Category: Winston S. Churchill

Dresden
Dresden after the air attacks of February 1945. (Bundesarachiv)
Nashville (6): The Myth of Dresden and “Revenge Firebombing”

Nashville (6): The Myth of Dresden and “Revenge Firebombing”

The Martin Gilbert Learning Centre offers a free Zoom presentation by Lady Gilbert herself, on the 1945 bombing of Dresden. The date is Monday 13 February 2023 at 2pm Eastern, 11 am Pacific, 7pm Greenwich Mean Time. Email Deputy Director Dr. Bethany Gaunt to be put on the Zoom invitation list. Lady Gilbert will include Sir Martin's story about how a Soviet general corroborated the truth about who ordered the bombing—in Moscow!

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Douglas
HMS Southampton at Jutland, 30 May 1916, by William Lionel Wylie (1851-1931). German salvos (shown too close together) are falling short of the cruiser (also not accurately portrayed). The sketch was a highly effective portrait of an inconclusive battle. (Imperial War Museum, public domain)
Q&A: Churchill Libeled by Lord Alfred Douglas

Q&A: Churchill Libeled by Lord Alfred Douglas

Lord Alfred Douglas, friend of Oscar Wilde, was involved in several scandals, one of the more unfortunate being his accusation that Churcill manipulated press announcements about the Battle of Jutland in order to favor Jewish investors on the New York Stock Market.

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Ripka
The dismemberment of Czechoslovakia, 1938-39. (1) Germany absorbs Sudetenland, October 1938. (2) Poland annexes Zaolzie, October 1938. (3/4) Hungary annexes Southern Slovakia and Carpathian Ruthenia, November 1938. (5) Germany invades remaining territory, establishes Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, March 1939. (6) A pro-Hitler government declares the Slovak Republic, March 1939. (Map by Jaro p., Creative Commons)
Churchill, Ripka, Appeasement and the Czech Debacle

Churchill, Ripka, Appeasement and the Czech Debacle

When Ripka said the Czechs would defend themselves, Churchill waxed emotional: “Tomáš.Masaryk was right,” he cried. “Death is better than slavery.” If war did come, he continued, mopping his eyes, this time they must wage it against the Boche so thoroughly that he wouldn’t recover for generations.... After a while he spoke of “Herr Beans,” as he pronounced the name of Czechoslovakia’s president, Edvard Beneš, Ripka continued: "Churchill called him one of the greatest men of our epoch, and praised the resolution of the Czechs to fight for freedom with such vehemence that he began to cry all over again."

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named
Lord Randolph Churchill married Jennie Jerome on 15 April 1874 at the British Embassy, Paris. (Photo by Georges Penabert, public domain)
Why was Churchill Named Winston?

Why was Churchill Named Winston?

The pat answer is the first Sir Winston, but this is unlikely. Why would Lord and Lady Randolph Churchill name their son for a 17th century ancestor, and a fairly dubious one at that? No, it was someone more recent: his grandfather, John Winston, 7th Duke of Marlborough.

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Goeben
SMS Goeben, from a prewar German postcard. (Europeana, Wikimedia Commons)
How “Goeben” Changed History, by Dal Newfield

How “Goeben” Changed History, by Dal Newfield

An obscure "What-If" of history: Had Goeben not passed the Dardanelles, it was very possible Turkey would have remained neutral in WW1. Absent Turkey, the Allies lost their only supply route to Russia. This loss was so serious that in 1915 Churchill felt it imperative to assault the Dardanelles. The resulting debacle was the principal reason Churchill was ousted from the Admiralty. Because of Goeben, the Russian armies starved for food and materiel. The Czar fell and the Bolsheviks took over.

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Dobbs
Jacket detail from the first edition of “Winston’s War.”
Michael Dobbs Churchill Novels

Michael Dobbs Churchill Novels

Dobbs Churchill novels are of a special genre. Little stories, intertwined with the main plot, tell a story endlessly repeated in Britain, whose citizens knew better than anyone the sheer horror of the Second World War. This is fiction with a sense of place and and character. It does not strain historical credulity. Dobbs gives us an honest picture of Churchill without slapping him with perceived foibles. (Churchill's real foibles are plain enough.)

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Dulles
President Eisenhower and John Foster Dulles, 1956. (National Archivess)
Bull in a China Shop: John Foster Dulles? Not Churchill’s Line

Bull in a China Shop: John Foster Dulles? Not Churchill’s Line

"This fellow preaches like a Methodist Minister, and his bloody text is always the same: that nothing but evil can come out of meeting with Malenkov. Dulles is a terrible handicap. Ten years ago I could have dealt with him.... I have been humiliated by my own decay."

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Love, Actually
Prime Minister Hugh with President Billy Bob, in “Love, Actually.” (Universal Pictures, romotional photo)
Telling Off the Prez: “Love Actually” Still Sings

Telling Off the Prez: “Love Actually” Still Sings

"I love that word 'relationship.' Covers all manner of sins, doesn't it? I fear that this has become a bad relationship.... We may be a small country, but we're a great one too—the country of Shakespeare, Churchill, the Beatles, Sean Connery, Harry Potter—David Beckham's right foot. David Beckham's left foot for that matter." Hugh Grant at his best.

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December 7th
USS Shaw explodes during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, 7 Deecember 1941. (National Archives)
Churchill Quotations for December 7th

Churchill Quotations for December 7th

"In two or three minutes Mr. Roosevelt came through. 'Mr. President, what’s this about Japan?' 'It’s quite true,' he replied. 'They have attacked us at Pearl Harbor. We are all in the same boat now.' I put Winant on to the line and some interchanges took place, the Ambassador at first saying, 'Good, Good'—and then, apparently graver, 'Ah!' I got on again and said, 'This certainly simplifies things. God be with you,' or words to that effect."

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Pocahontas
“Pocahontas Saves the Life of Captain John Smith,” painting by Johann Friedrich Engel, 1921. (Wikimedia Commons)
Pocahontas: Randolph Churchill’s Jibe at the Race Question

Pocahontas: Randolph Churchill’s Jibe at the Race Question

Pretend Indians

We all know how a cer­tain Amer­i­can politi­cian was nick­named “Poc­a­hon­tas,” years after claim­ing to be, with­out foun­da­tion, a native Amer­i­can. This has often been tried. Some­times, how­ev­er, it back­fires. “A friend got his son into a bet­ter pub­lic school by declar­ing he was trib­al,” a col­league writes. “Unfor­tu­nate­ly, they didn’t tell the boy, who was then invit­ed to an after-school meet­ing for those inter­est­ed in Indi­ans. My friend attempt­ed to cor­rect him­self, but he found that in that city, you can change your racial iden­ti­fi­ca­tion only once.” (Who writes these rules?)

Dur­ing a recent encounter with the med­ical world I received a ques­tion­naire with the inevitable ques­tion, “Race.”…

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RML Books

Richard Langworth’s Most Popular Books & eBooks


Winston Churchill, Myth and Reality

Churchill by Himself

Churchill in His Own Words

Churchill and the Avoidable War

The Definitive Wit of Winston Churchill

The Patriot’s Churchill

Triumph Cars - The Complete Story
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