asquith]]'s [[Liberal government, 1905–1915|Liberal government]], Churchill was [[president of the Board of Trade]] and later [[Home Secretary]], championing prison reform and workers' social security. As [[First Lord of the Admiralty]] before and during the First World War he oversaw the disastrous [[Naval operations in the Dardanelles campaign|naval attack on the Dardanelles]] (a prelude to the [[Gallipoli campaign]]) and was demoted to [[Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster]]. He resigned in November 1915 and joined the [[Royal Scots Fusiliers]] on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] for six months. In 1917, he returned to government under [[David Lloyd George]] and served successively as [[Minister of Munitions]], [[Secretary of State for War]], [[Secretary of State for Air]], and [[Secretary of State for the Colonies]], overseeing the [[Anglo-Irish Treaty]] and [[British foreign policy in the Middle East]]. After two years out of Parliament, he was [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]] in [[Stanley Baldwin]]'s [[Second Baldwin ministry|Conservative government]], returning sterling in 1925 to the [[gold standard]], depressing the UK economy.

<!--Later life, the Second World War, and Cold War-->
Out of government during his so-called "[[Winston Churchill's "Wilderness" years, 1929–1939|wilderness years]]" in the 1930s, Churchill took the lead in calling for rearmament to counter the threat of [[militarism]] in [[Nazi Germany]]. At the outbreak of the Second World War he was re-appointed First Lord of the Admiralty. In May 1940, he became prime minister, succeeding [[Neville Chamberlain]]. Churchill formed a [[Churchill war ministry|national government]] and oversaw British involvement in the [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] war effort against the [[Axis powers]], resulting in [[End of World War II in Europe|victory in 1945]]. After the Conservatives' defeat in the [[1945 United Kingdom general election|1945 general election]], he became [[Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom)|Leader of the Opposition]]. Amid the developing [[Cold War]] with the [[Soviet Union]], he publicly warned of an "[[iron curtain]]" of Soviet influence in Europe and promoted European unity. Between his terms, he wrote [[The Second World War (book series)|several books]] recounting his experience during the war. He was awarded the [[Nobel Prize in Literature]] in 1953. He lost the [[1950 United Kingdom general election|1950 election]] but was returned to office [[1951 United Kingdom general election|in 1951]]. His [[Third Churchill ministry|second term]] was preoccupied with foreign affairs, especially [[Special Relationship|Anglo-American relations]] and preservation of what remained of the [[British Empire]], with India no longer a part of it. Domestically, his government's priority was their extensive and successful housebuilding programme. In declining health, Churchill resigned in 1955, remaining an MP [[1964 United Kingdom general election|until 1964]]. Upon his death in 1965, he was given [[Death and state funeral of Winston Churchill|a state funeral]].

<!--Reception and legacy-->
One of the 20th century's most significant figures, Churchill remains popular in the UK. He is generally viewed as a victorious wartime leader who played an integral role in defending [[liberal democracy]] against the spread of [[fascism]]. A staunch imperialist, he has sometimes been criticised for [[Racial views of Winston Churchill|comments on race]], in addition to some wartime decisions such as area bombing. [[Historical rankings of prime ministers of the United Kingdom|Historians rank]] Churchill as one of the greatest British prime ministers.

{{TOC limit|3}}

==Early life==
{{main|Early life of Winston Churchill}}

===Childhood and schooling: 1874–1895===
[[File:Jennie Churchill with her sons.jpg|thumb|[[Lady Randolph Churchill|Jennie Spencer Churchill]] with her two sons, [[John Strange Spencer-Churchill|Jack]] (''left'') and Winston (''right'') in 1889]]
Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was born on 30 November 1874 at his family's ancestral home, [[Blenheim Palace]] in [[Oxfordshire]].{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=5}} On his father's side, he was a member of the aristocracy as a descendant of [[John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough]].{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1p=1|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2pp=3, 5}} His father, [[Lord Randolph Churchill]], representing the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]], had been elected [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|member of parliament]] (MP) for [[Woodstock (UK Parliament constituency)|Woodstock]] in February 1874.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1p=1|2a1=Best|2y=2001|2p=3|3a1=Jenkins|3y=2001|3p=7|4a1=Robbins|4y=2014|4p=2}} His mother was [[Lady Randolph Churchill|Jennie, Lady Randolph Churchill]], a daughter of [[Leonard Jerome]], an American businessman.{{sfnm|1a1=Best|1y=2001|1p=4|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2pp=5–6|3a1=Addison|3y=2005|3p=7}}

In 1876, Churchill's paternal grandfather, [[John Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough]], was appointed [[Viceroy of Ireland]]. Randolph became his private secretary and the family relocated to [[Dublin]].{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1p=1|2a1=Addison|2y=2005|2p=9}} Winston's brother, [[John Strange Spencer-Churchill|Jack]], was born there in 1880.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1p=2|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2p=7|3a1=Addison|3y=2005|3p=10}} For much of the 1880s, Randolph and Jennie were effectively estranged,{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=8}} and the brothers were cared for by their nanny, [[Elizabeth Everest]].{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1pp=2–3|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2p=10|3a1=Reagles|3a2=Larsen|3y=2013|3p=8}} When she died in 1895, Churchill wrote "she had been my dearest and most intimate friend during the whole of the twenty years I had lived".{{sfn|Best|2001|p=6}}

Churchill began [[boarding school]] at [[St George's School, Ascot|St George's]] in [[Ascot, Berkshire]], aged 7, but he was not academic and his behaviour was poor.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1pp=3–5|2a1=Haffner|2y=2003|2p=12|3a1=Addison|3y=2005|3p=10}} In 1884, he transferred to [[Stoke Brunswick School|Brunswick School]] in [[Hove]], where his academic performance improved.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1pp=6–8|2a1=Haffner|2y=2003|2pp=12–13}} In April 1888, aged 13, he passed the entrance exam for [[Harrow School]].{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|pp=17–19}} His father wanted him to prepare for a military career, so his last three years at Harrow were in the army form.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1p=22|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2p=19}} After two unsuccessful attempts to gain admittance to the [[Royal Military College, Sandhurst]], he succeeded.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1pp=32–33, 37|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2p=20|3a1=Haffner|3y=2003|3p=15}} He was accepted as a [[cadet]] in the [[cavalry]], starting in September 1893.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1p=37|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2p=20–21}} His father died in January 1895.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1pp=48–49|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2p=21|3a1=Haffner|3y=2003|3p=32}}

===Cuba, India, and Sudan: 1895–1899===
[[File:Winston Churchill 1874 - 1965 ZZZ5426F.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|Churchill in the military dress uniform of the [[4th Queen's Own Hussars]] at [[Aldershot]] in 1895{{sfn|Haffner|2003|p=18}}]]
In February 1895, Churchill was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the [[4th Queen's Own Hussars]] regiment of the [[British Army]], based at [[Aldershot]].{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1p=51|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2p=21}} Eager to witness military action, he used his mother's influence to get posted to a war zone.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1p=62|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2p=28}} In the autumn, he and friend [[Reginald Barnes|Reggie Barnes]], went to observe the [[Cuban War of Independence]] and became involved in skirmishes after joining Spanish troops attempting to suppress independence fighters.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1pp=56, 58–60|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2pp=28–29|3a1=Robbins|3y=2014|3pp=14–15}} Churchill sent reports to the ''[[The Graphic|Daily Graphic]]'' in London.<ref name="HGN">{{Britannica|id=117269|title=Winston Churchill|author=Herbert G. Nicholas}}</ref> He proceeded to New York and wrote to his mother about "what an extraordinary people the Americans are!"{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=57}} With the Hussars, he went to [[Bombay]] in October 1896.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1p=63|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2p=22}} Based in [[Bangalore]], he was in India for 19 months, visiting [[Calcutta]] and joining expeditions to [[Hyderabad State|Hyderabad]] and the [[Military history of the North-West Frontier|North West Frontier]].{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1p=63|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2pp=23–24}}

In India, Churchill began a self-education project,{{sfnm|1a1=Jenkins|1y=2001|1pp=23–24|2a1=Haffner|2y=2003|2p=19}} reading widely including [[Plato]], [[Edward Gibbon]], [[Charles Darwin]] and [[Thomas Babington Macaulay]].{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1pp=67–68|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2pp=24–25|3a1=Haffner|3y=2003|3p=19}} The books were sent by his mother, with whom he shared frequent correspondence. To learn about politics, he asked her to send him copies of ''[[The Annual Register]]'', the political almanack.{{sfn|Roberts|2018|p=52}} In an 1898 letter, he referred to his beliefs, saying: "I do not accept the Christian or any other form of religious belief".{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=92}} Churchill had been [[Baptism|christened]] in the [[Church of England]]{{sfn|Reagles|Larsen|2013|p=8}} but underwent a virulently anti-Christian phase in his youth,{{sfnm|1a1=Addison|1y=1980|1p=29|2a1=Reagles|2a2=Larsen|2y=2013|2p=9}} and as an adult was an agnostic.{{sfnm|1a1=Haffner|1y=2003|1p=32|2a1=Reagles|2a2=Larsen|2y=2013|2p=8}} In another letter to a cousin, he referred to religion as "a delicious narcotic" and expressed a preference for [[Protestantism]] over [[Roman Catholicism]] because he felt it "a step nearer Reason".{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=102}}

Interested in parliamentary affairs,{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=26}} Churchill declared himself "a Liberal in all but name", adding he could never endorse the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]]'s support for [[Irish home rule]].{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1p=69|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2p=27}} Instead, he allied himself to the [[Tory democracy]] wing of the Conservatives and on a visit home, gave his first speech for the party's [[Primrose League]] at [[Claverton Down]].{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1pp=69, 71|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2p=27}} Mixing reformist and conservative perspectives, he supported the promotion of [[Secular education|secular, non-denominational education]] while opposing [[Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom|women's suffrage]].{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=70}}

Churchill volunteered to join [[Bindon Blood]]'s [[Malakand Field Force]] in [[Mohmand campaign of 1897–98|its campaign against Mohmand rebels]] in the [[Swat Valley]] of north-west India. Blood accepted on condition he was assigned as a journalist, the beginning of Churchill's writing career.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1pp=72, 75|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2pp=29–31}} He returned to Bangalore in October 1897 and wrote his first book, ''[[The Story of the Malakand Field Force]]'', which received positive reviews.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1pp=79, 81–82|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2pp=31–32|3a1=Haffner|3y=2003|3pp=21–22}} He wrote his only work of fiction, ''[[Savrola]]'', a [[Ruritanian romance]].{{sfnm|1a1=Addison|1y=1980|1p=31|2a1=Gilbert|2y=1991|2p=81|3a1=Jenkins|3y=2001|3pp=32–34}} To keep occupied, Churchill embraced writing as what [[Roy Jenkins]] calls his "whole habit", especially through his career when he was out of office. Writing was his safeguard against recurring [[Major depressive disorder|depression]], which he referred to as his "black dog".{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=819}}

[[File:Winston Churchill in uniform, 1898.jpg|thumb|Winston Churchill posing in uniform in front of a backdrop depicting the [[Egyptian Pyramids]], 1898.]]

[[File:Winston Churchill With the 4th Hussars in India, 1899. HU98777.jpg|thumb|right|Officers involved in the Inter-Regimental Polo Tournament at Meerut, 1899. Winston Churchill is standing second from right.]]

Using London contacts, Churchill got attached to General [[Herbert Kitchener]]'s campaign in the Sudan as a [[21st Lancers]] [[Subaltern (military)|subaltern]], while working as a journalist for ''[[The Morning Post]]''.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1pp=89–90|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2pp=35, 38–39|3a1=Haffner|3y=2003|3p=21}} After participating in one of the British Army's last [[cavalry charge]]s in the [[Battle of Omdurman]] in September 1898, the 21st Lancers were stood down.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1pp=91–98|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2pp=39–41}} In October, Churchill returned to England and began writing ''[[The River War]]'' about the campaign; it was published in 1899. He decided to leave the army{{sfnm|1a1=Jenkins|1y=2001|1pp=34, 41, 50|2a1=Haffner|2y=2003|2p=22}} as he was critical of Kitchener's actions, particularly the unmerciful treatment of enemy wounded and his desecration of [[Muhammad Ahmad]]'s tomb.{{sfnm|1a1=Addison|1y=1980|1p=32|2a1=Gilbert|2y=1991|2pp=98–99|3a1=Jenkins|3y=2001|3p=41}}

On 2 December 1898, Churchill embarked for India to settle his military business and complete his resignation. He spent much time playing [[polo]], the only ball sport in which he was ever interested. Having left the Hussars, he sailed from Bombay on 20 March 1899, determined to launch a career in politics.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=41–44}}

===Politics and South Africa: 1899–1901===
[[File:Winston Churchill 1874 - 1965 Q113382.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|Churchill in 1900 around the time of his first election to Parliament{{sfn|Haffner|2003|p=x}}]]
Churchill spoke at Conservative meetings{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=42}} and was selected as one of the party's two candidates for the June [[1899 Oldham by-election]].{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1pp=103–104|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2pp=45–46|3a1=Haffner|3y=2003|3p=23}} While campaigning, he referred to himself as "a Conservative and a Tory Democrat".{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=104}} Although the seats had been held by the Conservatives, the result was a narrow Liberal victory.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1p=105|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2p=47}}

As a journalist for the ''Morning Post'', Churchill anticipated the outbreak of the [[Second Boer War]] between Britain and the [[Boer republics]], leading him to sail to [[South Africa]].<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Ridgway |editor1-first=Athelstan |title=Everyman's Encyclopaedia Volume Nine: Maps to Nyasa |date=1950 |publisher=J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd |location=London |page=390 |edition=Third |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.460121/page/n395/mode/2up?q=%22james+nicol+dunn%22 |access-date=11 November 2020}}</ref>{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1pp=105–106|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2p=50}} In October, he travelled to the conflict zone near [[Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal|Ladysmith]], which was under siege by [[Boer]] troops, and then headed to [[Colenso, KwaZulu-Natal|Colenso]].{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|pp=107–110}} At the [[Battle of Chieveley]], his train was derailed by Boer artillery shelling, and he was captured as a [[prisoner of war]] (POW) and interned in a [[POW camp]] in [[Pretoria]].{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1pp=111–113|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2pp=52–53|3a1=Haffner|3y=2003|3p=25}} Churchill made a formal protest about his internment to the Transvaal [[State Secretary of the South African Republic|Secretary of State]], asserting his status as a non-combatant journalist, but he was told he had invalidated that by carrying a revolver.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Reitz |first1=Deneys |editor1-last=Emslie |editor1-first=Trevor |title=Adrift on the Open Veld |date=1999 |publisher=Stormberg |location=Cape Town |isbn=978-0-6202-4380-3 |page=34}}</ref> In December, Churchill escaped and evaded his captors by stowing aboard freight trains and hiding in a mine. He made it to safety in [[Portuguese East Africa]].{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1pp=115–120|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2pp=55–62}} His escape attracted much publicity.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1p=121|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2p=61}}

In January 1900, Churchill briefly rejoined the army as a lieutenant in the [[South African Light Horse]] regiment, joining [[Redvers Buller]]'s fight to relieve the [[Siege of Ladysmith]] and take Pretoria.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1pp=121–122|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2pp=61–62}} He was among the first British troops into both places. With his cousin [[Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough]], he demanded and received the surrender of 52 Boer prison camp guards.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1pp=123–124, 126–129|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2p=62}} Throughout the war, he publicly chastised anti-Boer prejudices, calling for them to be treated with "generosity and tolerance",{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=125}} and afterwards urged the British to be magnanimous in victory.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=63}} In July, having resigned his lieutenancy, he returned to Britain. His ''Morning Post'' dispatches had been published as ''[[London to Ladysmith via Pretoria]]'' and sold well.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|pp=128–131}}

Churchill rented a flat in London's [[Mayfair]], using it as his base for six years. He stood again as a Conservative candidate at Oldham in the [[1900 United Kingdom general election|October 1900 general election]], securing a narrow victory to become a Member of Parliament aged 25.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|pp=135–136}} In the same month, he published ''Ian Hamilton's March'', a book about his South African experiences,{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=136}}{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=65}} which became the focus of a lecture tour in November through Britain, America, and Canada. Members of Parliament were unpaid and the tour was a financial necessity. In America, Churchill met [[Mark Twain]], [[William McKinley]], and [[Theodore Roosevelt]], who he did not get on with.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1pp=136–138|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2pp=68–70}} In spring 1901, he gave lectures in Paris, Madrid, and Gibraltar.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=141}}

== Early political career: 1901–1908 ==

===Conservative MP: 1901–1904===
[[File:Winston Churchill 1874 - 1965 Q42037.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Churchill in 1904 when he "[[crossed the floor]]"]]
In February 1901, Churchill took his seat in the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]], where his [[maiden speech]] gained widespread coverage.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1p=139|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2pp=71–73}} He associated with a group of Conservatives known as the [[Hughligans]],{{sfnm|1a1=Rhodes James|1y=1970|1p=16|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2pp=76–77}} but was critical of the Conservative government on various issues, especially increases in army funding. He believed additional military expenditure should go to the navy.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1pp=141–144|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2pp=74–75}} This upset the Conservative [[front bench]] but was supported by Liberals, with whom he increasingly socialised, particularly [[Liberal Imperialists]] like [[H. H. Asquith]].{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=144}} Churchill later wrote that he "drifted steadily to the left".{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=145}} He privately considered "the gradual creation by an evolutionary process of a Democratic or Progressive wing to the Conservative Party",{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=150}} or alternately a "Central Party" to unite the Conservatives and Liberals.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|pp=151–152}}

By 1903, there was division between Churchill and the Conservatives, largely because he opposed their promotion of [[protectionism]]. As a [[free trade]]r, he helped found the [[Free Food League]].<ref name="HGN"/> Churchill sensed that the animosity of party members would prevent him gaining a Cabinet position under a Conservative government. The Liberal Party was attracting growing support, and so his defection in 1904 may have been influenced by ambition.{{sfn|Rhodes James|1970|p=22}} He increasingly voted with the Liberals.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=162}} For example, he opposed an increase in military expenditure,{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=153}} supported a Liberal bill to restore legal rights to trade unions,{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=162}} and opposed the introduction of import tariffs.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|pp=152, 154}} [[Arthur Balfour]]'s government announced protectionist legislation in October 1903.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=157}} Two months later, incensed by Churchill's criticism of the government, the Oldham Conservative Association informed him it would not support his candidature at the next election.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1p=160|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2p=84}}

In May 1904, Churchill opposed the government's proposed Aliens Bill, designed to curb Jewish immigration.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=165}} He stated that the bill would "appeal to insular prejudice against foreigners, to racial prejudice against Jews, and to labour prejudice against competition" and expressed himself in favour of "the old tolerant and generous practice of free entry and asylum to which this country has so long adhered and from which it has so greatly gained".{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=165}} On 31 May 1904, he [[crossed the floor]] to sit as a member of the Liberal Party.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1p=165|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2p=88}}

=== Liberal MP: 1904–1908 ===
{{main|Winston Churchill's Liberal Party years, 1904–1924}}

[[File:Churchill und Wilhelm II. (1906).jpg|thumb|Churchill and German Kaiser [[Wilhelm II]] during a military manoeuvre near [[Breslau]], Silesia, in 1906]]
As a Liberal, Churchill attacked government policy and gained a reputation as a [[radicalisation|radical]] under the influences of [[John Morley]] and [[David Lloyd George]].<ref name="HGN"/> In December 1905, Balfour resigned as prime minister and [[King Edward&nbsp;VII]] invited the Liberal leader [[Henry Campbell-Bannerman]] to replace him.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1pp=173–174|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2p=103}} Hoping to secure a [[working majority]], Campbell-Bannerman called a [[1906 United Kingdom general election|general election]] in January 1906, which the Liberals won in a massive landslide.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|pp=174, 176}} Churchill won the [[Manchester North West]] seat,{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1p=175|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2p=109}} and [[Lord Randolph Churchill (book)|his biography of his father]] was published,{{sfnm|1a1=Rhodes James|1y=1970|1p=16|2a1=Gilbert|2y=1991|2p=175}} for which he received an [[advance payment]] of £8,000.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1p=171|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2p=100}} It was generally well received.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=102–103}} The first biography of Churchill himself, written by the Liberal [[MacCallum Scott]], was also published around this time.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=172}}

