Sir+Winston+Leonard+Spencer-Churchill

“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” (O’Neill). Winston Churchill is not only a writer, but also a war leader. Although there were many obstacles that came towards him, he was still able to overcome them. His personality traits were both an advantage and a disadvantage to his achievements. However, Churchill has made history through his leadership and courage in World War II. It is his accomplishments that make him worth knowing and significant.
 * Introduction **

 Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill arrived into the world on November 30, 1874 at Blenheim Palace in England. His father, Randolph Churchill, married Jennie Jerome who was an American heiress. His father was a Conservative politician of note who tried becoming Chancellor of the Exchequer. Even though Churchill was the grandson of a duke, he was still considered a commoner. He was not the eldest son; therefore the title of nobility was not passed down to him. In addition, Churchill never inherited his parent’s money. He had to live off of his own money (O’Neill). King Edward VII has known Churchill’s parents for many years, including Churchill. He had a great personal relationship with the king and the king had faith in him to be successful in life (Ziegler).
 * Personal Background **

As a young child, Churchill was distant from his parents most of the time and was a very rebellious student. In addition, he did not do well in school (Sykes). He was enrolled at Harrow, a boarding school, and disliked attending it. However, he enjoyed being a part of the military academy at Sandhurst. After a while, he joined the cavalry which enabled him to serve in India, Cuba, and Sudan. He was trained and learned many skills of fighting. While Churchill was busy and occupied with the opportunities in his life, his father died back at home when Churchill was twenty-one. (O’Neill). His early life was eventful, yet unfortunate.

Later in the years, Winston Churchill married Clemetine Hozier. Their marriage was successful, although they often had arguments. They had five children in total who were named, Diana, Randolph, Sarah, Marigold, and Mary. However, Marigold was infected with septicaemia and died early which lead Churchill and his wife into devastation. Most of Churchill’s children encountered problems in their personal life. However, Mary was the only one who did not cause Churchill and his wife any stress or worries (Sykes). He had a good life with his family and career until he died on January 24, 1965 at the age of ninety (O’Neill).

Winston Churchill was known for his determination and confidence. He became the chancellorship of the exchequer in the Conservative government after World War I. However, he lost his position when the Conservatives were defeated which led him to have a reputation of being untrustworthy and disliked. However, that reputation did not stop him from becoming the prime minister of Britain. His decisions and strategies did not help Britain during the war, but instead their likeliness of them winning decreased. Even though the outcome of his war leadership contributed very less, he was still determined to defeat Germany (O’Neill). In addition, when the government tried to embarrass him, he defended his own actions and defended for his position when problems arose. He was confident in himself and he tried not to let anything bring him down because he does not like to be proved wrong (Bell).
 * Personality Traits **

Churchill’s traits also included of him being courageous and dedicated. After the Germany’s attack, his army returned with the loss of most of their weapons. In addition, hundreds of thousands of civilians were killed, but he still had the courage to keep fighting. Churchill insisted to use all of their abilities to protect their force and not surrender. He was dedicated to his career as being a war leader (O’Neill). Churchill intended to fight on with the war no matter what the cost or consequences. The French army collapsed and was defeated which left Britain to fight on their own. Churchill and his army had to fight against Germany alone which shows the courageous side of Churchill. (Murray).

Winston Churchill had many obstacles that came his way when accomplishing his goals. For example, he was criticized for his actions, but it did not harm his reputation. He was seen as a hypocrite and a reckless person. However, that did not affect his determination to defeat his enemy. In addition, Churchill had leadership problems because Hitler could have been stopped if the British leaders were quick with their actions and decisions (Bell). Lord Gort, a commander, made a decision that caused Churchill many difficulties with the French. He planned on launching a counterattack, but ended up retreating which resulted in thousands of casualties (Murray). Furthermore, Churchill also attempted on doing bombing attacks to destruct and destroy the Nazi. However, it killed thousands of his men as well and they returned with a loss of twenty-five percent of Britain’s war effort (O’Neill).
 * Obstacles **

Churchill tried his best to keep the French in the war with them. Britain was in need of them and their help because they dealt with defense problems (Murray). Both of Britain’s forts were attacked which resulted in severe losses (Dockter). In addition, Churchill’s military situation was not controlled. Therefore, they needed to make a deal or a compromise with the Nazis before it was too late (Murray). Many people in Britain wanted to accept Hitler’s terms for peace. However, Churchill did not want to back out of the war because he wanted to defeat Hitler. He needed to overcome all these obstacles in order to achieve his goal of being victorious (O’Neill).

