From the darkest to the finest hour

By Amal HEWAVISSENTI

In the mould of Mohandas Gandhi and Jawaharlal Neru of India, Winston Churchill was a great personage and a unique human product of twentieth century.

He was Great Britain's Prime Minister during most of World War II and he exploited his strong leadership in his bid to steer the country to victory in 1945.

How Churchill offered his comments on the courage and skill of British airmen displayed during the battle of Britain is really impressive. "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few".

His careful but magical phraseology was clearly intended to appeal to people involved in the world war to take Britain out of reach of Adolf Hitler.

In short, Churchill's statesmanship and magical words awakened the patriotic instincts of British people and protected Great Britain from the tyranny of Hitler.

In the battle

Juxtaposed to his military acumen, was his foreign policy.

His establishment of amiable ties with Russia, USA, and France etc. clearly manifested his politic course of action during the world war II.

Churchill organised Congresses at Yalta, Moscow, Qwebec, Tehran, Casablanca and Washington in his preparation to combat the common enemy because "the very survival of western civilisation hung in balance".

When German armies were beginning to overrun Europe in 1940, he became the Prime Minister of Britain and led a coalition government of all parties on the earnest appeal by King George VI.

His courage and charismatic leadership strengthened by mesmerizing speeches provided imputes for people who withstood air raids and military setbacks in the journey for final victory.

Multiple bombs were dropped on London while thousands of people were killed in the explosions.

Rationed food

Air-raid shelters were built and Winston Churchill's coalition government rationed food and other necessities to children who were evacuated to countryside.

With most men aged between 18 and 50 in the forces or being engaged in military operations, women kept the country going.

Meanwhile, energetic Churchill was seen directing and encouraging soldiers in the battlefront with his two fingers raised in the V shape and a pipe in his mouth.

Churchill's capacity to impregnate his decisive speeches in the war with dynamism accelerated Britain's victory. On a historic occasion Churchill spoke thus,

"The very survival of western civilisation hangs in the balance.

Britain, therefore would stand alone, if necessary, against Hitler's tyranny. If Britain failed, the world would plunge into a new "dark age"... Men will say this was their "finest hour"... I have nothing to offer but blood, toil and sweat..."A few days after the coalition armies entered French seas Germany surrendered. His resolution, intrepidity and magical words emboldened and enheartened British people and turned the "darkest hour" of the world war II into the "Finest hour".

As he triumphantly entered the British parliament, all the members saluted him and gave him a warm welcome.

Political career

His political career started in 1900, when he was elected to parliament as a Conservative.

However, later he fell out with his party and joined the liberals in government in which he held several posts.

Before and during world war I he served as the head of the Admiralty but subsequently he resigned from government to command troops in France for a brief period of time.

Churchill did not hold a government post during the 1930s but he forewarned that there existed a high level of danger of another world war.

Yet his unshakable premonition was flagrantly ignored by British government and the public. Yet, when World War II broke out, he was appointed the chief of Admiralty once again.

Mother alien

Winston Churchill was brought up not by his parents but by Mrs. Elizabeth Ann Everest.

As Churchill later revealed, his mother was extremely beautiful and she possessed limitless riches, power and status. To quote his own words, "she (my mother) was like a fairy princess so beautiful and radiant.

I kept her at a distance. She was like an evening star. In spite of all that she is an alien to me.

She could never show the love that my step mother (Elizabeth Ann Everest) gave me..." Churchill's office room had a big photograph of Elizabeth Ann Everest who became his second spiritual rebirth.

During the early years of his schooling, he preferred horse riding to academic subjects such as Arithmetic, Latin and sports such as cricket, rugby or soccer. His ruling passion was to be a soldier in an armed force and he failed in early attempts to enter a famous military academy named 'Sandhurst'.

Performance

However, he managed to enter 'Sandhurst' military academy and succeeded in producing an outstanding performance among the senior students.

Later Churchill took upon himself the operation to crush down the insurgencies against the Spanish administration in Cuba.

He performed similar functions for the benefit of Sudan, Egypt and India and was a skilful military reporter.

During the early years of his political life, he met with little success with repeated electoral defeats. Yet with perseverance and dedication, he was continually involved in politics and succeeded in addressing the hearts of people with his gift of the gab.

Thus he was lucky to be elected a member of British parliament in 1901 and in the course of a chapter of exciting political events, became the 'war prime minister' of Great Britain.

Churchill remained Prime Minister until 1945 General Election brought a landslide victory for labour party a very few years prior to the final stage of the world war.

He was Prime Minister once again from 1951 to 1955 before his complete exodus from politics in 1964.

With perfect modesty he accepted the chorus of honours which was showered on him on the historic victory against Hitler's forces in Europe.

Churchill had just turned 71 when he launched the legendary battle to save commonwealth against the invading enemy forces headed by Adolf Hitler.

Winston Churchill has authored two books namely, "The story of Malakand Field Force" and "River War".

The prominent characteristic of his personality is his capacity to attune his speech full of witticism to the mood of people around him and to the general demands of the situation.

Even if there was a considerable commotion in the field of mass media when he lost in the general election, his response to it was simply remarks of light hearted humour.

He personally believed that war and politics (from which he distinguished himself) were both exciting and dangerous game.

His experience as a skilful public speaker spoke for itself at parliamentary debates and his verbal responses to most of his opponents were pungent and double-edged.

Winston Churchill's political life was noticeably instrumental in carving out the history of Great Britain.

He has already been immortalized in the pages of British history and has placed his name on the rank of the best heroes of twentieth century.