In the new government, Churchill became [[Under-Secretary of State]] for the [[Colonial Office]], a [[junior minister]]ial position he had requested.{{sfnm|1a1=Rhodes James|1y=1970|1p=23|2a1=Gilbert|2y=1991|2p=174|3a1=Jenkins|3y=2001|3p=104}} He worked beneath the [[Secretary of State for the Colonies]], [[Victor Bruce, 9th Earl of Elgin]],{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=104–105}} and took [[Edward Marsh (polymath)|Edward Marsh]] as his secretary; Marsh remained his secretary for 25 years.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1p=174|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2p=105}} Churchill's first task was helping to draft a constitution for the [[Transvaal Colony|Transvaal]];{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1p=176|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2pp=113–115, 120}} and he helped oversee the formation of a government in the [[Orange River Colony]].{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=182}} In dealing with southern Africa, he sought to ensure equality between the British and Boers.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=177}} He announced a gradual phasing out of the use of Chinese indentured labourers in South Africa; he and the government decided a sudden ban would cause too much upset and might damage the colony's economy.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1p=177|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2pp=111–113}} He expressed concerns about the relations between European settlers and the black African population; after the [[Zulu people|Zulu]] launched their [[Bambatha Rebellion]] in [[Colony of Natal|Natal]], Churchill complained about the "disgusting butchery of the natives" by Europeans.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=183}}

==Asquith government: 1908–1915==
{{main|Winston Churchill's Liberal Party years, 1904–1924}}

===President of the Board of Trade: 1908–1910===
[[File:Winston Churchill (1874-1965) with fiancée Clementine Hozier (1885-1977) shortly before their marriage in 1908.jpg|thumb|upright=.9|Churchill and his fiancée [[Clementine Hozier]] shortly before their marriage in 1908]]
With Campbell-Bannerman terminally ill, Asquith became prime minister in April 1908. He appointed Churchill as [[President of the Board of Trade]].{{sfnm|1a1=Rhodes James|1y=1970|1p=33|2a1=Gilbert|2y=1991|2p=194|3a1=Jenkins|3y=2001|3p=129}} Aged 33, Churchill was the youngest [[Cabinet of the United Kingdom|Cabinet]] member since 1866.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=129}} Newly appointed Cabinet ministers were legally obliged to seek re-election at a by-election. On 24 April, Churchill lost the [[1908 Manchester North West by-election|Manchester North West by-election]] to the Conservative candidate by 429 votes.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1pp=194–195|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2p=130}} On 9 May, the Liberals stood him in the safe seat of [[Dundee (UK Parliament constituency)|Dundee]], where he [[1908 Dundee by-election|won comfortably]].{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1p=195|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2pp=130–131}}

Churchill proposed marriage to [[Clementine Hozier]]; they were married on 12 September 1908 at [[St Margaret's, Westminster]] and honeymooned in [[Baveno]], Venice, and [[Veveří Castle]] in [[Moravia]].{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|pp=198–200}}{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=139–142}}<ref>{{cite news |date=12 September 1908 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-guardian-mr-churchills-wedding/175038134/ |title=Mr. Churchill's Wedding |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |page=10 |access-date=15 June 2025 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> They lived at 33 [[Eccleston Square]], London, and their first daughter, [[Diana Churchill|Diana]], was born in 1909.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|pp=204–205}}{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=203}} The success of their marriage was important to Churchill's career as Clementine's unbroken affection provided him with a secure and happy background.<ref name="HGN"/>

One of Churchill's first tasks as a minister was to arbitrate in an industrial dispute among ship-workers and employers, on the [[River Tyne]].{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=195}} He afterwards established a Standing Court of Arbitration to deal with industrial disputes,{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=199}} establishing a reputation as a conciliator.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=200}} He worked with Lloyd George to champion [[Liberal welfare reforms|social reform]].{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=143}} He promoted what he called a "network of State intervention and regulation" akin to that in Germany.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|pp=193–194}}

Continuing Lloyd George's work,<ref name="HGN"/> Churchill introduced the [[Coal Mines Regulation Act 1908|Mines Eight Hours Bill]], which prohibited miners from working more than an [[eight-hour day]].{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=196}} In 1909, he introduced the [[Trade Boards Bill]], creating Trade Boards which could prosecute exploitative employers. Passing with a large majority, it established the principle of a [[minimum wage]] and the right to have meal breaks.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1pp=203–204|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2p=150}} In May 1909, he proposed the [[Labour Exchanges Act 1909|Labour Exchanges Bill]] to establish over 200 Labour Exchanges through which the unemployed would be assisted in finding employment.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1p=204|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2pp=150–151}} He promoted the idea of an unemployment insurance scheme, which would be part-funded by the state.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1p=201|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2p=151}}

{{Georgism|politicians}}
To ensure funding for their reforms, Lloyd George and Churchill denounced [[Reginald McKenna]]'s policy of naval expansion,{{sfnm|1a1=Jenkins|1y=2001|1pp=154–157|2a1=Toye|2y=2007|2pp=54–55}} refusing to believe war with Germany was inevitable.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1pp=198–199|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2pp=154–155}} As Chancellor, Lloyd George presented his "[[People's Budget]]" on 29 April 1909, calling it a war budget to eliminate poverty. With Churchill as his closest ally,<ref name="HGN"/> Lloyd George proposed unprecedented taxes on the rich to fund Liberal welfare programmes.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=157–159}} The budget was vetoed by the Conservative [[Peerage of Great Britain|peers]] who dominated the [[House of Lords]].{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1pp=205, 210|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2p=164}} His social reforms under threat, Churchill became president of the [[Budget League]],<ref name="HGN"/> and warned that upper-class obstruction could anger working-class Britons and lead to class war.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=206}} The government called the [[January 1910 general election]], which resulted in a Liberal victory; Churchill retained his seat at Dundee.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1p=211|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2p=167}} He proposed abolition of the House of Lords in a cabinet memo, suggesting it be succeeded by a [[unicameral]] system, or smaller second chamber that lacked an in-built advantage for the Conservatives.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=167–168}} In April, the Lords relented and the People's Budget passed.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|pp=216–217}} Churchill continued to campaign against the House of Lords and assisted passage of the [[Parliament Act 1911]] which reduced and restricted its powers.<ref name="HGN"/>

===Home Secretary: 1910–1911===
In February 1910, Churchill was promoted to [[Home Secretary]], giving him control over the police and prison services;{{sfnm|1a1=Moritz|1y=1958|1p=429|2a1=Gilbert|2y=1991|2p=211|3a1=Jenkins|3y=2001|3p=169}} he implemented a prison reform programme.{{sfnm|1a1=Moritz|1y=1958|1pp=428–429|2a1=Gilbert|2y=1991|2p=212|3a1=Jenkins|3y=2001|3p=179}} Measures included a distinction between criminal and [[political prisoner]]s, with rules for the latter being relaxed.{{sfnm|1a1=Moritz|1y=1958|1p=434|2a1=Gilbert|2y=1991|2p=212}} There were educational innovations like the establishment of libraries,{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1p=212|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2p=181}} and a requirement to stage entertainments four times a year.{{sfnm|1a1=Moritz|1y=1958|1p=434|2a1=Gilbert|2y=1991|2p=215}} The rules on [[solitary confinement]] were relaxed,{{sfnm|1a1=Moritz|1y=1958|1p=434|2a1=Gilbert|2y=1991|2p=212|3a1=Jenkins|3y=2001|3p=181}} and Churchill proposed abolition of automatic imprisonment of those who failed to pay fines.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=213}} Imprisonment of people aged between 16 and 21 was abolished except for the most serious offences.{{sfnm|1a1=Moritz|1y=1958|1p=433|2a1=Gilbert|2y=1991|2pp=213–214}} Churchill reduced ([[Commutation (law)|"commuted"]]) 21 of the 43 death ([[Capital punishment in the United Kingdom|"capital"]]) sentences passed while he was Home Secretary.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=183}}

A major domestic issue was women's suffrage. Churchill supported giving women the vote, but would only back a bill to that effect if it had majority support from the (male) electorate.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|pp=221–222}} His proposed solution was a referendum, but this found no favour with Asquith and women's suffrage remained unresolved until 1918.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=186}} Many suffragettes believed Churchill was a committed opponent,{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=221}} and targeted his meetings for protest.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=186}} In November 1910, the suffragist [[Hugh Franklin (suffragist)|Hugh Franklin]] attacked Churchill with a whip; Franklin was imprisoned for six weeks.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=221}}

[[File:Siege of Sidney Street – Churchill.jpg|thumb|Churchill (second left) photographed at the [[Siege of Sidney Street]]]]
In November 1910, Churchill had to deal with the [[Tonypandy riots]], in which [[coal miners]] in the [[Rhondda]] Valley violently protested against working conditions.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1p=219|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2p=198}} The Chief Constable of Glamorgan requested troops to help police quell the rioting. Churchill, learning that the troops were already travelling, allowed them to go as far as [[Swindon]] and [[Cardiff]], but blocked their deployment; he was concerned their use could lead to bloodshed. Instead he sent 270 London police, who were not equipped with firearms, to assist.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1p=219|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2p=198}} As the riots continued, he offered the protesters an interview with the government's chief industrial arbitrator, which they accepted.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=220}} Privately, Churchill regarded the mine owners and striking miners as "very unreasonable".{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=221}} ''[[The Times]]'' and other media outlets accused him of being soft on the rioters;{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=199}} in contrast, many in the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]], which was linked to the trade unions, regarded him as too heavy-handed.{{sfn|Rhodes James|1970|p=38}} Churchill incurred the long-term suspicion of the [[labour movement]].<ref name="HGN"/>

Asquith called a [[general election in December 1910]], and the Liberals were re-elected with Churchill secure in Dundee.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1p=222|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2pp=190–191, 193}} In January 1911, Churchill became involved in the [[Siege of Sidney Street]]; three Latvian burglars had killed police officers and hidden in a house in the [[East End of London]], surrounded by police.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1p=222|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2p=194}} Churchill stood with the police though he did not direct their operation.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1p=224|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2p=195}} After the house caught fire, he told the fire brigade not to proceed into the house because of the threat posed by the armed men. Afterwards, two of the burglars were found dead.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1p=224|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2p=195}} Although he faced criticism for his decision, he said he "thought it better to let the house burn down rather than spend good British lives in rescuing those ferocious rascals".{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=224}}

In March 1911, Churchill introduced the second reading of the [[Coal Mines Act 1911|Coal Mines Bill]]; when implemented, it imposed stricter safety standards.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1p=226|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2pp=177–178}} He formulated the [[Shops Act 1911|Shops Bill]] to improve working conditions of shop workers; it faced opposition from shop owners and only passed in a much emasculated form.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1p=226|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2p=178}} In April, Lloyd George introduced the first health and unemployment insurance legislation, the [[National Insurance Act 1911]], which Churchill had been instrumental in drafting.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1p=226|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2p=178}} In May, Clementine gave birth to their second child, [[Randolph Churchill|Randolph]], named after Winston's father.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1p=227|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2p=203}} In response to escalating civil strife in 1911, Churchill sent troops into Liverpool to [[1911 Liverpool general transport strike|quell protesting dockers]] and rallied against [[National Railway strike of 1911|a national railway strike]].{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1pp=230–233|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2pp=200–201}}

During the [[Agadir Crisis]] of April 1911, when there was a threat of war between France and Germany, Churchill suggested an alliance with France and Russia to safeguard the independence of Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands to counter possible German expansionism.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=235}} The Crisis had a profound effect on Churchill and he altered his views about the need for naval expansion.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=202}}

===First Lord of the Admiralty===
[[File:Admiralty House - Music Room.jpeg|thumb|As First Lord of the Admiralty, Churchill's London residency was Admiralty House.]]
In October 1911, Asquith appointed Churchill [[First Lord of the Admiralty]],{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1p=239|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2p=205|3a1=Bell|3y=2011|3p=335}} and he took up official residence at [[Admiralty House, London|Admiralty House]].{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1p=249|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2p=207}} He created a naval war staff<ref name="HGN"/> and, over the next two and a half years, focused on naval preparation, visiting naval stations and dockyards, seeking to improve morale, and scrutinising German naval developments.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=23}} After Germany passed its [[German Naval Laws|1912 Naval Law]] to increase warship production, Churchill vowed that for every new German battleship, Britain would build two.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1p=243|2a1=Bell|2y=2011|2p=336}} He invited Germany to engage in a mutual de-escalation, but this was refused.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|pp=243–245}}

Churchill pushed for higher pay and greater recreational facilities for naval staff,{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=247}} more submarines,{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1p=242|2a1=Bell|2y=2011|2pp=249–251}} and a renewed focus on the [[Royal Naval Air Service]], encouraging them to experiment with how aircraft could be used for military purposes.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=240}} He coined the term "[[seaplane]]" and ordered 100 to be constructed.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=251}} Some Liberals objected to his level of naval expenditure; in December 1913 he threatened to resign if his proposal for 4 new battleships in 1914–15 was rejected.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1pp=253–254|2a1=Bell|2y=2011|2pp=342–343}} In June 1914, he convinced the House of Commons to authorise the government purchase of a 51% share in the profits of the [[Anglo-Persian Oil Company]], to secure oil access for the navy.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|pp=260–261}}

The central issue in Britain was [[Irish Home Rule]] and, in 1912, Asquith's government introduced the [[Government of Ireland Act 1914|Home Rule Bill]].{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1p=256|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2p=233}} Churchill supported it and urged [[Unionism in Ireland|Ulster Unionists]] to accept it as he opposed the [[Partition of Ireland]].{{sfnm|1a1=Rhodes James|1y=1970|1pp=44–45|2a1=Gilbert|2y=1991|2pp=249–250|3a1=Jenkins|3y=2001|3pp=233–234}} Concerning the possibility of partition, Churchill stated: "Whatever Ulster's right may be, she cannot stand in the way of the whole of the rest of Ireland. Half a province cannot impose a permanent veto on the nation. Half a province cannot obstruct forever the reconciliation between the British and Irish democracies".{{sfn|O'Brien|1989|p=68}} Speaking in the House of Commons on 16 February 1922, Churchill said: "What Irishmen all over the world most desire is not hostility against this country, but the unity of their own".{{sfn|O'Brien|1989|p=68}}
Following a Cabinet decision, he boosted the naval presence in Ireland to deal with any Unionist uprising.{{sfnm|1a1=Rhodes James|1y=1970|1pp=47–49|2a1=Gilbert|2y=1991|2pp=256–257}} Seeking a compromise, Churchill suggested Ireland remain part of a [[federalism|federal]] UK, but this angered Liberals and Irish nationalists.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|pp=257–258}}

As First Lord, Churchill was tasked with overseeing Britain's naval effort when the First World War began in August 1914.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=277}} The navy transported 120,000 troops to France and began a blockade of Germany's [[North Sea]] ports. Churchill sent submarines to the [[Baltic Sea]] to assist the [[Imperial Russian Navy|Russian Navy]] and sent the Marine Brigade to [[Ostend]], forcing a reallocation of German troops.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|pp=277–279}} In September, Churchill assumed full responsibility for Britain's aerial defence.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=279}} On 7 October, Clementine gave birth to their third child, [[Sarah Churchill (actress)|Sarah]].{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=285}} In October, Churchill visited [[Antwerp]] to observe [[Siege of Antwerp (1914)|Belgian defences against the besieging Germans]] and promised reinforcements.{{sfnm|1a1=Rhodes James|1y=1970|1p=62|2a1=Gilbert|2y=1991|2pp=282–285|3a1=Jenkins|3y=2001|3p=249}} Soon afterwards, Antwerp fell to the Germans and Churchill was criticised in the press.{{sfnm|1a1=Rhodes James|1y=1970|1p=62|2a1=Gilbert|2y=1991|2p=286|3a1=Jenkins|3y=2001|3pp=250–251}} He maintained that his actions had prolonged resistance and enabled the Allies to secure [[Calais]] and [[Dunkirk]].{{sfn|Rhodes James|1970|p=62}} In November, Asquith called a War Council including Churchill.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=289}} Churchill set the development of the [[tank]] on the [[Landship Committee|right track]] and financed its creation with Admiralty funds.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|pp=293, 298–99}}
[[File:Winston Churchill between Talaat Bey and Cavid Bey.jpg|thumb|Winston Churchill between [[Talaat Pasha|Talaat Bey]] and [[Mehmed Cavid|Cavid Bey]] (both wearing fezzes) during his private stay in Istanbul in July 1910]]
Churchill was interested in the [[Middle Eastern theatre of World War I|Middle Eastern theatre]], and wanted to relieve pressure on the Russians in the [[Caucasus campaign|Caucasus]] by staging attacks against Turkey in the [[Dardanelles]]. He hoped that the British could even seize [[Constantinople]].{{sfnm|1a1=Rhodes James|1y=1970|1pp=64–67|2a1=Gilbert|2y=1991|2pp=291–292|3a1=Jenkins|3y=2001|3pp=255, 261}} Approval was given and, in March 1915, an Anglo-French task force attempted a naval bombardment of Turkish defences. In April, the [[Mediterranean Expeditionary Force]], including the [[Australian and New Zealand Army Corps]] (ANZAC), began its [[Battle of Gallipoli|assault at Gallipoli]].{{sfnm|1a1=Rhodes James|1y=1970|1pp=72–74|2a1=Gilbert|2y=1991|2pp=304, 310}} Both campaigns failed and Churchill was held by many MPs, particularly Conservatives, to be responsible.{{sfnm|1a1=Rhodes James|1y=1970|1p=78|2a1=Gilbert|2y=1991|2p=309}} In May, Asquith agreed under parliamentary pressure to form an all-party [[Asquith coalition ministry|coalition government]], but the Conservatives' condition of entry was that Churchill must be removed from the Admiralty.{{sfnm|1a1=Rhodes James|1y=1970|1p=79|2a1=Gilbert|2y=1991|2pp=316–316|3a1=Jenkins|3y=2001|3pp=273–274}} Churchill pleaded his case with Asquith and Conservative leader [[Bonar Law]] but had to accept demotion.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1pp=319–320|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2p=276}}

==Military service, 1915–1916==
{{main|Winston Churchill's Liberal Party years, 1904–1924}}

[[File:WinstonChurchill1916Army.gif|thumb|Churchill commanding the 6th Battalion, the Royal Scots Fusiliers, 1916.]]
On 25 November 1915, Churchill resigned from the government, although he remained an MP. Asquith rejected his request to be appointed [[List of colonial governors and administrators of Kenya|Governor-General]] of [[British East Africa]].{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=328}} Churchill decided to return to active service with the Army and was attached to the 2nd [[Grenadier Guards]], on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]].{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|pp=329–332}} In January 1916, he was temporarily promoted to [[Lieutenant colonel (United Kingdom)|lieutenant-colonel]] and given command of the 6th [[Royal Scots Fusiliers]].{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|pp=340–341}}<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=29520 |date=24 March 1916 |page=3260 |supp=y}}</ref> The battalion was moved to a sector of the Belgian Front near [[Ploegsteert]].{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|pp=342–245}} For three months, they faced continual shelling, though no German offensive.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=346}} Churchill narrowly escaped death when, during a visit by his cousin the Duke of Marlborough, a large piece of [[Shrapnel shell|shrapnel]] fell between them.<ref>{{cite book |last=Green |first=David |title=Guide to Blenheim Palace |year=1980 |publisher=The Blenheim Estate Office |location=Blenheim Palace, UK |page=17}}. The inscribed shrapnel piece was subsequently displayed at Blenheim Palace.</ref> In May, the 6th Royal Scots Fusiliers were merged into the 15th Division. Churchill did not request a new command, instead securing permission to leave active service.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=360}} His temporary promotion ended on 16 May 1916, when he returned to the rank of [[Major (United Kingdom)|major]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=29753 |date=16 September 1916 |page=9100 |supp=y}}</ref>