Winston Churchill had a major significance on world history. He held several different positions during his lifetime. Churchill was the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the second conservative government. As a chancellor, his job was the attack on spending proposals at fighting services to increase their likelihood of winning (Bell). In addition, Churchill was one of Britain’s most powerful politicians. Two other politicians gathered in the room with him and King George VI presented Churchill as prime minister (Murray). Churchill was influenced by his mother and was able to get assigned to Kitchener’s army. He took part of the Battle of Omdurman in 1898 which was the last great cavalry charge. However, Churchill decided to leave the army to become elected for parliament (Sykes). In 1900, he became First Lord of the Admiralty and made a few reforms to modernize the British navy, such as the transformation of coal burning ships to oil powered ships (Dockter). Furthermore, Churchill sent an army to Dardanelles to attempt to get rid of Turkey and Germany. However, it was a fail and was not on the list of his achievements (Sykes).
 * Historical Significance **

One of his achievements was being a historian. It was not his greatest achievements, but he was still acknowledged for it. Even though he was a huge part of being in the war, he mainly earned his living as an author. Churchill wanted to own his personal records of the events in history. Therefore, he wrote multiple books, including //Marlborough: His Life and Times, The World Crisis,// and //The Second World War.// The documents conveyed the impression that none of the military advisors did anything unless they were told by Churchill. In addition, Churchill was awarded with the Nobel Prize for Literature. Churchill did not only write history, but he also made history (Reynolds).

Churchill played a big role in World War II and was best known for his leadership when Britain declared war on Germany. At first, he left his position because he was criticized and many did not listen to his warnings about Hitler. However, Churchill resigned and became the leader of the coalition government. He attempted on forming an alliance with the United States and tried to get the support of President Roosevelt (Sykes). After the war broke out, Britain started out badly and lost most of its weapons. France was surrendered and left the war due to Germany’s attack. However, Churchill bravely stepped up and led his army to victory when Britain was left to fight against Germany without the help of France. He battled and dealt with the severe threats of Adolf Hitler. The Soviet Union and the United States became allies with Britain. Churchill worked with them and tried to form a strategy for their plan of attack on Germany (O’Neill). When Germany finally surrendered in 1945, Britain accepted their surrender. Britain celebrated their victory in Europe and considered it as Churchill’s victory (Sykes).

Bell, Christopher M. "Winston Churchill and the Ten Year Rule." //Journal of Military History// //4//(2010):1097. //eLibrary//. Web. 28 Sep. 2014. **SE #2** Dockter, Warren. "Winston Churchill and the Islamic World: Early Encounters." //Historian// //101//(2009):19. //eLibrary//. Web. 17 Sep. 2014. **SE #1** Murray, Williamson. "CHURCHILL Takes Charge." // Military History //. 01 Mar. 2008: 26. // eLibrary //. Web. 13 Oct. 2014. **SE #3** O'Neill, William L. //"//Churchill, Winston Spencer." //Oxford University Press//, 1999. //eLibrary//. Web. 20 Oct. 2014. **SE #4** Reynolds, David. "Churchill the Historian." //History Today//. 01 Feb. 2005: 16. //eLibrary//. Web. 11 Dec. 2014. **SE #6** Sykes, Josephine "Sir Winston Churchill: A Biography - Churchill College." //Churchill College Cambridge////.// Web. 19 Feb. 2015. Ziegler, Philip. "Churchill and the Monarchy." //History Today//. 01 Mar. 1993: 19. //eLibrary//. Web. 19 Nov. 2014. **SE #5**
 * References **