Winston Churchill

Fülszöveg

Of the many great men who have played a part in shaping the history of nations, few have had the rangé and influence of Winston Spencer Churchill. He was in his time a soldier, politician, joumalist, histórián and international statesman - as well as a devoted family man, a talented painter and an enthusiastic amateur bricklayer! Born in 1874 to the Conservative politician Lord Randolph Churchill and his American wife Jennie Jerome, the young Winston had a miserable childhood. But once school was behind him, his life developed at dizzying speed. As a cavalry officer and war correspondent he lived a series of heroic adventures that rivalled fiction, culminating in the celebrated escape from a Boer PoW camp in South Africa that made him a national hero. Churchill's political career began in 1900 and rapidly carried him to ministerial rank. Always a controversial figure, however, he made too many enemies. After the outbreak of World War I, his part in the Gallipoli disaster left him... Tovább

Fülszöveg

Of the many great men who have played a part in shaping the history of nations, few have had the rangé and influence of Winston Spencer Churchill. He was in his time a soldier, politician, joumalist, histórián and international statesman - as well as a devoted family man, a talented painter and an enthusiastic amateur bricklayer! Born in 1874 to the Conservative politician Lord Randolph Churchill and his American wife Jennie Jerome, the young Winston had a miserable childhood. But once school was behind him, his life developed at dizzying speed. As a cavalry officer and war correspondent he lived a series of heroic adventures that rivalled fiction, culminating in the celebrated escape from a Boer PoW camp in South Africa that made him a national hero. Churchill's political career began in 1900 and rapidly carried him to ministerial rank. Always a controversial figure, however, he made too many enemies. After the outbreak of World War I, his part in the Gallipoli disaster left him exposed to criticism and he was forced out of govemment. He soon returned to office and held important posts for most of the 1920s, but his reputation was seriously tamished. Through the 1930s, Churchill was politically isolated and systematically excluded from power. His long campaign against the appeasement of Hitler, however, placed him in a unique position when the British at last girded themselves for war against the dictator. On 10 May 1940, he replaced the vacillating Chamberlain as Prime Minister. This was his finest hour: despite Britain's desperate position, Churchill's stirring words of defiance set the tone for Britain's struggle against Hitler. More important still, his close friendship with President Roosevelt helped ensure US participation in the war and ultimate Allied success. Churchill's defeat in the 1945 election came as a profound shock from which he was slow to recover. His second administration from 1951 to 1955 was an anti-climax at the end of his distinguished political career, and illness darkened his final years. But the surge of public emotion at his state funeral in 1964 confirmed the very special place he held in the life of Britain and the world. Winston Churchill: An Illustrated Biography combines a well-informed narrative with a wealth of photographic illustrations, which in themselves offer new insights into a complex and fascinating character. The author assesses Churchill's strengths and weaknesses, his triumphs and his failures, to give a vivid portrait of one of the twentieth century's most powerful personalities. Vissza