Back in the House of Commons, Churchill spoke out on war issues, calling for conscription to be extended to the Irish, greater recognition of soldiers' bravery, and for the introduction of steel helmets.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|pp=361, 364–365}} It was in November 1916 that he penned "The greater application of mechanical power to the prosecution of an offensive on land", but it fell on deaf ears.{{sfn|Churchill|1927}} He was frustrated at being out of office, but was repeatedly blamed for the [[Gallipoli campaign|Gallipoli disaster]] by the pro-Conservative press.{{sfnm|1a1=Rhodes James|1y=1970|1p=86|2a1=Gilbert|2y=1991|2pp=361, 363, 367}} Churchill argued his case before the [[Dardanelles Commission]], whose report placed no blame on him personally for the campaign's failure.{{sfnm|1a1=Rhodes James|1y=1970|1p=89|2a1=Gilbert|2y=1991|2pp=366, 370}}

==Lloyd George government: 1916–1922==
{{main|Winston Churchill's Liberal Party years, 1904–1924}}

===Minister of Munitions: 1917–1919===
In October 1916, Asquith resigned as prime minister and was succeeded by Lloyd George who, in May 1917, sent Churchill to inspect the French war effort.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=373}} On 17 July, Churchill was appointed [[Minister of Munitions]].{{sfnm|1a1=Rhodes James|1y=1970|1p=90|2a1=Gilbert|2y=1991|2p=374}} He negotiated an end to a strike in munitions factories along the [[River Clyde|Clyde]] and increased munitions production.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|pp=376, 377}} In his October 1917 letter to his Cabinet colleagues, he penned the plan of attack for the next year, that would bring final victory to the Allies.{{sfn|Churchill|1927}} He ended a second strike, in June 1918, by threatening to conscript strikers into the army.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|pp=392–393}} In the House of Commons, Churchill voted in support of the [[Representation of the People Act 1918]], which gave some women the right to vote.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|pp=379–380}} In November 1918, four days after the [[Armistice of 11 November 1918|Armistice]], Churchill's fourth child, Marigold, was born.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=403}}

===Secretary of State for War and Air: 1919–1921===
[[File:War Industry in Britain during the First World War Q84077.jpg|thumb|Churchill meets female workers at Georgetown's filling works near [[Glasgow]] in October 1918.]]
Lloyd George called a [[1918 United Kingdom general election|general election]] for 14 December 1918.{{sfnm|1a1=Rhodes James|1y=1970|1p=91|2a1=Gilbert|2y=1991|2p=403}} During the campaign, Churchill called for nationalisation of the railways, a control on monopolies, tax reform, and the creation of a [[League of Nations]] to prevent wars.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=404}} He was returned as MP for Dundee and, though the Conservatives won a majority, Lloyd George was retained as prime minister.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=404}} In January 1919, Lloyd George moved Churchill to the [[War Office]] as both [[Secretary of State for War]] and [[Secretary of State for Air]].{{sfnm|1a1=Rhodes James|1y=1970|1p=100|2a1=Gilbert|2y=1991|2pp=404–405}}

Churchill was responsible for demobilising the army,{{sfnm|1a1=Rhodes James|1y=1970|1p=101|2a1=Gilbert|2y=1991|2p=406}} though he convinced Lloyd George to keep a million men conscripted for the [[British Army of the Rhine]].{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|pp=406–407}} Churchill was one of the few government figures who opposed harsh measures against Germany,{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=403}} and he cautioned against demobilising the German Army, warning they might be needed as a bulwark against [[Soviet Russia]].{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=401}} He was outspoken against [[Vladimir Lenin]]'s [[Bolshevik government]] in Russia.{{sfnm|1a1=Rhodes James|1y=1970|1pp=105–106|2a1=Gilbert|2y=1991|2p=411}} He initially supported using British troops to assist the anti-Bolshevik [[White forces]] in the [[Russian Civil War]],{{sfnm|1a1=Rhodes James|1y=1970|1pp=102, 104|2a1=Gilbert|2y=1991|2p=405}} but soon recognised the people's desire to bring them home.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|pp=411–412}} After the Soviets won the civil war, Churchill proposed a ''[[Cordon sanitaire (politics)|cordon sanitaire]]'' around the country.{{sfnm|1a1=Rhodes James|1y=1970|1p=123|2a1=Gilbert|2y=1991|2p=420}}

In the [[Irish War of Independence]], he supported the use of the paramilitary [[Black and Tans]] to combat Irish revolutionaries.{{sfnm|1a1=Rhodes James|1y=1970|1pp=126–127|2a1=Gilbert|2y=1991|2pp=422, 425|3a1=Jordan|3y=1995|3pp=70–75}} After British troops in Iraq clashed with [[Kurds|Kurdish]] rebels, Churchill authorised two squadrons to the area, proposing they be equipped with "poison gas" to [[Gas in Mesopotamia|be used]] to "inflict punishment upon recalcitrant natives without inflicting grave injury upon them", although this was never implemented.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1pp=424–425|2a1=Douglas|2y=2009|2p=861}} He saw the [[Mandatory Iraq|occupation of Iraq]] as a drain on Britain and proposed, unsuccessfully, that the government should hand control back to Turkey.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=428}}

===Secretary of State for the Colonies: 1921–1922===
[[File:Winston Churchill in Tel Aviv, 1921.jpg|alt=Churchill as Secretary of State for the Colonies during his visit to Mandatory Palestine, Tel Aviv, 1921.|thumb|Churchill as Secretary of State for the Colonies during his visit to Mandatory Palestine, Tel Aviv, 1921]] [[File:Chartwell02.JPG|thumb|Churchill's main home was [[Chartwell]] in Kent.]]
Churchill became Secretary of State for the Colonies in February 1921.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=431}} He used his new position to push his earlier plan for aerial bombing of Iraq. Cabinet approved it in August and eight RAF squadrons were sent to Iraq the next year. One was commanded by [[Arthur Harris]], who boasted that "within 45 minutes a full-sized village ... can be practically wiped out."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tanaka |first=Yuki |title=Bombing Civilians: A Twentieth-Century History |publisher=The New Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-59558-363-5 |location=New York |publication-date=2009 |pages=18-24 |language=en}}</ref> Japanese historian Yuki Tanaka says this precedent, along with Italy, of "indiscriminate bombing" "to terrorize enemy civilians" of "uncivilized races" led to its extension to Europeans in the Second World War.{{Sfn|Tanaka|2009|p=29}} 

In March, the first exhibit of his paintings took place in Paris, with Churchill exhibiting under a pseudonym.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=431}} In May, his mother died, followed in August by his daughter Marigold, from [[sepsis]].{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|pp=438, 439}} Churchill was haunted by Marigold's death for the rest of his life.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thetimes.com/comment/register/article/churchills-torment-over-death-of-two-year-old-daughter-laid-bare-llw8zns6lxs |last=Brooks |first=Richard |title=Churchill's torment over death of two year old daughter laid bare |work=[[The Times]] |date=28 February 2016 |access-date=27 January 2022 |archive-date=27 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220127121556/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/churchills-torment-over-death-of-two-year-old-daughter-laid-bare-llw8zns6lxs |url-status=live}}</ref>

Churchill was involved in negotiations with [[Sinn Féin]] leaders and helped draft the [[Anglo-Irish Treaty]].{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=441}} He was responsible for reducing the cost of occupying the Middle East,{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=431}} and was involved in the installations of [[Faisal I of Iraq]] and [[Abdullah I of Jordan]].{{sfnm|1a1=Rhodes James|1y=1970|1p=133|2a1=Gilbert|2y=1991|2pp=432–434}} Churchill travelled to [[Mandatory Palestine]] where, as a supporter of [[Zionism]], he refused an Arab Palestinian petition to prohibit Jewish migration.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=435}} He did allow temporary restrictions following the [[Jaffa riots (May 1921)|Jaffa riots]].{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=437}}

In January 1921, a train crash in Wales killed a cousin, [[Lord Herbert Vane-Tempest]], with whom Churchill shared a great-grandmother, [[Frances Vane, Marchioness of Londonderry]]. He subsequently inherited from her Irish estate, which ultimately yielded approximately £55,000 after estate duties. This capital enabled him to begin searching for a small country estate.<ref>David Lough, [https://winstonchurchill.org/publications/finest-hour/finest-hour-178/dream-that-refused-to-die-chartwell/ "The Dream That Refused to Die: A Country Seat"], Churchill Society, 31 January 2018, accessed 13 March 2026</ref>

In September 1922, the [[Chanak Crisis]] erupted as Turkish forces threatened to occupy the Dardanelles neutral zone, which was policed by the British army based in [[Chanak]]. Churchill and Lloyd George favoured military resistance to any Turkish advance but the majority Conservatives in the coalition government opposed it. A political debacle ensued which resulted in the Conservative withdrawal from the government, precipitating the [[1922 United Kingdom general election|November 1922 general election]].<ref name="HGN"/>

Also in September, Churchill's fifth and last child, [[Mary Churchill|Mary]], was born, and in the same month he purchased [[Chartwell]], in Kent, which became his family home.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=450}} In October 1922, he underwent an [[appendectomy]]. While he was in hospital, Lloyd George's coalition was dissolved. In the general election, Churchill [[Dundee in the 1922 general election|lost his Dundee seat]]{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=456}} to [[Edwin Scrymgeour]], a prohibitionist candidate. Later, he wrote that he was "without an office, without a seat, without a party, and without an appendix".{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=376}} He was elevated as one of 50 members of the [[Order of the Companions of Honour]], as named in Lloyd George's [[1922 Dissolution Honours]] list.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=32766 |supp=y |page=8017 |date=10 November 1922 |access-date=8 May 2021}}</ref>

==Out of Parliament: 1922–1924==
{{main|Winston Churchill's Liberal Party years, 1904–1924}}

[[File:Churchill with children Randolph and Diana.jpg|thumb|Churchill with children [[Randolph Churchill|Randolph]] and [[Diana Churchill|Diana]] in 1923]]
Churchill spent much of the next six months at the Villa Rêve d'Or near [[Cannes]], where he devoted himself to painting and writing his memoirs.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=457}} He wrote an autobiographical history of the war, ''[[The World Crisis]]''. The first volume was published in April 1923 and the rest over the next ten years.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=456}} After the [[1923 United Kingdom general election|1923 general election]] was called, seven Liberal associations asked Churchill to stand as their candidate, and he selected [[Leicester West]], but did not win.{{sfnm|1a1=Rhodes James|1y=1970|1pp=150–151|2a1=Gilbert|2y=1991|2p=459|3a1=Jenkins|3y=2001|3pp=382–384}} A Labour government led by [[Ramsay MacDonald]] took power. Churchill had hoped they would be defeated by a Conservative-Liberal coalition.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=460}} He strongly opposed the MacDonald government's decision to loan money to Soviet Russia and feared the signing of an Anglo-Soviet Treaty.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|pp=462–463}}

In March 1924, alienated by Liberal support for Labour, Churchill stood as an independent anti-socialist candidate in the [[1924 Westminster Abbey by-election|Westminster Abbey by-election]] but was defeated.{{sfnm|1a1=Rhodes James|1y=1970|1pp=151–153|2a1=Gilbert|2y=1991|2pp=460–461}} In May, he addressed a Conservative meeting in Liverpool and declared there was no longer a place for the Liberal Party in politics. He said that Liberals must back the Conservatives to stop Labour and ensure "the successful defeat of socialism".{{sfnm|1a1=Rhodes James|1y=1970|1p=154|2a1=Gilbert|2y=1991|2p=462}} In July, he agreed with Conservative leader [[Stanley Baldwin]] that he would be selected as a Conservative candidate in the [[1924 United Kingdom general election|next general election]], which was held on 29 October. Churchill stood at [[Epping (UK Parliament constituency)|Epping]], but described himself as a "[[Constitutionalist (UK)|Constitutionalist]]".{{sfnm|1a1=Rhodes James|1y=1970|1p=154|2a1=Gilbert|2y=1991|2pp=462–463|3a1=Ball|3y=2001|3p=311}} The Conservatives were victorious, and Baldwin formed the new government. Although Churchill had no background in finance or economics, Baldwin appointed him as Chancellor.{{sfnm|1a1=Rhodes James|1y=1970|1pp=155, 158|2a1=Gilbert|2y=1991|2p=465}}

==Chancellor of the Exchequer: 1924–1929==
{{main|Chancellorship of Winston Churchill}}

Becoming Chancellor on 6 November 1924, Churchill formally rejoined the Conservative Party a year later.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=467}} As Chancellor, he intended to pursue his free trade principles in the form of ''laissez-faire'' economics, as under the Liberal social reforms.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=467}} In April 1925, he controversially, albeit reluctantly, restored the [[gold standard]] in his first budget, at its 1914 parity, against the advice of leading economists including [[John Maynard Keynes]].{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=469}} The return to gold is held to have caused [[deflation]] and resultant unemployment with a devastating impact on the coal industry.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=404}} Churchill presented five budgets in all to April 1929. Among his measures were reduction of the state pension age from 70 to 65; immediate provision of [[widow's pension]]s; reduction of military expenditure; [[income tax]] reductions and imposition of taxes on luxury items.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|pp=468–489}}

During the [[General Strike of 1926]], Churchill edited the ''[[British Gazette]]'', the government's anti-strike propaganda newspaper.{{sfnm|1a1=Rhodes James|1y=1970|1pp=169–174|2a1=Gilbert|2y=1991|2pp=475–476}} After the strike ended, he acted as an intermediary between striking miners and their employers. He called for the introduction of a legally binding minimum wage.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|pp=477–479}} In a House of Commons speech in 1926 Churchill made his feelings on the issue of Irish unity clear. He stated that Ireland should be united within itself but also "united to the British Empire."<ref>Bromage, Mary (1964), ''Churchill and Ireland'', University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, IL, pg 108, Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 64-20844</ref> In early 1927, Churchill visited Rome where he met [[Mussolini]], whom he praised for his stand against [[Leninism]].{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=480}}

==The "Wilderness Years": 1929–1939==
{{main|Winston Churchill's "Wilderness" years, 1929–1939}}

===''Marlborough'' and the India Question: 1929–1932===
[[File:ChurchillChaplin0001.jpg|thumb|Churchill meeting with film star [[Charlie Chaplin]] in 1929]]
In the [[1929 United Kingdom general election|1929 general election]], Churchill retained his Epping seat, but the Conservatives were defeated, and MacDonald formed his second Labour government.{{sfnm|1a1=Rhodes James|1y=1970|1p=183|2a1=Gilbert|2y=1991|2p=489}} Out of office, Churchill was prone to depression (his "black dog") but addressed it by writing.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=466, 819}} He began work on ''[[Marlborough: His Life and Times]]'', a biography of his ancestor [[John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough]].{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=491}}{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=421–423}} He had developed a reputation for being a heavy drinker, although Jenkins believes that was often exaggerated.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=51}}

Hoping that the Labour government could be ousted, he gained Baldwin's approval to work towards establishing a Conservative-Liberal coalition, although many Liberals were reluctant.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=491}} In October 1930, after his return from a trip to North America, Churchill published his autobiography, ''[[My Early Life]]'', which sold well and was translated into multiple languages.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=496}} In January 1931, Churchill resigned from the Conservative Shadow Cabinet because Baldwin supported the government's decision to grant [[Dominion]] Status to India.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=434}} Churchill believed that enhanced home rule status would hasten calls for full independence.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=495}} He was particularly opposed to [[Mohandas Gandhi]], whom he considered "a seditious [[Middle Temple]] lawyer, now posing as a [[fakir]]".{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|pp=499–500}} His views enraged Labour and Liberal opinion, though he was supported by many grassroot Conservatives.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=500}}

The [[1931 United Kingdom general election|October 1931 general election]] was a landslide victory for the Conservatives.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=443}} Churchill nearly doubled his majority in Epping, but was not given a ministerial position.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|pp=502–503}} The Commons debated Dominion Status for India on 3 December and Churchill insisted on dividing the House, but this backfired as only 43 MPs supported him.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=503}} He embarked on a lecture tour of North America, hoping to recoup financial losses sustained in the [[Wall Street crash]].{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=443}}{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=503}} On 13 December, he was crossing [[Fifth Avenue]] in New York when he was knocked down by a car, suffering a head wound from which he developed [[neuritis]].{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=443–444}} To further his convalescence, he and Clementine took ship to [[Nassau, Bahamas|Nassau]] for three weeks, but Churchill became depressed about his financial and political losses.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=444}} He returned to America in late January 1932 and completed most of his lectures before arriving home on 18 March.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=444}}

Having worked on ''Marlborough'' for much of 1932, Churchill in August decided to visit his ancestor's battlefields.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=445}} In [[Munich]], he met [[Ernst Hanfstaengl]], a friend of Nazi leader [[Adolf Hitler]], who was then rising in prominence. Hanfstaengl tried to arrange a meeting between Churchill and Hitler, but Hitler was unenthusiastic: "What on earth would I talk to him about?"<ref>{{cite web |url=https://winstonchurchill.hillsdale.edu/meeting-hitler-1932/ |title=Meeting Hitler, 1932 |work=The Churchill Project |publisher=Hillsdale College |location=Hillsdale, Missouri |date=5 March 2015 |access-date=22 May 2021 |archive-date=21 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210421115056/https://winstonchurchill.hillsdale.edu/meeting-hitler-1932/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Soon after visiting [[Blindheim|Blenheim]], Churchill was affected by [[paratyphoid fever]] and spent two weeks at a sanatorium in [[Salzburg]].{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=445–446}} He returned to Chartwell on 25 September, still working on ''Marlborough''. Two days later, he collapsed after a recurrence of paratyphoid which caused an ulcer to haemorrhage. He was taken to a London nursing home and remained there until late October.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|pp=508–509}}

===Warnings about Germany and the abdication crisis: 1933–1936===
After Hitler came to power in January 1933, Churchill was quick to recognise the menace of such a regime, and expressed alarm that the British government had reduced air force spending, and warned that Germany would soon overtake Britain in air force production.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=470}}{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|pp=513–515, 530–531}} Armed with data provided clandestinely by senior civil servants, [[Desmond Morton (civil servant)|Desmond Morton]] and [[Ralph Wigram]], Churchill was able to speak with authority about what was happening in Germany, especially the development of the [[Luftwaffe]].{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=479–480}} He spoke of his concerns in a radio broadcast in November 1934,{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=533}} having denounced the intolerance and militarism of Nazism in the House of Commons.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1935/oct/24/international-situation |title=The International Situation |work=Hansard |date=24 October 1935 |series=5th |volume=305 |pages=357–369 |publisher=House of Commons |location=Westminster |access-date=17 May 2021 |quote=We cannot afford to see Nazidom in its present phase of cruelty and intolerance, with all its hatreds and all its gleaming weapons, paramount in Europe |archive-date=9 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309014409/https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1935/oct/24/international-situation |url-status=live}}</ref> While Churchill regarded Mussolini's regime as a bulwark against the threat of communist revolution, he opposed the Italian invasion of Ethiopia,{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=544}} despite describing the country as a primitive, uncivilised nation.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1935/oct/24/international-situation |title=The International Situation |work=Hansard |date=24 October 1935 |series=5th |volume=305 |pages=357–369 |publisher=House of Commons |location=Westminster |access-date=17 May 2021 |quote=No one can keep up the pretence that Abyssinia is a fit, worthy and equal member of a league of civilised nations. |archive-date=9 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309014409/https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1935/oct/24/international-situation |url-status=live}}</ref> He admired the exiled king of Spain [[Alfonso XIII]] and feared communism was making inroads during the [[Spanish Civil War]]. He referred to [[Francisco Franco|Franco]]'s army as the "anti-red movement", but later became critical of Franco as too close to Mussolini and Hitler.{{sfn|Rhodes James|1970|p=408}}<ref>Roberts, (2018) pp. 402–403.</ref>

