Page 46 - All About History - Issue 33-15

HO

VILL OR IN?

Winston

Churchill

Was Winston Churchill a Great Briton who saved

a nation or a narcissist whose policies echoed

those of Hitler himself?
Written by Catherine Curzon

ir Winston Churchill occupies a unique from the army and into a new battleground: the
position in the history of Great Britain and House of Commons.
his place in the pantheon of fame is assured. In 1900, Churchill took his seat as Conservative
Soldier, author, artist, and the statesman who member of parliament for Oldham, yet he wasn’t
Ssteered a beleaguered country to victory in quite settled, and within four years he had crossed
World War II, his name has become a byword for the floor to the Liberal Party. As he had impressed
dedication, defiance and unbending patriotism. But in the military, so too did he advance swiftly
was he really the hero who saved Britain from the in government, climbing the ranks seemingly
Nazi regime, or was he a villain who harboured effortlessly. There are few careers that can turn sour
ideals that Adolf Hitler himself would have been more quickly than those of a politician, though,
proud to put his name to? and Churchill suffered a jarring setback when he
Churchill was born in Blenheim Palace on 30 presided over the catastrophic Gallipoli campaign, a
November 1874 to a family of rich aristocratic lineage. disaster that resulted in his resignation from office
His childhood was one of privilege, and although he and a return to the military career that had served
did not shine academically, when he joined the army, him so well.
he truly found his calling. Churchill saw the world as When Churchill returned to cabinet as chancellor
a soldier, supplementing his income by journalism of the exchequer in 1924, he was once again a
and writing. However, even as he advanced steadily Conservative. His own finest hour was yet to come,
through the ranks of the army, Churchill was and as Adolf Hitler rose to power in Germany, the
planning his next move, and it would take him away seeds of his reputation were already being sown. He
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