Thucydides Archives - Richard M. Langworth

John Churchill First Duke of Marlborough (mounted in red coat) at the Battle of Blenheim, 1704. (Painting by John Wootton, 1682-1764, National Army Museum, public domain)

Churchill’s Inspirations Bedizen the Pages of History

13 April 2020 Comments 3 Comments

Excerpted from “Which Historical and Contemporary Figures were Churchill’s Inspirations?” Written for the Hillsdale College Churchill Project, February 2020. For Hillsdale’s complete text and illustrations, please click here.

We are often asked which historical and contemporary personages most influenced Winston Churchill’s thought and statesmanship. One is right to start with Lord Randolph Churchill, Napoleon, Clemenceau and Marlborough. The classics open another avenue. Readers can find pithy remarks by Churchill on many of the following figures in Churchill by Himself.

Lord Randolph Churchill

His father was the first of young Winston’s political inspirations, and the subject of his first biography.…

Churchill as Thucydides

18 July 2012 Comments 3 Comments

As a post-doc at Tübingen University (Germany) I am currently working on a paper about Sir Winston Churchill’s appreciation of Thucydides: did he possess a personal copy of the ancient historian’s History of the Peloponnesian War? I would be very grateful for any help. —O.S., Germany

I don’t know if Churchill had a copy of Thucydides’ History of the Pelopponnesian War at Chartwell (you might check with the house manager there). But if you are asking if Churchill read and appreciated the works of the great Greek historian, he certainly did. What’s more, the writings of Churchill were often compared to those of Thucydides.…