Between October 1933 and September 1938, the four volumes of ''Marlborough: His Life and Times'' were published and sold well.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|pp=522, 533, 563, 594}} In December 1934, the [[Government of India Act 1935|India Bill]] entered Parliament and was passed in February 1935. Churchill and 83 other Conservative MPs voted against it.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|pp=538–539}} In June 1935, MacDonald resigned and was succeeded as prime minister by Baldwin.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=544}} Baldwin then led the Conservatives to victory in the [[1935 United Kingdom general election|1935 general election]]; Churchill retained his seat, but was again left out of the government.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=547}} In January 1936, [[Edward&nbsp;VIII]] succeeded his father, [[George&nbsp;V]], as monarch. His desire to marry an American divorcee, [[Wallis Simpson]], caused the [[abdication crisis]].{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|pp=568–569}} Churchill supported Edward and clashed with Baldwin on the issue.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=569}} Afterwards, although Churchill immediately pledged loyalty to [[George&nbsp;VI]], he wrote that the abdication was "premature and probably quite unnecessary".{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=570}}

===Anti-appeasement: 1937–1939===
[[File:Churchill and Chamberlain.jpg|right|thumb|Churchill and [[Neville Chamberlain]], the chief proponent of [[appeasement]]]]
In May 1937, Baldwin resigned and was succeeded as prime minister by [[Neville Chamberlain]]. At first, Churchill welcomed Chamberlain's appointment but, in February 1938, matters came to a head after Foreign Secretary [[Anthony Eden]] resigned over Chamberlain's [[appeasement]] of Mussolini,{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=514–515}} a policy which Chamberlain was extending towards Hitler.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|pp=576–577}} In 1938, Churchill warned the government against appeasement and called for collective action to deter German aggression.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=516}}{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=588}} Following the [[Anschluss]], Churchill spoke in the House of Commons:

{{Cquote|A country like ours, possessed of immense territory and wealth, whose defence has been neglected, cannot avoid war by dilating upon its horrors, or even by a continuous display of pacific qualities, or by ignoring the fate of the victims of aggression elsewhere. War will be avoided, in present circumstances, only by the accumulation of deterrents against the aggressor.{{sfn|Langworth|2008|p=193}}}}

He began calling for a mutual defence pact among European states threatened by German expansionism, arguing this was the only way to halt Hitler.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|pp=590–591}} In September, Germany mobilised to invade the [[Sudetenland]] in Czechoslovakia.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=594}} Churchill visited Chamberlain and urged him to tell Germany that Britain would declare war if the Germans invaded Czechoslovak territory; Chamberlain was unwilling to do this.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=595}} On 30 September, Chamberlain signed the [[Munich Agreement]], agreeing to allow German annexation of the Sudetenland. Speaking in the House of Commons on 5 October, Churchill called the agreement "[[a total and unmitigated defeat]]".{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=598}}{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=527}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.churchill-society-london.org.uk/Munich.html |title=Churchill's Wartime Speeches – A Total and Unmitigated Defeat |date=5 October 1938 |publisher=The Churchill Society |location=London |access-date=27 April 2020 |archive-date=13 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190913121253/http://www.churchill-society-london.org.uk/Munich.html |url-status=usurped}}</ref> Following the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia in March 1939, Churchill and his supporters called for the foundation of a national coalition. His popularity increased as a result.<ref name="HGN"/>

==First Lord of the Admiralty: September 1939 to May 1940==
{{main|Winston Churchill in the Second World War}}

===Phoney War and the Norwegian Campaign===
On 3 September 1939, the day Britain declared war on Germany, Chamberlain reappointed Churchill as First Lord of the Admiralty and he joined [[Chamberlain war ministry|Chamberlain's war cabinet]].{{sfn|Churchill|1967b|p=7}} Churchill was a highest-profile minister during the so-called "[[Phoney War]]". Churchill was ebullient after the [[Battle of the River Plate]] on 13 December 1939 and welcomed home the crews, congratulating them on "a brilliant sea fight".{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=634}} On 16 February 1940, Churchill ordered Captain [[Philip Vian]] of the destroyer {{HMS|Cossack|F03|6}} to board the German supply ship {{ship|German tanker|Altmark||2}} in Norwegian waters freeing 299 British merchant seamen who had been captured by the {{ship|German cruiser|Admiral Graf Spee||2}}. These actions, and his speeches, enhanced Churchill's reputation.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=634}} He was concerned about German naval activity in the Baltic and wanted to send a naval force, but this was soon changed to a plan, codenamed ''[[Operation Wilfred]]'', to mine Norwegian waters and stop iron ore shipments from [[Narvik]] to Germany.{{sfn|Shakespeare|2017|p=30}} Due to disagreements, ''Wilfred'' was delayed until 8 April 1940, the day before the [[Operation Weserübung|German invasion of Norway]].{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=573–574}}

===Norway Debate and Chamberlain's resignation===
{{main|Norway Debate}}

[[File:0929 fc-churchill-halifax.jpg|thumb|right|Churchill with [[Edward Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax|Lord Halifax]] in 1938]]
After the [[Norwegian campaign|Allies failed to prevent]] the German occupation of Norway, the Commons held a debate from 7 to 9 May on the government's conduct of the war. This became known as the [[Norway Debate]], one of the most significant events in parliamentary history.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=576–577}} On the second day, the Labour opposition called for a [[division of the assembly|division]] which was in effect a [[vote of no confidence]] in Chamberlain's government.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=579}} Churchill was called upon to wind up the debate, which placed him in the difficult position of having to defend the government without damaging his prestige.{{sfn|Shakespeare|2017|pp=299–300}} Although the government won the vote, its majority was drastically reduced amid calls for a national government.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=582}}

Early on 10 May, German forces invaded Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands as a prelude to their [[Battle of France|assault on France]].{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=583}} Since the division vote, Chamberlain had been trying to form a coalition, but Labour declared on the Friday they would not serve under his leadership, although they would accept another Conservative. The only two candidates were Churchill and [[Lord Halifax]], the Foreign Secretary. The matter had already been discussed at a meeting on the 9th between Chamberlain, Halifax, Churchill, and [[David Margesson]], the government [[Chief Whip]].{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=583}} Halifax admitted he could not govern effectively as a member of the House of Lords, so Chamberlain advised the King to send for Churchill, who became prime minister.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=586}} Churchill later wrote of a profound sense of relief, as he now had authority over the whole scene. He believed his life so far had been "a preparation for this hour and for this trial".{{sfn|Arthur|2015|p=170}}{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=592}}{{sfn|Churchill|1967b|p=243}}

==Prime Minister: 1940–1945==
{{main|Winston Churchill in the Second World War}}

{{for timeline|Timeline of Winston Churchill's first premiership}}

===Dunkirk to Pearl Harbor: May 1940 to December 1941===
[[File:Winston Churchill As Prime Minister 1940-45 H10688.jpg|thumb|right|Churchill takes aim with a [[Sten]] sub-machine gun in June 1941.]]

====War ministry created====
{{main|Churchill war ministry}}

Churchill began his premiership by forming a [[Churchill war ministry|war cabinet]]: Chamberlain as [[Lord President of the Council]], Labour leader [[Clement Attlee]] as [[Lord Privy Seal]] (later [[Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Deputy Prime Minister]]), Halifax as [[Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (UK)|Foreign Secretary]] and Labour's [[Arthur Greenwood]] as a [[Minister without portfolio (United Kingdom)|minister without portfolio]]. In practice, these five were augmented by the service chiefs and ministers who attended most meetings.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=587–588}}{{sfn|Hermiston|2016|pp=26–29}} The cabinet changed in size and membership as the war progressed, a key appointment being the leading [[Trade unions in the United Kingdom|trades unionist]] [[Ernest Bevin]] as [[Secretary of State for Employment|Minister of Labour and National Service]].{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pages=714–715}} In response to criticisms, Churchill created and assumed the position of [[Minister of Defence (UK)|Minister of Defence]], making him the most powerful wartime prime minister in history.{{sfn|Blake|Louis|1993|pp=264, 270–271}} He drafted outside experts into government to fulfil vital functions, especially on the Home Front. These included friends like [[Lord Beaverbrook]] and [[Frederick Lindemann]], who became the government's scientific advisor.{{sfn|Hermiston|2016|p=41}}

In May, Churchill had still been unpopular with many Conservatives and most of the Labour Party.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=590}} Chamberlain remained Conservative Party leader until, dying of cancer, he retired in October. By that time, Churchill had won over his doubters and his succession as leader was a formality.{{sfn|Blake|Louis|1993|pp=249, 252–255}}

====Resolve to fight on====
{{main|1940 British war cabinet crisis}}

At the end of May, with the [[British Expeditionary Force (World War II)|British Expeditionary Force]] in retreat to Dunkirk and the [[Fall of France]] imminent, Halifax proposed the government should explore a peace settlement using the still-neutral Mussolini as an intermediary. There were high-level meetings from 26 to 28 May, including with the French premier [[Paul Reynaud]].{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=599}} Churchill's resolve was to fight on, even if France capitulated, but his position remained precarious until Chamberlain resolved to support him. Churchill had the full support of the two Labour members but knew he could not survive as prime minister if both Chamberlain and Halifax were against him. By gaining the support of his outer cabinet, Churchill outmanoeuvred Halifax and won Chamberlain over.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=602–603}}

Churchill succeeded as an orator despite being handicapped from childhood with a speech impediment. He had a [[lateral lisp]] and was unable to pronounce the letter ''s'', verbalising it with a slur.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=65}} He worked on his pronunciation by repeating phrases designed to cure his problem with the sibilant "s". He was ultimately successful, turning the impediment into an asset, as when he called Hitler a "Nar-zee" (rhymes with "[[khazi]]"; emphasis on the "z"), rather than a Nazi ("ts").<ref>{{cite web |url=https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/myths/churchills-speech-impediment-was-stuttering/ |last=Mather |first=John |title=Churchill's speech impediment |work=International Churchill Society (ICS) |date=29 August 2008 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing plc |location=London |access-date=14 May 2020 |archive-date=25 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200925185352/https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/myths/churchills-speech-impediment-was-stuttering/ |url-status=live}}</ref> His first speech as prime minister, delivered to the Commons on 13 May, was the "[[blood, toil, tears and sweat]]" speech.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=591}} Churchill made it plain to the nation that a long road lay ahead and that victory was the final goal:<ref name="BTTS">{{cite web |url=https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/speeches/1940-the-finest-hour/blood-toil-tears-and-sweat-2/ |title=Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat |work=International Churchill Society (ICS) |date=13 May 1940 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing plc |location=London |access-date=30 April 2020 |archive-date=19 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210519170443/https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/speeches/1940-the-finest-hour/blood-toil-tears-and-sweat-2/ |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="H360:1501">{{cite periodical |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1940/may/13/his-majestys-government-1 |title=His Majesty's Government |magazine=Hansard |date=4 June 1940 |series=5th |volume=360 |pages=1501–1525 |publisher=House of Commons |location=Westminster |access-date=30 April 2020 |archive-date=20 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180620001930/https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1940/may/13/his-majestys-government-1 |url-status=live}}</ref>

{{blockquote|I would say to the House... that I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat. We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. You ask, what is our policy? I will say: it is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: it is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.}}
Churchill's use of rhetoric hardened public opinion against a peaceful resolution – Jenkins says Churchill's speeches were "an inspiration for the nation, and a [[catharsis]] for Churchill himself".{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=611–612}}

====Operation Dynamo and the Battle of France====
The [[Dunkirk evacuation]] of 338,226 Allied servicemen ended on 4 June when the French rearguard surrendered. The total was far in excess of expectations and gave rise to a popular view Dunkirk had been a miracle, even a victory.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=597}} Churchill himself referred to "a miracle of deliverance" in his "[[we shall fight on the beaches]]" speech to the Commons that afternoon. The speech ended on a note of defiance, with a clear appeal to the United States:<ref name="WSFB">{{cite web |url=https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/speeches/1940-the-finest-hour/we-shall-fight-on-the-beaches/ |title=We Shall Fight on the Beaches |work=International Churchill Society (ICS) |date=4 June 1940 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing plc |location=London |access-date=30 April 2020 |archive-date=14 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200514012817/https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/speeches/1940-the-finest-hour/we-shall-fight-on-the-beaches/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="H361:791">{{cite periodical |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1940/jun/04/war-situation#column_791 |title=War Situation – Churchill |magazine=Hansard |date=4 June 1940 |series=5th |volume=361 |page=791 |publisher=House of Commons |location=Westminster |access-date=14 January 2020 |archive-date=6 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200206025900/https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1940/jun/04/war-situation#column_791 |url-status=live}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air. We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the Old.}}

Germany initiated ''[[Fall Rot]]'', in France, the following day, and Italy entered the war on the 10th.{{sfn|Hastings|2009|pp=44–45}} The Wehrmacht occupied Paris on the 14th and completed their conquest of France on 25 June.{{sfn|Hastings|2009|pp=51–53}} It was now inevitable that Hitler would attack and probably try to invade Great Britain. Faced with this, Churchill addressed the Commons on 18 June with one of his [[This was their finest hour|most famous speeches]], ending with this peroration:{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=621}}<ref name="H362:61">{{cite periodical |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1940/jun/18/war-situation#column_61 |title=War Situation – Churchill |magazine=Hansard |date=18 June 1940 |series=5th |volume=362 |page=61 |publisher=House of Commons |location=Westminster |access-date=30 April 2020 |archive-date=8 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308190540/https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1940/jun/18/war-situation#column_61 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="TFH">{{cite web |url=https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/speeches/1940-the-finest-hour/their-finest-hour/ |title=Their Finest Hour |work=International Churchill Society (ICS) |date=18 June 1940 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing plc |location=London |access-date=30 April 2020 |archive-date=13 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200413090457/https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/speeches/1940-the-finest-hour/their-finest-hour/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

{{blockquote|What General Weygand called the "Battle of France" is over. I expect that the [[Battle of Britain]] is about to begin. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duty and so bear ourselves that if the British Commonwealth and Empire lasts for a thousand years, men will still say: "This was their finest hour".}}

Churchill ordered the commencement of the [[Western Desert campaign]] on 11 June, a response to the Italian declaration of war. This went well at first while Italy was the sole opposition and [[Operation Compass]] was a success. In early 1941, however, Mussolini requested German support. Hitler sent the [[Afrika Korps]] to [[Tripoli, Libya|Tripoli]] under {{lang|de|[[Generalleutnant]]}} [[Erwin Rommel]], who arrived not long after Churchill had halted ''Compass'' so he could reassign forces to Greece where the [[Balkans campaign (World War II)|Balkans campaign]] was entering a critical phase.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Major-General I. S. O. |last1=Playfair |author1-link=Ian Stanley Ord Playfair |first2=Commander G. M. S. |last2=with Stitt [[Royal Navy|R.N.]] |first3=Brigadier C. J. C. |last3=Molony |first4=Air Vice-Marshal S. E. |last4=Toomer |editor-last=Butler |editor-first=J. R. M. |editor-link=James Ramsay Montagu Butler |series=History of the Second World War, United Kingdom Military Series |title=The Mediterranean and Middle East: The Early Successes Against Italy (to May 1941) |volume=I |publisher=Naval & Military Press |year=2004 |orig-year=1st. pub. [[HMSO]] 1954 |pages=359–362 |isbn=978-1-84574-065-8 |name-list-style=amp}}</ref>

In other initiatives through June and July 1940, Churchill ordered the formation of the [[Special Operations Executive]] (SOE) and [[British Commandos|Commandos]]. The SOE was ordered to promote and execute subversive activity in Nazi-occupied Europe, while the Commandos were charged with raids on military targets there. [[Hugh Dalton]], the [[Minister of Economic Warfare]], took political responsibility for the SOE and recorded that Churchill told him: "And now go and set Europe ablaze".{{Sfn|Dalton|1986|p=62}}

====Battle of Britain and the Blitz====
[[File:Churchill CCathedral H 14250.jpg|thumb|Churchill walks through the ruins of [[Coventry Cathedral]], 1941]]
On 20 August 1940, at the height of the Battle of Britain, Churchill addressed the Commons to outline the situation. In the middle of it, he made a statement that created [[The Few|a famous nickname]] for the RAF fighter pilots involved in the battle:<ref name="The Few">{{cite web |url=http://www.churchill-society-london.org.uk/thefew.html |title=The Few |publisher=The Churchill Society, London |date=20 August 1940 |access-date=30 April 2020 |archive-date=12 March 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050312093906/http://www.churchill-society-london.org.uk/thefew.html |url-status=usurped}}</ref><ref name="H364:1167">{{cite periodical |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1940/aug/20/war-situation#column_1167 |title=War Situation – Churchill |magazine=Hansard |date=20 August 1940 |series=5th |volume=364 |page=1167 |publisher=House of Commons |location=Westminster |access-date=30 April 2020 |archive-date=4 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200604054801/https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1940/aug/20/war-situation#column_1167 |url-status=live}}</ref>

{{blockquote|The gratitude of every home in our Island, in our Empire, and indeed throughout the world, except in the abodes of the guilty, goes out to the British airmen who, undaunted by odds, unwearied in their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of the World War by their prowess and by their devotion. Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.}}

The Luftwaffe altered its strategy from 7 September 1940 and began [[the Blitz]], which was intensive through October and November. Churchill's morale was high and told his private secretary [[Jock Colville|John Colville]], in November, he thought the threat of invasion was past.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=640}} He was confident Great Britain could hold its own, given the increase in output, but was realistic about its chances of winning the war without American intervention.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=641}}

====Lend-Lease====
In September 1940, the British and American governments concluded the [[destroyers-for-bases deal]], by which 50 American [[destroyer]]s were transferred to the Royal Navy in exchange for free US base rights in [[Bermuda]], the [[Caribbean]] and [[Newfoundland]]. An added advantage for Britain was that its military assets in those bases could be redeployed elsewhere.{{sfn|Neiberg|2004|p=118–119}} Churchill's good relations with President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] helped secure vital food, oil and munitions via the North Atlantic shipping routes.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.americanheritage.com/content/churchill-offers-toil-and-tears-fdr |first=John |last=Lukacs |title=Churchill Offers Toil and Tears to FDR |journal=American Heritage |date=Spring–Summer 2008 |volume=58 |issue=4 |access-date=5 May 2020 |archive-date=8 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181008055429/http://www.americanheritage.com/content/churchill-offers-toil-and-tears-fdr |url-status=live}}</ref> It was for this reason that Churchill was relieved when Roosevelt was [[1940 United States presidential election|re-elected in 1940]]. Roosevelt set about implementing a new method of providing necessities to Great Britain, without the need for monetary payment. He persuaded Congress that repayment for this costly service would take the form of defending the US. The policy was known as [[Lend-Lease]] and was formally enacted on 11 March 1941.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=614–615}}

====Operation Barbarossa====
[[File:President Roosevelt and Winston Churchill seated on the quarterdeck of HMS PRINCE OF WALES for a Sunday service during the Atlantic Conference, 10 August 1941. A4815.jpg|thumb|Churchill and Roosevelt seated on the quarterdeck of {{HMS|Prince of Wales|53|6}} for a Sunday service during the Atlantic Conference, 10 August 1941]]

Hitler launched his [[invasion of the Soviet Union]] on 22 June 1941. Churchill had known since April, from [[Enigma machine|Enigma decrypts]] at [[Bletchley Park]], that the attack was imminent. He had tried to warn [[Joseph Stalin]] via the ambassador to Moscow, [[Stafford Cripps]], but Stalin did not trust Churchill. The night before the attack, already intending to address the nation, Churchill alluded to his hitherto [[anti-communist]] views by saying to Colville: "If Hitler invaded Hell, I would at least make a favourable reference to the Devil".{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=658–659}}

====Atlantic Charter====
In August 1941, Churchill made his first transatlantic crossing of the war on board {{HMS|Prince of Wales|53|6}} and met Roosevelt in [[Placentia Bay]], Newfoundland. On 14 August, they issued the joint statement known as the [[Atlantic Charter]].{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=665–666}} This outlined the goals of both countries for the future of the world and is seen as the inspiration for the 1942 [[Declaration by United Nations]], itself the basis of the UN, founded in 1945.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/decade03.asp |title=Joint Declaration by the United Nations |work=The Avalon Project |publisher=Lillian Goldman Law Library |date=1 January 1942 |access-date=11 May 2020 |archive-date=20 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160820073546/http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/decade03.asp |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Pearl Harbor to D-Day: December 1941 to June 1944===
====Pearl Harbor and United States entry into the war====
In December 1941, the Japanese [[attack on Pearl Harbor]] was followed by their [[invasion of Malaya]] and, on the 8th, Churchill declared war on Japan. With the hope of using Irish ports for counter-submarine operations, Churchill sent a telegram to Irish Prime Minister [[Éamon de Valera]] in which he obliquely offered Irish unity: "Now is your chance. Now or never! A nation once again! I will meet you wherever you wish." No meeting took place and there is no record of a response.<ref>Bromage, pg 162</ref> Churchill went to Washington to meet Roosevelt for the [[Arcadia Conference]]. This was important for "[[Europe first]]", the decision to prioritise victory in Europe over victory in the Pacific, taken by Roosevelt while Churchill was still in the mid-Atlantic. The Americans agreed with Churchill that Hitler was the main enemy and defeat of Germany was key to Allied success.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=670}} It was also agreed that the first joint Anglo-American strike would be [[Operation Torch]], the invasion of [[French North Africa]]. Originally planned for the spring 1942, it was launched in November 1942 when the crucial [[Second Battle of El Alamein]] was underway.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=677–678}}

On 26 December, Churchill addressed a joint meeting of the [[United States Congress]]. Later that night, he suffered a heart attack, which was diagnosed by his physician, [[Charles Wilson, 1st Baron Moran|Sir Charles Wilson]], as a [[Coronary circulation|coronary deficiency]], requiring several weeks' bed rest. Churchill insisted he did not need bed rest and journeyed to [[Ottawa]] by train, where he gave a speech to the [[Canadian Parliament]] that included the "some chicken, some neck" line in which he recalled French predictions in 1940 that "Britain alone would have her neck wrung like a chicken".{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=674}} He arrived home mid-January, having flown from Bermuda to [[Plymouth]] in the first transatlantic air crossing by a head of government, to find there was a crisis of confidence in his government and him;{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=679}} he decided to face a vote of confidence in the Commons, which he won easily.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=682}}

While he was away, the [[Eighth Army (United Kingdom)|Eighth Army]], having relieved the [[Siege of Tobruk]], had pursued [[Operation Crusader]] against Rommel's forces in Libya, successfully driving them back to a defensive position at [[El Agheila]] in [[Cyrenaica]]. On 21 January 1942, however, Rommel launched a surprise counter-attack which drove the Allies back to [[Gazala]]. Elsewhere, British success in the [[Battle of the Atlantic]] was compromised by the [[Kriegsmarine]]'s introduction of its [[Cryptanalysis of the Enigma#M4 (German Navy 4-rotor Enigma)|M4 4-rotor Enigma]], whose signals could not be deciphered by Bletchley Park for nearly a year.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=680}} At a press conference in Washington, Churchill had to play down his increasing doubts about the security of Singapore, given Japanese advances.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=675, 678}}

====Fall of Singapore and loss of Burma====
Churchill already had grave concerns about the quality of British troops after the defeats in Norway, France, [[Battle of Greece|Greece]] and [[Battle of Crete|Crete]].{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=681}} Following the [[fall of Singapore]] to the Japanese on 15 February 1942, he felt his misgivings were confirmed and said: "(this is) the worst disaster and largest capitulation in British military history".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://winstonchurchill.org/publications/finest-hour/finest-hour-169/churchill-and-the-fall-of-singapore/ |last=Glueckstein |first=Fred |title=Churchill and the Fall of Singapore |work=International Churchill Society (ICS) |date=10 November 2015 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing plc |location=London |access-date=22 May 2020 |archive-date=4 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200604054846/https://winstonchurchill.org/publications/finest-hour/finest-hour-169/churchill-and-the-fall-of-singapore/ |url-status=live}}</ref> On 11 February the Kriegsmarine pulled off its audacious "[[Channel Dash]]", a massive blow to British naval prestige. The combined effect of these events was to sink Churchill's morale to its lowest point of the war.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=681}}

==== The Bengal Famine ====
Meanwhile, the [[Japanese invasion of Burma|Japanese had occupied most of Burma]] by the end of April 1942. Counter-offensives were hampered by the [[Monsoon of South Asia|monsoon season]] and disordered conditions in [[Bengal]] and [[Bihar]], as well as a [[1940s North Indian Ocean cyclone seasons#October 1942 Bengal cyclone|severe cyclone]] which devastated the region in October 1942. A combination of factors, including the curtailment of essential rice imports from Burma, poor administration, wartime inflation and large-scale natural disasters such as flooding and crop disease led to the [[Bengal famine of 1943]],{{sfn|Bayly|Harper|2005|pp=251–253}} in which an estimated 2.1–3.8 million people died.<ref name="TET">{{cite news |url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/bengal-famine-of-1943-caused-by-british-policy-failure-not-drought-study/articleshow/68495710.cms |title=Bengal famine of 1943 caused by British policy failure, not drought: Study |work=The Economic Times |date=20 March 2019 |publisher=Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd |location=New Delhi |access-date=4 December 2020 |archive-date=4 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201204044724/https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/bengal-famine-of-1943-caused-by-british-policy-failure-not-drought-study/articleshow/68495710.cms?from=mdr |url-status=live}}</ref>

From December 1942, food shortages had prompted senior officials to ask London for grain imports, although the colonial authorities failed to recognise the seriousness of the famine and responded ineptly.{{sfn|Sen|1977|pp=52–55}} Churchill's government was criticised for refusing to approve more imports, a policy it ascribed to an acute shortage of shipping.{{sfn|Sen|1977|p=52}} When the British realised the full extent of the famine in September 1943, Churchill ordered the transportation of 130,000 tons of grain and the cabinet agreed to send 200,000 tons by the end of the year.<ref name="CRC">{{cite web |url=https://winstonchurchill.hillsdale.edu/cambridge-racial-consequences/ |last1=Roberts |first1=Andrew |author-link1=Andrew Roberts (historian) |last2=Gebreyohanes |first2=Zewditu |title=Cambridge: "The Racial Consequences of Mr Churchill", A Review |work=The Churchill Project |publisher=Hillsdale College |location=Hillsdale, Missouri |date=14 March 2021 |access-date=5 May 2021 |archive-date=5 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210505090720/https://winstonchurchill.hillsdale.edu/cambridge-racial-consequences/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="ALH">{{cite web |url=https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/in-the-media/churchill-in-the-news/without-churchill-indias-famine-would-have-been-worse/ |last=Herman |first=Arthur L. |author-link=Arthur L. Herman |title=Without Churchill, India's Famine Would Have Been Worse |work=International Churchill Society (ICS) |date=13 September 2010 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing plc |location=London |access-date=5 May 2021 |archive-date=19 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019024202/https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/in-the-media/churchill-in-the-news/without-churchill-indias-famine-would-have-been-worse/ |url-status=live}}</ref> During the last quarter of 1943, 100,000 tons of rice and 176,000 tons of wheat were imported, compared to averages of 55,000 and 54,000 tons respectively earlier in the year.{{sfn|Sen|1977|p=40}}

In October, Churchill wrote to the Viceroy of India, [[Lord Wavell]], charging him with the responsibility of ending the famine.<ref name="CRC" /> In February 1944, as preparation for [[Operation Overlord]] placed greater demands on Allied shipping, Churchill cabled Wavell saying: "I will certainly help you all I can, but you must not ask the impossible".<ref name="ALH" /> Grain shipment requests continued to be turned down by the government throughout 1944, and Wavell complained to Churchill in October that "the vital problems of India are being treated by His Majesty's Government with neglect, even sometimes with hostility and contempt".{{sfn|Sen|1977|p=52}}{{sfn|Khan|2015|p=213}} The impact of British policies on the famine death toll [[Bengal famine of 1943#Historiography|remains controversial]].<ref>{{cite tech report |last=Devereux |first=Stephen |title=Famine in the twentieth century |volume=IDS Working Paper 105 |pages=21–23 |publisher=Institute of Development Studies |location=Brighton |year=2000 |url=http://www.eldis.org/vfile/upload/1/document/0708/DOC7538.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170516151220/http://www.eldis.org/vfile/upload/1/document/0708/DOC7538.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=16 May 2017}}</ref>

====International conferences in 1942====
[[File:StateLibQld 2 108020 Guests seated on stage in front of a backdrop of giant posters at the Aid to Soviet Congress, Brisbane City Hall, October 1941.jpg|thumb|Huge portraits of Churchill and Stalin, [[Brisbane]], Australia, 31 October 1941]]

On 20 May 1942, the Soviet Foreign minister, [[Vyacheslav Molotov]], arrived in London to sign a treaty of friendship. Molotov wanted it done on the basis of territorial concessions regarding Poland and the Baltic countries. Churchill and Eden worked for a compromise and a twenty-year treaty was formalised, with the question of frontiers placed on hold. Molotov also sought a Second Front in Europe; Churchill confirmed preparations were in progress and made no promises on a date.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=688–690}}

Churchill felt pleased with these negotiations.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=690}} However, Rommel had launched his counter-offensive, ''Operation Venice'', to begin the [[Battle of Gazala]] on 26 May.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=690}} The Allies were driven out of Libya and suffered a defeat in the [[fall of Tobruk]] on 21 June. Churchill was with Roosevelt when the news reached him, and was shocked by the surrender of 35,000 troops which was, apart from Singapore, "the heaviest blow" he received in the war.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=692}} The Axis advance was halted at the [[First Battle of El Alamein]] in July and the [[Battle of Alam el Halfa]] in September. Both sides were exhausted and in need of reinforcements and supplies.{{Sfn|Cooper|1978|pp=376–377}}

Churchill [[Washington Conference (1942)|returned to Washington]] on 17 June. He and Roosevelt agreed on the implementation of ''Operation Torch'' as the necessary precursor to an invasion of Europe. Roosevelt had appointed General [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] as commanding officer of the [[European Theater of Operations, United States Army]] (ETOUSA). Having received the news from North Africa, Churchill obtained shipment from America to the Eighth Army of 300 Sherman tanks and 100 howitzers. He returned to Britain on 25 June and had to face another motion of no confidence, this time in his direction of the war, but again he won easily.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=692–698}}

In August, despite health concerns, Churchill visited British forces in North Africa, raising morale, en route to Moscow for [[Moscow Conference (1942)|his first meeting with Stalin]]. He was accompanied by Roosevelt's special envoy [[Averell Harriman]].{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=698}} He was in Moscow 12–16 August and had lengthy meetings with Stalin. Though they got along well personally, there was little chance of real progress given the state of the war. Stalin was desperate for the Allies to open the Second Front in Europe, as Churchill had discussed with Molotov in May, and the answer was the same.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=699–701}}

====El Alamein and Stalingrad====
While he was in Cairo in August, Churchill appointed [[Harold Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis|Field Marshal Alexander]] as [[Field Marshal Auchinleck]]'s successor as Commander-in-Chief of the Middle East Theatre. Command of the Eighth Army was given to General [[William Gott]] but he was killed while flying to Cairo, and [[General Montgomery]] succeeded him.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=702}}

[[File:Farouk_and_Churchill.jpg|thumb|Churchill meeting [[Farouk of Egypt|King Farouk]] in Cairo in December 1942]]

As 1942 drew to a close, the tide of war began to turn with Allied victories in [[Second Battle of El Alamein|El Alamein]], successful [[Operation Torch|North Africa landings]] going on and [[Battle of Stalingrad|Stalingrad]]. Until November, the Allies had been on the defensive, but afterwards, the Germans were. Churchill ordered church bells to be rung throughout Great Britain for the first time since 1940.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=702}} On 10 November, knowing El Alamein was a victory and Operation Torch a success, he delivered one of his most memorable speeches:<ref>{{cite book|last=Churchill | first=Winston| date=1 January 1943| title=The End of The Beginning| volume=The third volume of Winston Churchill's war speeches, 1942 |publisher=Little, Brown and Company| location=Boston| pages=322}}</ref> "This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning".{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=702}}

====International conferences in 1943====
[[File:Teheran conference-1943.jpg|thumb|Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill at the [[Tehran Conference]] in 1943]]

In January 1943, Churchill met Roosevelt at the [[Casablanca Conference]]. It was attended by General [[Charles de Gaulle]] from the [[Free French Forces]]. Stalin had hoped to attend but declined because of Stalingrad. Although Churchill expressed doubts on the matter, the so-called Casablanca Declaration committed the Allies to securing "[[unconditional surrender]]".{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=705–706}}<ref>{{cite news |last=Middleton |first=Drew |title=Roosevelt, Churchill Map 1943 War Strategy At Ten-Day Conference Held In Casablanca; Giraud And De Gaulle, Present, Agree On Aims |newspaper=The New York Times |date=24 January 1943 |location=Manhattan}}</ref> From Morocco, Churchill went to Cairo, [[Adana]], [[Cyprus]], Cairo again and [[Algiers]]. He arrived home on 7 February having been out of the country for a month. He addressed the Commons on the 11th and became seriously ill with [[pneumonia]] the following day, necessitating more than a month of convalescence: he moved to [[Chequers]]. He returned to work in London on 15 March.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=705–707}}

Churchill made two transatlantic crossings during the year, meeting Roosevelt at the [[third Washington Conference]] in May and the [[first Quebec Conference]] in August.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=707–711}} In November, Churchill and Roosevelt met Chinese Generalissimo [[Chiang Kai-shek]] at the [[Cairo Conference]].{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=719–720}} The most important conference of the year was 28 November to 1 December at [[Tehran Conference|Tehran]], where Churchill and Roosevelt met Stalin in the first of the "Big Three" meetings. Roosevelt and Stalin co-operated in persuading Churchill to commit to the opening of a second front in western Europe and it was agreed Germany would be divided after the war, but no decisions were made about how.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Roberts |first=Geoffrey |title=Stalin at the Tehran, Yalta, and Potsdam Conferences |journal=Journal of Cold War Studies |publisher=MIT Press |date=Fall 2007 |volume=9 |issue=4 |pages=6–40|doi=10.1162/jcws.2007.9.4.6 |s2cid=57564917 | issn=1520-3972}}</ref> On their way back, Churchill and Roosevelt held a [[Second Cairo Conference]] with Turkish president [[İsmet İnönü]], but İnönü did not commit to join the Allies.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=725}}

Churchill went to [[Tunis]], arriving on 10 December, initially as Eisenhower's guest (soon afterwards, Eisenhower took over as Supreme Allied Commander of the new [[SHAEF]]). Churchill became seriously ill with [[atrial fibrillation]] and was forced to remain in Tunis, until after Christmas while specialists were drafted in. Clementine and Colville arrived to keep him company; Colville had just returned to Downing Street after two years in the RAF. On 27 December, the party went on to [[Marrakesh]] for convalescence. Feeling much better, Churchill flew to [[Gibraltar]] on 14 January 1944 and sailed home on the {{HMS|King George V|41|2}}. He was back in London on 18 January and surprised MPs by attending [[Prime Minister's Questions]] in the Commons. Since 12 January 1943, when he set off for Casablanca, Churchill had been abroad or seriously ill for 203 of the 371 days.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=726–728}}

{{See also|1944 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference}}

====Invasions of Sicily and Italy====
[[File:Winston Churchill au théâtre de Carthage, 1943.jpg|thumb|Churchill in the Carthage theatre, near the ancient Carthage Amphitheatre, to address 3,000 British and American troops, June 1943]]
In the autumn of 1942, after Churchill's meeting with Stalin, he was approached by Eisenhower, commanding the [[North African Theater of Operations]], US Army (NATOUSA), and his aides on the subject of where the Western Allies should launch their first strike in Europe. According to General [[Mark W. Clark]], the Americans admitted a cross-Channel operation in the near future was "utterly impossible". As an alternative, Churchill recommended "slit(ting) the soft belly of the Mediterranean" and persuaded them to invade Sicily and then mainland Italy, after they had defeated the Afrika Korps. After the war, Clark still agreed Churchill's analysis was correct, but added that, when the Allies [[Allied invasion of Italy#Salerno landings|landed at Salerno]], they found Italy was "a tough old gut".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://winstonchurchill.hillsdale.edu/soft-underbelly-fortress-europe/ |title=Were "Soft Underbelly" and "Fortress Europe" Churchill Phrases? |work=The Churchill Project |publisher=Hillsdale College |date=1 April 2016 |access-date=21 May 2020 |archive-date=9 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200609191114/https://winstonchurchill.hillsdale.edu/soft-underbelly-fortress-europe/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

The invasion of Sicily began on 9 July and was completed by 17 August. Churchill was not keen on ''Overlord'' as he feared an Anglo-American army in France might not be a match for the fighting efficiency of the Wehrmacht. He preferred peripheral operations, including a plan called [[Operation Jupiter (Norway)|Operation Jupiter]] for an invasion of Norway.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=713–714}} Events in Sicily had an unexpected impact in Italy. [[Victor Emmanuel III|King Victor Emmanuel]] sacked Mussolini on 25 July and appointed [[Pietro Badoglio|Marshal Badoglio]] as prime minister. Badoglio opened negotiations with the Allies which resulted in the [[Armistice of Cassibile]] on 3 September. In response, the Germans activated [[Operation Achse]] and took control of most of Italy.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=713}}

Although he still preferred Italy to Normandy as the Allies' main route into the Third Reich, Churchill was concerned about the strong German resistance at Salerno and, after the Allies successfully gained their bridgehead at [[Battle of Anzio|Anzio]] but failed to break the stalemate, he caustically said that instead of "hurling a wildcat onto the shore", the Allied force had become a "stranded whale".<ref>{{Cite journal| issn = 0032-325X| volume = 50| issue = 3| pages = 509–528| last = Tompkins| first = Peter| title = What Really Happened at Anzio| journal = Il Politico| date = 1985| url = http://www.jstor.org/stable/43099608| jstor = 43099608| access-date = 22 November 2021| archive-date = 22 November 2021| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211122221803/https://www.jstor.org/stable/43099608| url-status = live}}</ref>{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=720, 729}} The big obstacle was [[Battle of Monte Cassino|Monte Cassino]] and it was not until May 1944 when it was finally overcome, enabling the Allies to advance on Rome, which was taken on 4 June.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=730}}

====Preparations for D-Day====
[[File:Winston Churchill at a conference in Quebec - NARA - 197118.jpg|thumb|Churchill is greeted by a crowd in [[Québec City]], Canada, 1943]]

The difficulties in Italy caused Churchill to change heart about strategy; when the Anzio stalemate developed after his return to England from North Africa, he threw himself into the planning of ''Overlord'' and set up meetings with SHAEF and the British Chiefs of Staff. These were attended by Eisenhower or his chief of staff General [[Walter Bedell Smith]]. Churchill was especially taken by the [[Mulberry harbour]]s, but was keen to make the most of Allied airpower which, by 1944, had become overwhelming.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=730}} Churchill never lost his apprehension about the invasion, and underwent mood fluctuation as D-Day approached. Jenkins says he faced potential victory with much less buoyancy than when he defiantly faced the prospect of defeat four years earlier.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=737}}

====Need for post-war reform====
The [[Beveridge Report]] with its five "Giant Evils" was published in November 1942 and assumed great importance amid popular acclaim.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Abel-Smith |first=Brian |author-link=Brian Abel-Smith |title=The Beveridge report: Its origins and outcomes |journal=International Social Security Review |date=January 1992 |volume=45 |issue=1–2 |pages=5–16 |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |location=Hoboken |doi=10.1111/j.1468-246X.1992.tb00900.x}}</ref> Even so, Churchill spent most of his focus on the war, and saw post-war reform in terms of tidying up. His attitude was demonstrated in a radio broadcast on 26 March 1944. He was obliged to devote most of it to reform and showed a distinct lack of interest. [[Harold Nicolson]] said that, to many people, Churchill came across the air as "a worn and petulant old man".{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=733}} However, it was demand for reform that decided the 1945 general election. Attlee, Bevin and Labour's other coalition ministers were seen as working towards reform and earned the trust of the electorate.{{Sfn|Lynch|2008|pp=1–4}}{{Sfn|Marr|2009|pp=5–6}}

===Defeat of Germany: June 1944 to May 1945===
[[File:Prime Minister Winston Churchill Crosses the River Rhine, Germany 1945 BU2248.jpg|thumb|Churchill's crossing of the [[Rhine]] river in Germany, during [[Operation Plunder]] on 25 March 1945]]

====D-Day: Allied invasion of Normandy====
Churchill was determined to be actively involved in the [[Normandy invasion]] and hoped to cross the Channel on [[D-Day]] (6 June 1944) or at least D-Day+1. His desire caused unnecessary consternation at SHAEF, until he was effectively vetoed by the King. Churchill expected an Allied death toll of 20,000 on D-Day but fewer than 8,000 died in all of June.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=744–745}} He made his first visit to Normandy on 12 June to visit Montgomery. That evening, as he was returning to London, the first [[V-1 flying bomb]]s were launched. On 22–23 July, Churchill went to [[Cherbourg]] and [[Arromanches]] where he saw the Mulberry Harbour.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=746}}

====Quebec Conference, September 1944====
Churchill met Roosevelt at the [[Second Quebec Conference]] in September 1944. They reached agreement on the [[Morgenthau Plan]] for the Allied occupation of Germany, the intention of which was not only to demilitarise, but de-industrialise. Eden opposed it and persuaded Churchill to disown it. US Secretary of State [[Cordell Hull]] convinced Roosevelt it was infeasible.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=754}}

====Moscow Conference, October 1944====
At the [[Moscow Conference (1944)|fourth Moscow conference]] in October 1944, Churchill and Eden met Stalin and Molotov. This conference has gained notoriety for the so-called "[[Percentages agreement]]" in which Churchill and Stalin effectively agreed the post-war fate of the [[Balkans]].{{Sfn|Resis|1978}} By then, the Soviet armies were in Rumania and Bulgaria. Churchill suggested a scale of predominance throughout the whole region so as not to, as he put it, "get at cross-purposes in small ways".{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=759}} He wrote down some suggested percentages of influence per country and gave it to Stalin who ticked it. The agreement was that Russia would have 90% control of Romania and 75% control of Bulgaria. The United Kingdom and United States would have 90% control of Greece. Hungary and Yugoslavia would be 50% each.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=760}} In 1958, five years after the account of this meeting was published (in ''[[The Second World War (Churchill)|The Second World War]]''), Soviet authorities denied Stalin had accepted such an "imperialist proposal".{{Sfn|Resis|1978}}

====Yalta Conference, February 1945====
{{main|Yalta Conference}}

[[File:Yalta Conference (Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin) (B&W).jpg|thumb|right|Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin at the [[Yalta Conference]], February 1945]]

From 30 January to 2 February 1945, Churchill and Roosevelt met for their [[Malta Conference (1945)|Malta Conference]] ahead of the second "Big Three" event at [[Yalta]] from 4 to 11 February.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=773}} Yalta had massive implications for the post-war world. There were two predominant issues: the question of setting up the [[United Nations Organisation]], on which much progress was made; and the more vexed question of Poland's post-war status, which Churchill saw as a test case for Eastern Europe.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=778–779}} Churchill faced criticism for the agreement on Poland. For example, 27 Tory MPs voted against him when the matter was debated in the Commons at the end of the month. Jenkins, however, maintains that Churchill did as well as possible in difficult circumstances, not least the fact that Roosevelt was seriously ill and could not provide Churchill with meaningful support.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=779}}

Another outcome of Yalta was the so-called [[Operation Keelhaul]]. The Western Allies agreed to the forcible repatriation of all Soviet citizens in the Allied zones, including [[Nazi crimes against Soviet POWs|prisoners of war]], to the Soviet Union. The policy was later extended to all Eastern European [[refugee]]s, many of whom were anti-communist. Keelhaul was implemented between August 1946 and May 1947.{{sfn|Tolstoy|1978|p=360}}<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1017&context=econ_pub |last1=Hummel |first1=Jeffrey Rogers |title=Operation Keelhaul—Exposed |journal=San Jose State University ScholarWorks |date=1 November 1974 |pages=4–9 |access-date=28 January 2020 |archive-date=4 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200604054926/https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1017&context=econ_pub |url-status=live}}</ref>

====Area bombing controversy====
{{main|Bombing of Dresden}}

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1994-041-07, Dresden, zerstörtes Stadtzentrum.jpg|thumb|The destruction of Dresden, February 1945]]
On the nights of 13–15 February 1945, 1,200 British and US bombers attacked [[Dresden]], which was crowded with wounded and refugees from the Eastern Front.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=777–778}}{{sfn|Taylor|2005|pp=262–264}} The attacks were part of an [[area bombing]] campaign initiated by Churchill in January with the intention of shortening the war.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=777}} Churchill came to regret the bombing because initial reports suggested an excessive number of [[civilian casualties]] close to the end of the war, though an independent commission in 2010 confirmed a death toll of about 24,000.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8574157.stm |title=Up to 25,000 died in Dresden's WWII bombing |publisher=BBC News |date=18 March 2010 |location=London |access-date=2 May 2020 |archive-date=5 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220205054434/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8574157.stm |url-status=live}}</ref> On 28 March, he decided to restrict area bombing{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=778}} and sent a memo to [[General Ismay]] for the [[Chiefs of Staff Committee]]:{{sfn|Taylor|2005|pp=430–431}}{{Sfn|Marr|2009|pp=423–424}}

{{blockquote|The destruction of Dresden remains a serious query against the conduct of Allied bombing.... I feel the need for more precise concentration upon military objectives.... rather than on mere acts of terror and wanton destruction, however impressive.}}

Historian [[Frederick Taylor (historian)|Frederick Taylor]] has pointed out that the number of Soviets who died from German bombing was roughly equivalent to the number of Germans who died from Allied raids.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel-interview-dresden-bombing-is-to-be-regretted-enormously-a-341239.html |last=Hawley |first=Charles |title=Dresden Bombing Is To Be Regretted Enormously |newspaper=Der Spiegel |date=11 February 2005 |publisher=Spiegel-Verlag |location=Hamburg |access-date=2 May 2020 |archive-date=21 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120621235051/http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,341239,00.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Jenkins asks if Churchill was moved more by foreboding than by regret, but admits it is easy to criticise with the hindsight of victory. He adds that the area bombing campaign was no more reprehensible than [[President Truman]]'s use of the [[Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki|second atomic bomb on Nagasaki]].{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=778}} [[Andrew Marr]], quoting [[Max Hastings]], says that Churchill's memo was a "calculated political attempt...to distance himself...from the rising controversy surrounding the area offensive".{{sfn|Marr|2009|pp=423–424}}

====VE Day (Victory in Europe Day)====
[[File:Winston Churchill waves to crowds in Whitehall in London as they celebrate VE Day, 8 May 1945. H41849.jpg|thumb|Churchill waving the [[Victory sign]] to the crowd in [[Whitehall]] on the day he broadcast to the nation that the war with Germany had been won, 8 May 1945.]]
On 7 May 1945 [[end of World War II in Europe|the Allies accepted Germany's surrender]]. The next day was [[Victory in Europe Day]] (VE Day) when Churchill broadcast to the nation that Germany had surrendered.{{sfn|Hermiston|2016|pp=353–354}} Churchill appeared on the balcony at [[Buckingham Palace]] with the Royal Family before a huge crowd of celebrating citizens. He went from the palace to [[Whitehall]] where he addressed another large crowd: "God bless you all. This is your victory. In our long history, we have never seen a greater day than this. Everyone, man or woman, has done their best".{{sfn|Hermiston|2016|p=355}}

He asked Bevin to come forward and share the applause. Bevin said: "No, Winston, this is your day", and proceeded to conduct the people in the singing of "[[For He's a Jolly Good Fellow]]".{{sfn|Hermiston|2016|p=355}} In the evening, Churchill made another broadcast correctly asserting that the defeat of Japan would follow in the coming months.{{sfn|Hermiston|2016|p=356}}

Later in the month France attempted to put down a nationalist uprising in [[Syria]]. Churchill intervened and on 31 May gave de Gaulle an ultimatum to desist, but this was ignored. In what became known as the [[Levant Crisis]], British forces from [[Emirate of Transjordan|Transjordan]] were mobilised to restore order. The French, outnumbered, had no option but to return to their bases. De Gaulle felt humiliated, and a diplomatic row broke out{{snd}}Churchill reportedly told a colleague that de Gaulle was "a great danger to peace and for Great Britain".{{sfn|Fenby|2011|pp=42–47}}

====Operation Unthinkable====
{{main|Operation Unthinkable}}

In May 1945, Winston Churchill commissioned the Chiefs of Staff Committee to provide its thoughts on a possible military campaign against the USSR, code-named [[Operation Unthinkable]].<ref>Daniel Todman, ''Britain's War: A New World, 1942–1947'' (2020) p 744.</ref> One plan involved a surprise attack on Soviet troops stationed in Germany to impose "the will of the United States and the British Empire" on the Soviets.<ref name="NationalArchives Op Unthinkable">{{cite web |work=British War Cabinet, Joint Planning Staff |date=22 May 1945 |title="Operation Unthinkable" |url=https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/cold-war-on-file/operation-unthinkable/ |via=[[The National Archives (United Kingdom)]] |access-date=30 September 2023 |archive-date=26 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230926080335/https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/cold-war-on-file/operation-unthinkable/ |url-status=live}}</ref> The hypothetical start date for the Allied invasion of Soviet-held Europe was set for 1 July 1945.<ref name="NationalArchives Op Unthinkable" />

===Caretaker government: May 1945 to July 1945===
{{main|Churchill caretaker ministry}}

With a general election looming, and with Labour ministers refusing to continue the coalition, Churchill resigned as prime minister on 23 May 1945. Later that day, he accepted the King's invitation to form a new government, known officially as the [[National Government (United Kingdom)#the caretaker government of 1945|National Government]] but sometimes called the caretaker ministry. It contained Conservatives, [[National Liberal Party (UK, 1931)|National Liberals]] and a few non-party figures such as [[Sir John Anderson]] and [[Lord Woolton]], but not Labour or [[Archibald Sinclair]]'s Official Liberals. Churchill was formally reappointed on 28 May.{{sfn|Hermiston|2016|p=360}}{{sfn|Gilbert|1988|pp=22–23, 27}}

====Potsdam Conference====
{{main|Potsdam Conference}}

[[File:President Truman (center) speaks with Soviet Prime Minister Josef Stalin (at left) and British Prime Minister Winston... - NARA - 198775.jpg|thumb|right|Churchill, [[Harry S. Truman]], and Stalin at the [[Potsdam Conference]], July 1945]]
Churchill was Great Britain's representative at the Potsdam Conference when it opened on 17 July and was accompanied at its sessions by Eden and Attlee. They attended nine sessions in nine days before returning to England for their election counts. After the landslide Labour victory, Attlee returned with Bevin as the new Foreign Secretary for five days of discussion.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=795–796}} Potsdam went badly for Churchill. Eden later described his performance as "appalling", saying he was unprepared and verbose. Churchill upset the Chinese, exasperated the Americans and was easily led by Stalin, whom he was supposed to be resisting.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=796}}

====General election, July 1945====
{{main|1945 United Kingdom general election}}

Churchill mishandled the [[1945 United Kingdom general election|election campaign]] by resorting to party politics and trying to denigrate Labour.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pages=791–795}} On 4 June, he committed a serious gaffe by saying in a radio broadcast that a Labour government would require "some form of Gestapo" to enforce its agenda.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=792}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/election_01.shtml |last=Addison |first=Paul |title=Why Churchill Lost in 1945 |publisher=BBC History |date=17 February 2011 |location=London |access-date=4 June 2020 |ref=none |archive-date=26 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191226004022/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/election_01.shtml |url-status=live}}</ref> It backfired and Attlee made political capital by saying in his reply broadcast next day: "The voice we heard last night was that of Mr Churchill, but the mind was that of Lord Beaverbrook". Jenkins says that this broadcast was "the making of Attlee"—it had a significant bearing on the election result.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=793}}

Although polling day was 5 July, the results did not become known until 26 July, owing to the need to collect votes of those serving overseas. Clementine and daughter Mary had been at the count in [[Woodford (UK Parliament constituency)|Woodford]], Churchill's new constituency, and had returned to Downing Street to meet him for lunch. Churchill was unopposed by the major parties in Woodford, but his majority over a sole independent candidate was much less than expected. He anticipated defeat by Labour and Mary later described the lunch as "an occasion of Stygian gloom".{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=798}}{{sfn|Gilbert|1988|p=108}} To Clementine's suggestion that defeat might be "a blessing in disguise", Churchill retorted: "At the moment it seems very effectively disguised".{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=798}}

That afternoon Churchill's doctor Lord Moran commiserated with him on the "ingratitude" of the public, to which Churchill replied: "I wouldn't call it that. They have had a very hard time".{{sfn|Gilbert|1988|p=108}} Having lost, despite enjoying personal support amongst the population, he resigned as prime minister and was succeeded by Attlee who formed the first majority Labour government.{{sfn|Gilbert|1988|pp=57, 107–109}}{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=855}}{{sfn|Hermiston|2016|pp=366–367}}{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=798–799}} Many reasons have been given for Churchill's defeat, key being a widespread desire for reform and that the man who had led Britain in war was not seen as the man to lead in peace.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=789–794}}{{Sfn|Pelling|1980}} Although the Conservative Party was unpopular, many electors appear to have wanted Churchill to continue as prime minister whatever the outcome, or to have wrongly believed this would be possible.{{sfn|Gilbert|1988|p=113}}

==Leader of the Opposition: 1945–1951==
{{Main|Later life of Winston Churchill}}

==="Iron Curtain" speech===
[[File:Winston Churchill 1950.jpg|thumb|Churchill in 1949]]

Churchill continued to lead the Conservative Party and served as [[Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom)|Leader of the Opposition]]. In 1946, he was in America from early January to late March.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=807}} It was on this trip he gave his "[[Iron Curtain]]" speech about the USSR and its creation of the [[Eastern Bloc]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://winstonchurchill.org/publications/finest-hour/finest-hour-058/the-true-meaning-of-the-iron-curtain-speech/ |last=Harriman |first=Pamela |author-link=Pamela Harriman |title=The True Meaning of the Iron Curtain Speech |work=International Churchill Society (ICS) |date=December 1987 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing plc |location=London |access-date=14 May 2020 |archive-date=15 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200615105801/https://winstonchurchill.org/publications/finest-hour/finest-hour-058/the-true-meaning-of-the-iron-curtain-speech/ |url-status=live}}</ref> His view was that, though the Soviet Union did not want war with the western Allies, its entrenched position in Eastern Europe had made it impossible for the three great powers to provide the world with a "triangular leadership". Within the same speech, he called for "a [[Special Relationship|special relationship]] between the British Commonwealth and Empire and the United States",<ref name="Fulton">{{cite web |url=https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/speeches/1946-1963-elder-statesman/the-sinews-of-peace/ |title=The Sinews of Peace (the "Iron Curtain" speech) |work=International Churchill Society (ICS) |date=5 March 1946 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing plc |location=London |access-date=14 May 2020 |archive-date=7 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210507211241/https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/speeches/1946-1963-elder-statesman/the-sinews-of-peace/ |url-status=live}}</ref> but emphasised the need for co-operation within the framework of the United Nations Charter.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=810}}

Churchill was an early proponent of [[pan-Europeanism]], having called for a "[[European Federation|United States of Europe]]" in a 1930 article. He supported the creations of the [[Council of Europe]] in 1949 and the [[European Coal and Steel Community]] in 1951, but his support was initially with the firm proviso that Britain must not join any federal grouping.{{sfn|Rhodes James|1970|p=220}}{{sfn|Gilbert|1988|pp=265–266, 321}}{{sfn|Charmley|1995|pp=246–249, 298}} But as the first steps to European unity were taken, and as the new realities of Britain's shrunken role in the world sank in, Churchill advocated the creation of a united Europe that would include Britain. He lent his considerable personal prestige to the [[Congress of Europe]] in 1948 in The Hague, where he called for the 16 democratic European countries, "including Great Britain, linked with her Empire and Commonwealth", to start building Europe, aiming at "the union of Europe as a whole".<ref>{{Cite web |date=7 May 1948 |title=Address given by Winston Churchill at the Congress of Europe in The Hague (7 May 1948) |url=https://www.cvce.eu/content/publication/1999/1/1/58118da1-af22-48c0-bc88-93cda974f42c/publishable_en.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260304162322/https://www.cvce.eu/content/publication/1999/1/1/58118da1-af22-48c0-bc88-93cda974f42c/publishable_en.pdf |archive-date=4 March 2026 |access-date=3 April 2026 |website=Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History, cvce.eu}}</ref> In 1961, when [[Harold Macmillan]] applied to join the [[European Economic Community]] (EEC), Churchill wrote to his Conservative Association in support.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://encompass-europe.com/comment/churchill-and-the-european-union |last=Poyser |first=David |title=Churchill and the European Union |publisher=Encompass |date=August 2020 |access-date=25 March 2026}}</ref>

Labour won the [[1950 United Kingdom general election|1950 general election]], but with a much-reduced majority.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/vote2001/in_depth/election_battles/1950_over.stm |title=1950: Labour limps home |publisher=BBC News |date=2001 |location=London |access-date=16 May 2020 |archive-date=3 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803050539/http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/vote2001/in_depth/election_battles/1950_over.stm |url-status=live}}</ref> A fresh election was called the following year and the Conservatives won a majority.{{citation needed|date=September 2025}}

==Prime Minister: 1951–1955==
{{Main|Second premiership of Winston Churchill}}

{{Further|Third Churchill ministry}}

===Election result and cabinet appointments===
[[File:Churchill queen Elizabeth 1953.jpg|thumb|Churchill with [[Queen Elizabeth&nbsp;II]], [[Prince Charles]] and [[Princess Anne]], 10 February 1953]]
Despite losing the popular vote, the Conservatives won a majority of 17 seats in the [[1951 United Kingdom general election|October 1951 general election]] and Churchill became prime minister, remaining in office until his resignation on 5 April 1955.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=842}} Eden was restored to Foreign Affairs.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=844}} Future prime minister [[Harold Macmillan]] was appointed [[Minister of Housing and Local Government]] with a manifesto commitment to build 300,000 new houses per year, Churchill's only real domestic concern. He achieved the target and, in 1954, was promoted to Minister of Defence.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=844–845}}

===Health issues to eventual resignation===
Churchill was nearly 77 when he took office and not in good health following minor strokes.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=858}} By December 1951, George&nbsp;VI had become concerned about Churchill's decline and intended asking him to stand down in favour of Eden, but the King had his own health issues and died on 6 February 1952.{{sfn|Judd|2012|p=260}} Churchill developed a friendship with [[Elizabeth&nbsp;II]] and, in spring 1953, accepted the [[Order of the Garter]] at her request.{{sfn|Gilbert|1988|p=911}} He was knighted on 24 April 1953.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nationalchurchillmuseum.org/winston-churchill-the-politician.html |title=Winston Churchill – The Politician |work=National Churchill Museum |access-date=8 May 2022 |archive-date=20 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220420044456/https://www.nationalchurchillmuseum.org/winston-churchill-the-politician.html |url-status=live}}</ref> It was widely expected he would retire after [[Coronation of Elizabeth II|the Queen's Coronation]] in 1953 but, after Eden became seriously ill, Churchill increased his own responsibilities by taking over at the Foreign Office.{{sfn|Charmley|1995|pp=263–265}}{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=860}}{{sfn|Gilbert|1988|pp=814–815, 817}} On 23 June 1953, Churchill suffered a serious stroke; the matter was kept secret and Churchill went to Chartwell to recuperate. He had recovered by November.{{sfn|Gilbert|1988|pp=846–857}}{{sfn|Charmley|1995|p=266}}{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=868–871}} He retired in April 1955 and was succeeded by Eden.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=896}}

===Foreign affairs===
[[File:Photograph of President Truman giving British Prime Minister Winston Churchill a photograph taken at the 1945 Potsdam... - NARA - 199024.jpg|thumb|Churchill with [[Anthony Eden]], [[Dean Acheson]] and [[Harry Truman]], 5 January 1952]]
Churchill feared a [[H-bomb|global conflagration]] and believed the only way to preserve peace and freedom was co-operation between Britain and America. He made four official transatlantic visits from January 1952 to July 1954.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=846–848}} He enjoyed a good relationship with Truman, but difficulties arose over the planned [[European Defence Community]] (EDC), by which Truman hoped to reduce America's military presence in West Germany.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=847, 855}} Churchill wanted US military support of British interests in Egypt and the Middle East, but while Truman expected British military involvement in [[Korean War|Korea]], he viewed any US commitment to the Middle East as maintaining British imperialism.{{sfn|Charmley|1995|p=255}} The Americans recognised the British Empire was in terminal decline and had welcomed the Attlee government's policy of decolonisation. Churchill believed Britain's position as a world power depended on the empire's continued existence.{{Sfn|Brown|1998|pp=339–340}}
[[File:Haile Selassie Churchill.jpg|thumb|Churchill meeting [[Emperor of Ethiopia|Ethiopian Emperor]] [[Haile Selassie]], 22 October 1954, one of the UK's African allies in [[World War II]]]]
Churchill had been obliged to recognise [[Colonel Nasser]]'s revolutionary [[government of Egypt]], which [[Egyptian revolution of 1952|took power in 1952]]. Much to Churchill's dismay, agreement was reached in October 1954 on the phased evacuation of British troops from their [[Suez Canal|Suez]] base. Britain agreed to terminate its rule in [[Anglo-Egyptian Sudan]] by 1956, though this was in return for Nasser's abandonment of Egyptian claims over the region.{{sfn|Charmley|1995|pp=261, 277, 285}} Elsewhere, the [[Malayan Emergency]], a guerrilla war fought by Communist fighters against Commonwealth forces, had begun in 1948 and continued until 1960. Churchill's government maintained the military response to the crisis and adopted a similar strategy for the [[Mau Mau Uprising]] in [[British Kenya]] (1952–1960).{{Sfn|Mumford|2012|p=49}}

Churchill was uneasy about the election of Eisenhower as Truman's successor. After Stalin died in March 1953, Churchill sought a summit meeting with the Soviets, but Eisenhower refused out of fear the Soviets would use it for propaganda.{{sfn|Gilbert|1988|pp=805–806}}{{sfn|Charmley|1995|pp=263–265}}{{sfn|Blake|Louis|1993|p=405}} Churchill believed Eisenhower did not fully comprehend the danger posed by the H-bomb and he greatly distrusted Eisenhower's Secretary of State, [[John Foster Dulles]].{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=848–849}} Churchill hosted Eisenhower at the Three-Powers Bermuda Conference, with French Prime Minister [[Joseph Laniel]], in December;{{sfn|Gilbert|1988|pp=936–937}}{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|pp=920–922}} they met again in June/July 1954 at the White House.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=880–881}} In the end, the Soviets proposed a [[Geneva Summit (1955)|four-power summit]], but it did not meet until July 1955, three months after Churchill's retirement.{{sfn|Gilbert|1988|pp=1009–1017}}{{sfn|Charmley|1995|pp=289–291}}

==Later life: 1955–1965==
{{Main|Later life of Winston Churchill}}

===Retirement: 1955–1964===
Elizabeth&nbsp;II offered to create Churchill [[Duke of London]], but he declined because of the objections of Randolph, who would have inherited the title.{{sfn|Rasor|2000|p=205}} Although publicly supportive, Churchill was privately scathing about Eden's handling of the [[Suez Crisis]] and Clementine believed that many of his visits to the US in the following years were attempts to repair Anglo-American relations.{{sfn|Gilbert|1988|pp=1224–1225}}

By the time of the [[1959 United Kingdom general election|1959 general election]], he seldom attended the House of Commons. He stood down at the [[1964 United Kingdom general election|1964 general election]].{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=911}} He spent most of his retirement at Chartwell or at his London home in [[Hyde Park Gate]], and became an habitué of high society at [[La Pausa]] on the [[French Riviera]].{{Sfn|Lovell|2011|p=486}}
In June 1962, aged 87, Churchill broke his hip from falling in [[Monte Carlo]]. He was flown to a London hospital where he remained for three weeks. Jenkins says Churchill was never the same after this.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=911}} In 1963, US President [[John F. Kennedy]], under authorisation of an [[Act of Congress]], proclaimed him an [[honorary citizen of the United States]], but he was unable to attend the White House ceremony.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=911}} There has been speculation he became very depressed in his final years, but this was emphatically denied by his secretary [[Anthony Montague Browne]], who was with him for his last 10 years.{{Sfn|Montague Browne|1995|pp=302–303}}

===Death, funeral and memorials===
{{Main|Death and state funeral of Winston Churchill}}

[[File:Churchills Grave.jpg|thumb|right|Churchill's grave at [[St Martin's Church, Bladon]]]]
Churchill suffered his final [[stroke]] on 10 January 1965 and died at his London home, 28 Hyde Park Gate, on 24 January.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=911}}{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=958}} Churchill was given a state funeral.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=911}} His coffin lay in state at [[Westminster Hall]] for three days. The funeral ceremony was at [[St Paul's Cathedral]] on 30 January.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=911}}{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=958}} Afterwards, the coffin was taken by boat along the [[River Thames]] to [[Waterloo Station]] and from there by a special train to the family plot at [[St Martin's Church, Bladon]].{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=912}}{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=958}}

Worldwide, numerous memorials have been dedicated to Churchill. His [[Statue of Winston Churchill, Parliament Square|statue in Parliament Square]] was unveiled by his widow Clementine in 1973.{{sfn|Rasor|2000|p=300}}<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/gandhi-joins-churchill-statues-of-old-enemies-sidebyside-in-parliament-square-10108362.html |last=Dunn |first=James |title=Gandhi statue unveiled in Parliament Square – next to his old enemy Churchill |newspaper=The Independent |date=14 March 2015 |location=London |access-date=16 May 2020 |archive-date=25 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925162800/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/gandhi-joins-churchill-statues-of-old-enemies-sidebyside-in-parliament-square-10108362.html |url-status=live}}</ref> The Cabinet War Rooms have been renamed the [[Churchill War Rooms]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Waterfield |first=Giles |author-link=Giles Waterfield |title=The Churchill Museum: Ministry of sound |journal=Museum Practice |date=Summer 2005 |issue=30 |pages=18–21 |publisher=Museums Association |location=London}}</ref> [[Churchill College, Cambridge]], was established as a national memorial to Churchill. In a 2002 [[BBC]] poll that attracted 447,423 votes, he was voted the [[100 Greatest Britons|greatest-ever Briton]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/2509465.stm |title=Churchill Voted Greatest Briton |publisher=BBC News |date=24 November 2002 |location=London |access-date=16 May 2020 |archive-date=8 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170908213548/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/2509465.stm |url-status=live}}</ref>

Churchill was the first of only eight people to be granted honorary citizenship of the United States.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/88/hr4374 |institution=88th Congress (1963–1964) |title=H.R. 4374 (88th): An Act to proclaim Sir Winston Churchill an honorary citizen of the United States of America |date=9 April 1963 |access-date=16 May 2020 |archive-date=15 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200615105806/https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/88/hr4374 |url-status=live}}</ref> The [[United States Navy]] named a {{sclass|Arleigh Burke|destroyer|1}} as the {{USS|Winston S. Churchill}} in 1999.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://winstonchurchill.org/the-life-of-churchill/in-memoriam/uss-winston-s-churchill/ |title=Christening of the USS ''Winston S. Churchill'' |work=International Churchill Society (ICS) |date=15 January 2004 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing plc |location=London |access-date=16 May 2020 |archive-date=15 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200615105759/https://winstonchurchill.org/the-life-of-churchill/in-memoriam/uss-winston-s-churchill/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Other memorials in North America include the [[National Churchill Museum]] in Fulton, where he made the 1946 "Iron Curtain" speech; [[Churchill Square (Edmonton)|Churchill Square]] in [[Edmonton]], Alberta; and the [[Winston Churchill Range]], a mountain range northwest of [[Lake Louise (Alberta)|Lake Louise]], also in Alberta.{{Sfn|Colombo|1984}}

==Artist, historian, and writer==
{{main|Winston Churchill as a painter|Winston Churchill as a writer}}

{{further|1953 Nobel Prize in Literature}}
[[File:Special Relationship? (geograph 4125450).jpg|thumb|''Allies'' (1995) by [[Lawrence Holofcener]], a sculptural group depicting [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] and Churchill in [[Bond Street]], London]]
Churchill was a prolific writer. His output included a novel (''[[Savrola]]''), two biographies, memoirs, histories, and press articles. Two of his most famous works were his six-volume memoir, ''[[The Second World War (book series)|The Second World War]]'', and the four-volume ''[[A History of the English-Speaking Peoples]]''.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=819–823}} Churchill received the [[Nobel Prize in Literature]] in 1953.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1953/churchill/facts/ |title=The Nobel Prize in Literature 1953 – Winston Churchill |publisher=Nobel Media AB |location=Stockholm |access-date=7 August 2020 |archive-date=9 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200809203524/https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1953/churchill/facts/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

He used either "Winston S. Churchill" or "Winston Spencer Churchill" as his pen name to avoid confusion with the American novelist [[Winston Churchill (novelist)|Winston Churchill]], with whom he had a friendly correspondence.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://winstonchurchill.org/the-life-of-churchill/young-soldier/1896-1900/spring-1899-age-24/ |title=Spring 1899 (Age 24): The First Political Campaign |work=International Churchill Society (ICS) |date=5 February 2015 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing plc |location=London |access-date=15 May 2020 |archive-date=3 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200303173812/https://winstonchurchill.org/the-life-of-churchill/young-soldier/1896-1900/spring-1899-age-24/ |url-status=live}}</ref> For many years, he relied on his press articles to assuage his financial worries.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=506–507}}

Churchill became an accomplished amateur artist beginning after his resignation from the Admiralty in 1915.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=279}} Often using the pseudonym "Charles Morin",{{sfn|Knickerbocker|1941|pp=140, 150, 178–179}} identical to that of the French landscape painter Charles Camille Morin (died 1919), he completed hundreds of paintings, many of which are on show in Chartwell and in private collections.{{sfn|Soames|1990|pp=1–224}}

Churchill was an amateur [[bricklayer]], constructing buildings and garden walls at Chartwell.{{sfn|Knickerbocker|1941|pp=140, 150, 178–179}} He joined the [[Amalgamated Union of Building Trade Workers]], but was expelled after he rejoined the Conservative Party.{{sfn|Knickerbocker|1941|pp=140, 150, 178–179}} He bred butterflies.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/aug/19/winston-churchill-butterfly |last=Wainwright |first=Martin |author-link=Martin Wainwright (journalist) |title=Winston Churchill's butterfly house brought back to life |newspaper=The Guardian |date=19 August 2010 |location=London |access-date=15 May 2020 |archive-date=20 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121120142512/http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/19/winston-churchill-butterfly |url-status=live}}</ref> He was known for his love of animals and always had [[Winston Churchill's pets|several pets]], mainly cats but also dogs, pigs, lambs, [[Bantam (poultry)|bantams]], goats and fox cubs among others.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://winstonchurchill.org/publications/finest-hour/finest-hour-139/cats-look-down-on-you-churchills-feline-menagerie/ |last=Glueckstein |first=Fred |title=Churchill's Feline Menagerie |work=International Churchill Society (ICS) |date=20 June 2013 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing plc |location=London |access-date=15 May 2020 |archive-date=15 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200615105805/https://winstonchurchill.org/publications/finest-hour/finest-hour-139/cats-look-down-on-you-churchills-feline-menagerie/ |url-status=live}}</ref> 

==Legacy and assessments==
{{see also|Churchill Archives Centre|List of honours of Winston Churchill}}

===Political ideology===
{{main|Political positions of Winston Churchill}}

{{Toryism|expanded=Politicians}}
{{Conservatism UK|Politicians}}
[[File:Winston Churchill, Parliament Square, London (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|The [[Statue of Winston Churchill, Parliament Square|statue of Churchill]] (1973) by [[Ivor Roberts-Jones]] in [[Parliament Square]], London]]

As a politician, Churchill was perceived by some to have been largely motivated by personal ambition rather than political principle.{{sfn|Rhodes James|1970|p=6}}{{sfn|Addison|1980|pp=23, 25}} During his early career, he was often provocative and argumentative to an unusual degree;{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=121, 245}} and his barbed rhetorical style earned him enemies in parliament.{{sfn|Rhodes James|1970|p=20}}{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=168}} Others deemed him to be an honest politician who displayed particular loyalty to his family and close friends.{{sfn|Rhodes James|1970|pp=4, 19}} [[Robert Rhodes James]] said he "lacked any capacity for intrigue and was refreshingly innocent and straightforward".{{sfn|Rhodes James|1970|p=53}}

Until the outbreak of the Second World War, Churchill's approach to politics generated widespread "mistrust and dislike",{{sfn|Rhodes James|1970|p=ix}} largely on account of his two party defections.{{sfn|Rhodes James|1970|p=31}} His biographers have variously categorised him, in terms of political ideology, as "fundamentally conservative",{{sfn|Rhodes James|1970|pp=31–33}} "(always) liberal in outlook",{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=xx}} and "never circumscribed by party affiliation".{{sfn|Hermiston|2016|p=19}} He was nearly always opposed to socialism because of its propensity for state planning and his belief in free markets. The exception was during his wartime coalition when he was reliant upon the support of his Labour colleagues.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=601}}{{sfn|Ball|2001|pp=311, 330}} Churchill had long been regarded as an enemy of the working class, and his response to the Rhondda Valley unrest and his anti-socialist rhetoric brought condemnation from socialists who saw him as a [[reactionary]].{{sfn|Addison|1980|p=26}} His role in opposing the General Strike earned the enmity of strikers and most members of the Labour movement.{{sfn|Rhodes James|1970|p=174}} Paradoxically, Churchill was supportive of [[trade unionism]], which he saw as the "antithesis of socialism".{{sfn|Addison|1980|pp=42–43, 44}}

On the other hand, he was in many respects a radical and reformer,{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=xix}} but always with the intention of preserving the existing social structure,{{sfn|Rhodes James|1970|p=34}} displaying what Addison calls the attitude of a "benevolent paternalist".{{sfn|Addison|1980|p=44}} Jenkins remarked that Churchill had "a substantial record as a social reformer" in his ministerial career.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=152}} Similarly, Rhodes James thought that Churchill's achievements were "considerable".{{sfn|Rhodes James|1970|p=33}}

===Imperialism and racial views===
{{main|Racial views of Winston Churchill}}
[[File:British Empire 1921.png|thumb|center|upright=2.0|The [[British Empire]] at its territorial peak in 1921]]
Churchill was a staunch [[imperialist]] and [[monarchist]], who consistently exhibited a "romanticised view" of the British Empire and its reigning monarch, especially during his last term as premier.{{sfn|Addison|1980|p=38}}{{sfn|Ball|2001|p=308}}{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=22}} He has been described as a "liberal imperialist";{{sfn|Adams|2011|p=253}} he advocated against indigenous self-rule in the colonies, insisting that the Empire maintained the welfare of those who lived there.<ref name="CRC"/>

According to [[Paul Addison]], Churchill was opposed to [[immigration]] from the Commonwealth.{{sfn|Addison|2005|p=233}} There is also evidence of his support for [[eugenics]], based upon a letter he wrote to Asquith in February 1910 about an "increasingly rapid growth" of feeble-mindedness and insanity in Britain.<ref>{{cite web |title=Eugenics in Britain |url=https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/blue-plaques/blue-plaque-stories/eugenics/ |access-date=3 March 2025 |website=English Heritage}}</ref> However, Addison makes the point that Churchill opposed [[antisemitism]] (as in 1904, when he was critical of the proposed [[Aliens Act 1905|Aliens Bill]]), and argues that he would never have tried "to stoke up racial animosity against immigrants, or to persecute minorities".{{sfn|Addison|1980|p=39}}

==Cultural depictions==
{{Main|Cultural depictions of Winston Churchill}}

While biographies by Addison, Gilbert, Jenkins and Rhodes James are among the most acclaimed works about Churchill, he has been the subject of numerous others. David Freeman counted 62 in English to the end of the 20th century.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://winstonchurchill.org/publications/finest-hour/finest-hour-157/books-arts-curiosities-the-long-and-short-of-churchill-biographies/ |last=Freeman |first=David |title=Books, Arts & Curiosities – The Long and short of Churchill Biographies |work=International Churchill Society (ICS) |date=Winter 2012–13 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing plc |location=London |access-date=7 November 2020 |archive-date=26 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126182408/https://winstonchurchill.org/publications/finest-hour/finest-hour-157/books-arts-curiosities-the-long-and-short-of-churchill-biographies/ |url-status=live}}</ref> At a public ceremony on 30 November 1954, Churchill's 80th birthday, the joint Houses of Parliament presented him with a [[Sutherland's Portrait of Winston Churchill|full-length portrait of himself]], painted by [[Graham Sutherland]].{{Sfn|Sorrels|1984|p=190}} Churchill and Clementine reportedly hated it and she had it destroyed.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://winstonchurchill.org/the-life-of-churchill/senior-statesman/1950-1959/the-sutherland-portrait/ |title=The Sutherland Portrait |work=International Churchill Society (ICS) |date=29 November 2017 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing plc |access-date=16 May 2020 |archive-date=23 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201023215726/https://winstonchurchill.org/the-life-of-churchill/senior-statesman/1950-1959/the-sutherland-portrait/ |url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=890}}

Biographical films include ''[[Young Winston]]'' (1972); it featured [[Simon Ward]] in the title role. Other depictions were by [[Robert Hardy]] in ''[[Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years]]'' (1981); [[Albert Finney]] in ''[[The Gathering Storm (2002 film)|The Gathering Storm]]'' (2002); [[Brendan Gleeson]] in ''[[Into the Storm (2009 film)|Into the Storm]]'' (2009); and [[Gary Oldman]] in ''[[Darkest Hour (film)|Darkest Hour]]'' (2017). [[John Lithgow]] played Churchill in ''[[The Crown (TV series)|The Crown]]'' (2016–2019). Finney, Gleeson, Oldman, and Lithgow all won awards for their performances.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.emmys.com/bios/albert-finney |title=Albert Finney |publisher=Emmy Awards |access-date=16 May 2020 |archive-date=15 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200615105809/https://www.emmys.com/bios/albert-finney |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/brendan-gleeson-wins-emmy-award-in-us-26567804.html |title=Brendan Gleeson wins Emmy award in US |newspaper=The Independent |date=21 September 2009 |access-date=31 July 2022 |archive-date=31 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220731200709/https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/brendan-gleeson-wins-emmy-award-in-us-26567804.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/gary-oldman-wins-best-actor-oscar-1090543 |title=Oscars: Gary Oldman Wins Best Actor for ''Darkest Hour'' |magazine=The Hollywood Reporter |date=4 March 2018 |location=New York City |access-date=16 May 2020 |archive-date=22 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200922231401/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/gary-oldman-wins-best-actor-oscar-1090543 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/17/16323768/john-lithgow-emmys-2017-supporting-actor-drama-series-winner |last=Liao |first=Shannon |title=John Lithgow wins the Emmy for Supporting Actor in a Drama Series |work=The Verge |date=17 September 2017 |access-date=8 May 2021 |archive-date=10 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210510142508/https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/17/16323768/john-lithgow-emmys-2017-supporting-actor-drama-series-winner |url-status=live}}</ref>

==Family==
{{main|Family of Winston Churchill}}

Churchill married [[Clementine Hozier]] in September 1908.{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1p=200|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2p=140}} They remained married until his death.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=199}} Churchill was aware of the strain his career placed on their marriage.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=207}} According to Colville, he had an affair in the 1930s with [[Doris Castlerosse]],<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/feb/25/winston-churchill-secret-affair-socialite |last=Doward |first=Jamie |title=Revealed: secret affair with a socialite that nearly wrecked Churchill's career |newspaper=The Guardian |date=25 February 2018 |location=London |access-date=25 February 2018 |archive-date=25 February 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180225021118/https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/feb/25/winston-churchill-secret-affair-socialite |url-status=live}}</ref> although this is discounted by [[Andrew Roberts (historian)|Andrew Roberts]].{{sfn|Roberts|2018|pp=385–387}}

The Churchills' first child, Diana, was born in July 1909;{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1p=205|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2p=203}} Randolph, in May 1911,{{sfnm|1a1=Gilbert|1y=1991|1p=227|2a1=Jenkins|2y=2001|2p=203}} Sarah, in October 1914,{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=285}} and Marigold, in November 1918.{{sfn|Gilbert|1991|p=403}} Marigold died in August 1921, from [[sepsis]].{{Sfn|Soames|2012|p=13}} On 15 September 1922, the Churchills' last child, [[Mary Soames, Baroness Soames|Mary]], was born. Later that month, the Churchills bought Chartwell, which would be their home until Winston's death in 1965.{{sfn|Soames|1998|p=262}}{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=209}}

==See also==
* {{Portal inline|British Empire}}
* {{Portal inline|Literature}}
* {{Portal inline|United Kingdom}}

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
===Citations===
{{reflist}}

===Print sources===
{{Main|Bibliography of Winston Churchill}}

{{Refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}
* {{cite book |last=Adams |first=Edward |title=Liberal Epic: The Victorian Practice of History from Gibbon to Churchill |publisher=University of Virginia Press |location=Charlottesville, VA |year=2011 |isbn=978-08-13931-45-6}}
* {{cite journal |last=Addison |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Addison |title=The Political Beliefs of Winston Churchill |year=1980 |journal=Transactions of the Royal Historical Society |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |volume=30 |pages=23–47 |jstor=3679001 |doi=10.2307/3679001 |s2cid=154309600}}
* {{cite book |last=Addison |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Addison |title=Churchill: The Unexpected Hero |year=2005 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-01-99297-43-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/churchillunexpec0000addi/mode/2up |url-access=registration}}
* {{cite book |last=Arthur |first=Max |author-link=Max Arthur |title=Churchill – The Life: An authorised pictorial biography |year=2015 |publisher=Cassell |location=London |isbn=978-1-84403-859-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/churchilllifeaut0000arth/mode/2up |url-access=registration}}
* {{cite journal |last=Ball |first=Stuart |author-link=Stuart Ball |title=Churchill and the Conservative Party |year=2001 |journal=Transactions of the Royal Historical Society |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |volume=11 |pages=307–330 |doi=10.1017/S0080440101000160 |jstor=3679426 |s2cid=153860359}}
* {{cite book |last1=Bayly |first1=Christopher |author1-link=Christopher Bayly |last2=Harper |first2=Tim |title=Forgotten Armies: Britain's Asian Empire & the War with Japan |publisher=The Belknap Press |location=Cambridge, MA |date=2005 |isbn=0-674-01748-X |url=https://archive.org/details/forgottenarmiesf00bayl/mode/2up |url-access=registration}}
* {{cite journal |last=Bell |first=Christopher M. |year=2011 |title=Sir John Fisher's Naval Revolution Reconsidered: Winston Churchill at the Admiralty, 1911–1914 |journal=War in History |volume=18 |issue=3 |pages=333–356 |doi=10.1177/0968344511401489 |s2cid=159573922}}
* {{cite book |last=Best |first=Geoffrey |author-link=Geoffrey Best |title=Churchill: A Study in Greatness |year=2001 |publisher=Hambledon and Continuum |location=London and New York |isbn=978-18-52852-53-5}}
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Blake |editor1-first=Robert |editor1-link=Robert Blake, Baron Blake |editor2-last=Louis |editor2-first=Wm. Roger |editor2-link=Wm. Roger Louis |title=Churchill: A Major New Reassessment of His Life in Peace and War |year=1993 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-01-98203-17-9 |oclc=30029512}}
* {{cite book |last=Brown |first=Judith |author-link=Judith M. Brown |title=The Twentieth Century. The Oxford History of the British Empire, Volume IV |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-01-99246-79-3}}
* {{cite book |last1=Brustein |first1=William I. |title=Roots of Hate: Anti-Semitism in Europe Before the Holocaust |year=2003 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-77478-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hc3HabBQsdsC&pg=PA309 |access-date=8 June 2023 |archive-date=5 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231005002643/https://books.google.com/books?id=Hc3HabBQsdsC&pg=PA309 |url-status=live}}
* {{cite book |last=Charmley |first=John |author-link=John Charmley |title=Churchill's Grand Alliance, 1940–1957 |year=1995 |publisher=Hodder & Stoughton Ltd |location=London |isbn=978-01-51275-81-6 |oclc=247165348}}
* {{cite book |last1=Cohen |first1=Michael J. |title=Churchill and the Jews, 1900–1948 |year=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-31906-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VQPaAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA56 |access-date=8 June 2023 |archive-date=5 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231005002642/https://books.google.com/books?id=VQPaAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA56 |url-status=live}}
* {{cite book |last=Colombo |first=John Robert |author-link=John Robert Colombo |title=Canadian Literary Landmarks |year=1984 |publisher=Dundurn |location=Toronto |isbn=978-08-88820-73-0}}
* {{cite book |last=Cooper |first=Matthew |title=The German Army 1933–1945: Its Political and Military Failure |publisher=Stein and Day |location=Briarcliff Manor, New York |year=1978 |pages=376–377 |isbn=978-08-12824-68-1}}
* {{cite journal |last=Douglas |first=R.M. |title=Did Britain Use Chemical Weapons in Mandatory Iraq? |year=2009 |journal=The Journal of Modern History |volume=81 |issue=4 |pages=859–887 |doi=10.1086/605488|s2cid=154708409}}
* {{cite book |last=Fenby |first=Jonathan |title=The General: Charles de Gaulle and the France he saved |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=London |year=2011 |pages=42–47 |isbn=978-18-47394-10-1}}
* {{cite book |last=Gilbert |first=Martin |author-link=Martin Gilbert |title=Churchill: A Life |year=1991 |publisher=Heinemann |location=London |isbn=978-04-34291-83-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/churchilllife0000gilb_y5x6/mode/2up |url-access=registration}}
* {{cite book |last=Gilbert |first=Martin |author-link=Martin Gilbert |title=Never Despair: Winston S. Churchill, 1945–1965 |year=1988 |publisher=Minerva |location=Trowbridge, UK |isbn=978-07-49391-04-1}}
* {{cite book |last=Haffner |first=Sebastian |author-link=Sebastian Haffner |title=Churchill |year=2003 |others=John Brownjohn (translator) |publisher=Haus |location=London |isbn=978-19-04341-07-9 |oclc=852530003}}
* {{cite book |last=Hastings |first=Max |author-link=Max Hastings |title=Finest Years. Churchill as Warlord, 1940–45 |year=2009 |publisher=HarperCollins |location=London |isbn=978-00-07263-67-7}}
* {{cite book |last=Hermiston |first=Roger |title=All Behind You, Winston – Churchill's Great Coalition, 1940–45 |year=2016 |publisher=Aurum Press |location=London |isbn=978-17-81316-64-1}}
* {{cite book |last=Jenkins |first=Roy |author-link=Roy Jenkins |title=Churchill |year=2001 |publisher=Macmillan Press |location=London |isbn=978-03-30488-05-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/churchill0000jenk/mode/2up |url-access=registration}}, a major biography.
* {{cite book |last=Jordan |first=Anthony J. |author-link=Anthony J. Jordan |title=Churchill, A Founder of Modern Ireland |publisher=Westport Books |location=Westport, Ireland |year=1995 |isbn=978-09-52444-70-1}}
* {{cite book |last=Judd |first=Dennis |title=George VI |publisher=I. B. Tauris |location=London |year=2012 |isbn=978-17-80760-71-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/georgevi0000judd/page/260}}
* {{cite book |last=Khan |first=Yasmin |author-link=Yasmin Khan |title=India at War: The Subcontinent and the Second World War |date=2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-975349-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HZJcCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA213 |access-date=15 July 2021 |archive-date=23 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240523003906/https://books.google.com/books?id=HZJcCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA213#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live}}
* {{cite book |last=Knickerbocker |first=H.R. |author-link=Hubert Renfro Knickerbocker |title=Is Tomorrow Hitler's? 200 Questions on the Battle of Mankind |year=1941 |publisher=Reynal & Hitchcock |location=New York |oclc=1246282}}
* {{cite book |first=Mary S. |last=Lovell |author-link=Mary S. Lovell |title=The Churchills |year=2011 |publisher=Little Brown Book Group |location=London |isbn=978-07-48117-11-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n5YlSoQqx9YC&pg=PT486 |access-date=25 October 2015 |archive-date=23 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240523003858/https://books.google.com/books?id=n5YlSoQqx9YC&pg=PT486 |url-status=live}}
* {{cite book |last=Lynch |first=Michael |title=Britain 1945–2007 |series=Access to History |chapter=1. The Labour Party in Power, 1945–1951 |publisher=Hodder Headline |location=London |year=2008 |pages=1–4 |isbn=978-03-40965-95-5}}
* {{cite book |last=Marr |first=Andrew |author-link=Andrew Marr |year=2009 |title=The Making of Modern Britain |location=London |publisher=Macmillan |pages=423–424 |isbn=978-03-30510-99-8}}
* {{cite journal |last=Moritz |first=Edward Jr. |title=Winston Churchill – Prison Reformer |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_historian_1958-08_20_4/page/428 |year=1958 |journal=The Historian |publisher=Wiley |location=Hoboken, NJ |volume=20 |number=4 |pages=428–440 |jstor=24437567 |doi=10.1111/j.1540-6563.1958.tb01990.x}}
* {{cite book |last=Mumford |first=Andrew |title=The Counter-Insurgency Myth: The British Experience of Irregular Warfare |publisher=Routledge |location=Abingdon |year=2012 |isbn=978-04-15667-45-6}}
* {{cite book |last=Neiberg |first=Michael S. |author-link=Michael S. Neiberg |title=Warfare and Society in Europe: 1898 to the Present |publisher=Psychology Press |location=London |year=2004 |isbn=978-04-15327-19-0}}
* {{cite book |last=O'Brien |first=Jack |title=British Brutality in Ireland |publisher=The Mercier Press |location=Dublin |date=1989 |isbn=978-0-85342-879-4}}
* {{cite journal |jstor=2638675 |last=Pelling |first=Henry |author-link=Henry Pelling |title=The 1945 General Election Reconsidered |journal=The Historical Journal |volume=23 |issue=2 |date=June 1980 |pages=399–414 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/S0018246X0002433X |s2cid=154658298}}
* {{cite book |last=Price |first=Bill |title=Winston Churchill : war leader |date=2009 |publisher=Pocket Essentials |isbn=978-1-306-80155-3 |edition=International |location=Harpenden, UK |oclc=880409116 }}
* {{cite book |last=Rasor |first=Eugene L. |title=Winston S. Churchill, 1874–1965: A Comprehensive Historiography and Annotated Bibliography |year=2000 |publisher=Greenwood Press |location=Westport, CT |isbn=978-03-13305-46-7 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/winstonschurchil00raso}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Reagles |first1=David |last2=Larsen |first2=Timothy |author2-link=Timothy Larsen |title=Winston Churchill and Almighty God |year=2013 |journal=Historically Speaking |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |location=Boston, MA |volume=14 |issue=5 |pages=8–10 |doi=10.1353/hsp.2013.0056 |s2cid=161952924}}
* {{cite journal |last=Resis |first=Albert |author-link=Albert Resis |title=The Churchill-Stalin Secret "Percentages" Agreement on the Balkans, Moscow, October 1944 |journal=[[The American Historical Review]] |date=April 1978 |volume=83 |issue=2 |pages=368–387 |doi=10.2307/1862322 |jstor=1862322}}
* {{cite book |last=Rhodes James |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Rhodes James |title=Churchill: A Study in Failure 1900–1939 |year=1970 |publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson |location=London |isbn=978-02-97820-15-4}}
* {{cite book |last=Robbins |first=Keith |author-link=Keith Robbins |title=Churchill: Profiles in Power |year=2014 |orig-year=1992 |publisher=Routledge |location=London / New York |isbn=978-13-17874-52-2}}
* {{cite book |last=Roberts |first=Andrew |author-link=Andrew Roberts (historian) |title=Churchill: Walking with Destiny |year=2018 |publisher=Allen Lane |location=London |isbn=978-11-01980-99-6}}
* {{cite journal |last=Sen |first=Amartya |year=1977 |title=Starvation and exchange entitlements: a general approach and its application to the Great Bengal Famine |journal=Cambridge Journal of Economics |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=33–59 |author-link=Amartya Sen |doi=10.1093/oxfordjournals.cje.a035349}}
* {{cite book |last=Shakespeare |first=Nicholas |author-link=Nicholas Shakespeare |title=Six Minutes in May |year=2017 |publisher=Vintage |location=London |isbn=978-17-84701-00-0}}
* {{cite book |last=Soames |first=Mary |author-link=Mary Soames |title=Winston Churchill: His Life as a Painter |year=1990 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |location=Boston, Massachusetts |isbn=978-03-95563-19-9}}
* {{cite book |last=Sorrels |first=Roy W. |title=The People's Almanac Book of Lists |editor1-first=David |editor1-last=Wallechinsky |editor2-first=Irving |editor2-last=Wallace |editor3-first=Amy |editor3-last=Wallace |publisher=William Morrow & Co |location=New York City |year=1984 |chapter=10 People Who Hated Portraits of Themselves |isbn=978-05-52123-71-6}}
* {{cite book |last=Taylor |first=Frederick |author-link=Frederick Taylor (historian) |title=Dresden: Tuesday, 13 February 1945 |year=2005 |publisher=Bloomsbury |location=London |isbn=978-07-47570-84-4}}
* {{cite book |last=Tolstoy |first=Nikolai |author-link=Nikolai Tolstoy |title=The Secret Betrayal |publisher=Scribner |location=New York City |year=1978 |page=360 |isbn=978-06-84156-35-4}}
* {{cite book |last=Toye |first=Richard |author-link=Richard Toye |title=Lloyd George and Churchill: Rivals for Greatness |year=2007 |publisher=Macmillan |location=London |isbn=978-14-05048-96-5}}

===Primary sources===
* {{cite book |last=Churchill |first=Winston |author-link=Winston Churchill |title=1916–1918 (Parts I and II) |series=The World Crisis |volume=III |year=1927 |publisher=Thornton Butterworth |location=London}}
* {{cite book |last=Churchill |first=Winston |author-link=Winston Churchill |title=The Twilight War: 3 September 1939 – 10 May 1940 |series=The Second World War: The Gathering Storm |volume=II |edition=9th |year=1967b |orig-year=first published 1948 |publisher=[[Cassell (publisher)|Cassell & Co. Ltd]] |location=London}}
* {{cite book |last=Dalton |first=Hugh |author-link=Hugh Dalton |title=The Second World War Diary of Hugh Dalton 1940–45 |publisher=Jonathan Cape |location=London |year=1986 |page=62 |isbn=978-02-24020-65-7}}
* {{cite book |last=Langworth |first=Richard |author-link=Richard M. Langworth |title=Churchill by Himself |year=2008 |publisher=Ebury Press |location=London}}
* {{cite book |last=Montague Browne |first=Anthony |author-link=Anthony Montague Browne |title=Long Sunset: Memoirs of Winston Churchill's Last Private Secretary |publisher=Podkin Press |location=Ashford |year=1995 |isbn=978-09-55948-30-5}}
* {{cite book |last=Soames |first=Mary |author-link=Mary Soames |title=Speaking for Themselves: The Personal Letters of Winston and Clementine Churchill |year=1998 |publisher=Doubleday |location=London |isbn=978-03-85406-91-8}}
* {{cite book |title=A Daughter's Tale: The Memoir of Winston and Clementine Churchill's Youngest Child |first=Mary |last=Soames |author-link=Mary Soames |year=2012 |publisher=Transworld Publishers Limited |location=London |isbn=978-05-52770-92-7}}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{Sister project links|voy=no|wikt=no|n=no|species=no|mw=no|m=no|v=no|s=Author:Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill|b=no|d=Q8016}}
* [http://www.iwm.org.uk/history/churchills-first-world-war Churchill's First World War] from the Imperial War Museum.
* {{Nobelprize}}

'''Other references and online collections'''
* {{Gutenberg author |id=1601}}
* {{FadedPage|id=Churchill, Winston S. (Spencer)|name=Winston S. (Spencer) Churchill|author=yes}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Winston Churchill}}
* {{Librivox author |id=678}}

'''Recordings'''
* [http://www.earthstation1.com/churchil.html EarthStation1: Winston Churchill Speech Audio Archive].
* [http://www.iwm.org.uk/history/fascinating-amateur-colour-footage-of-churchills-funeral Amateur colour film footage of Churchill's funeral] from the Imperial War Museum.

'''Museums, archives and libraries'''
* {{npg name|id=00879|name=Winston Churchill}}
* {{Hansard-contribs|mr-winston-churchill|Winston Churchill}}
* {{UK National Archives ID}}
* [https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/private-lives/yourcountry/collections/churchillexhibition/ Records and images from the UK Parliament Collections].
* [http://www.winstonchurchill.org/ The International Churchill Society (ICS)].
* [http://www.iwm.org.uk/ Imperial War Museum]: [[Churchill War Rooms]]. Comprising the original underground War Rooms preserved since 1945, including the Cabinet Room, the Map Room and Churchill's bedroom, and the new Museum dedicated to Churchill's life.
* [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/cab_195_1_transcript.pdf War Cabinet Minutes (1942)], [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/cab_195_2_transcript.pdf (1942–43)], [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/cab_195_3_transcript.pdf (1945–46)], [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/cab_195_4_transcript.pdf (1946)].
* [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/nra/searches/subjectView.asp?ID=P5659 Locations of correspondence and papers of Churchill] at the UK National Archives.
* {{PM20|FID=pe/003274}}
* {{Art UK bio}}
* [https://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/churchill-the-power-of-words ''Churchill: The Power of Words''] 2012 exhibition at the Morgan Library & Museum which focused, in part, on his relationship with the United States.&nbsp;[http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/09/arts/design/churchill-the-power-of-words-at-the-morgan-library.html?smid=pl-share ''Successes in Rhetoric: Language in the Life of Churchill''] New York Times review. As part of the exhibition, the Library and the Churchill Archives Centre launched DiscoverChurchill.org geared toward educators and young people.

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{{Churchill|state=expanded}}
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