”Side by side...the British and French people have advanced to rescue not Europe only but mankind from the foulest and most soul-destroying tyranny wh”Side by side...the British and French people have advanced to rescue not Europe only but mankind from the foulest and most soul-destroying tyranny which has ever darkened and stained the pages of history. Behind them gather a group of shattered states and bludgeoned races, the Czechs, the Poles, the Norwegians, the Danes, the Dutch, the Belgians--upon all of whom the long night of barbarism will descend unbroken by even a star of hope, unless we conquer--as conquer we must--as conquer we shall.”
----Winston Churchill
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Winston Churchill addressing the nation, nay the world, he was trying to save.
If you ever feel the need to be inspired about humanity again, take the time to read or listen to the wartime speeches of Winston Churchill. He was not only a gifted writer, but a brilliant orator. He could move even his most ardent enemies to tears. I can’t imagine the world would be the place it is today if Churchill had not become Prime Minister of Great Britain at one of the most critical eras in the history of the World. There were many moments, especially during the early part of the war, when he took the fears of his whole nation on his back and molded that fear into an unshakeable resolve.
”We shall fight on beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender and if, which I do not for the moment believe, this island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, will carry on the struggle until in God's good time the New World with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and liberation of the Old.”
----Winston Churchill
Michael Korda was a young boy of privilege during WW2. The actress Merle Oberon was his aunt. The great director and producer Alexander Korda was his uncle. His father was an art director in the movies, and his mother was an actress. When the war started coming to the shores of England, the Kordas were in America making movies, like That Hamilton Woman (1941), as propaganda films to raise morale in England. There is no better way to bring a tear to the eye of an Englishman than to evoke the name of Horatio Nelson. The movie, which stars Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier, is actually really good, so do watch it if you get a chance. Korda’s mother always felt guilty that they did not suffer in London with the rest of their friends, as if avoiding the pain and danger was somehow shirking the duty of her heritage.
A few years ago, I read this diary of a German soldier, and he wrote about how the Germans had such a hard time catching up with the French because they were fleeing like rabbits in front of them, but they knew instantly when they hit the British line. They weren’t running. They were there to fight. The blitzkrieg was blowing through countries within days that should have taken months. The French had one of the largest standing armies in the world, and the Germans were going through it like tinfoil. ”It was not for lack of brave officers and soldiers that the French Army was collapsing; it was more because of the fatal strategic misjudgment, paralysis of will, helpless pessimism, and political intrigue at the top, combined with certain areas in which the French armed forces were poorly equipped for a modern war, especially an inadequate and obsolete air force.” There was the lure of Paris, a mere 30 miles in their rear where their beautiful girlfriends/wives, good food, and bottles of wine were waiting for them. Korda commented that the French soldiers also felt like they were doing all the dying for the British. This bothers me given the fact that these French soldiers were defending their own soil. If that was their attitude, I can see why morale was an issue.
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I can only imagine how terrifying it must have been to see a division of Panzer tanks coming down the hill towards me.
There were opportunities. The German tank blitzkrieg was running so far ahead of the German foot soldiers that some organization on the part of the French could have punched holes in the German line and cut the tanks off from their support and inflicted some defeats on an army that was starting to feel unbeatable. When I watch football and the defense is blitzing the quarterback, I always think about the opportunities that overcommitment from the defense has for a steely nerved quarterback who can hang in the pocket long enough to find those open receivers. The French needed that one guy who could provide the leadership to achieve victory out of defeat.
Meanwhile, the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) were doing all they could to slow the Germans long enough to find a way back to England. No one had expected the French army to be crushed so easily. As the BEF slowly compressed backwards onto the beaches of Dunkirk, the situation was dire; in fact, if the Germans managed to capture the British Army, the war would most certainly be over. The appeasers in the British government would gain the power to negotiate a peace settlement, which would have been dire for France, but would have most certainly gutted the British of their pride and joy...the navy. Hitler would have wanted that glittering array of ships.
Who would have stood in the way of Adolf Hitler?
The title of this book is apt…Alone; that is the situation that Britain found herself in, with the flower of her army trapped on a beach a mere thirty miles from the white cliffs of Dover.
If you haven’t seen Dunkirk (2017) directed by Christopher Nolan, please do so. There are scenes in that movie that are going to haunt me for the rest of my life. It is simply brilliant. The quiet, the building tension, the desperation, and the moments of true heroics are just so splendidly balanced to leave the viewer completely emotionally wrung out by the ending credits.
I’ve always been emotional about Dunkirk because I feel it is quite possibly the grandest moment in world history. When the call is made to the British civilians to go get their boys off the beaches of Dunkirk, 850 crafts, a flotilla of shallow draft boats that could reach the beach, were launched.
Everything that floats.
I can only image what it must have looked like to see those tiny boats appearing on the horizon. They must have looked so fragile bobbing out on that big ocean. They helped save 198,000 British soldiers and 140,000 French soldiers.
Korda will take you through it all, step by step. You will experience Churchill’s battles in Parliament and the rearguard action of those who slowed the German advance to give the men on Dunkirk beach a chance. The book is loaded with photographs, sprinkled throughout the text the way I like them best. Korda will also show you the important, baffling moment when Adolf Hitler... blinks... that allows Britain the slenderest of hopes of fighting on. They had to hold on until the New World could once again come and save the Old World.
”I don’t like this fellow, but he’ll be Prime Minister of England one day.”
Sir George White regarding one Winston S. Churchill
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Isn’t he prec”I don’t like this fellow, but he’ll be Prime Minister of England one day.”
Sir George White regarding one Winston S. Churchill
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Isn’t he precious? Winston Churchill on the cusp of greatness.
Winston Spencer Churchill was an easy man to respect, an easy man to love, but a hard man to like. I don’t know if there has ever been a man more convinced of his own importance or with a clearer vision of his destiny than Winston Churchill. There are contenders throughout history, one being Theodore Roosevelt, who was the subject of Candice Millard’s first book. Napoleon comes to mind. Julius Caesar was willing to conquer his own country of Italy to be the man in charge. I’ve known some paler versions. One thing they have in common is that they believe completely in their abilities. They believe without a doubt that fate is on their side. They wake up every day thinking that this is the day that, finally, everyone will recognize how important they are. Because they believe in their own destiny so fervently, their ambition knows no bounds.
When we meet Winston Churchill in Hero of the Empire, he has just lost an election for parliament. He is desperate to live up to his family name. He is a direct descendent of John Churchill, the 1st Duke of Marlborough, who never lost a battle. Winston’s own father, Randolph, was a dynamic member of parliament, who unfortunately suffered a debilitating illness, which cut his career tragically short. His mother Jennie Jerome, an American, was considered one of the most lovely and desirable women in the world at the time. Lord d’Abernon once said that “there was more of a panther than of a woman in her look.”
It is always interesting to look at pictures or portraits of these great beauties from another era. I find them fascinating because their beauty is not always readily apparent, by our modern standards, from just gazing at their likenesses. Jennie was certainly not a demure British rose and seemed to be one of those women who really enjoyed the company of men. She had many lovers during her marriage, including Bertie, the future Edward VII, who was nicknamed Edward the Caresser due to the number of conquests he had as Prince of Wales and even as king. Like Winston, he was another man who could never seem to get his mother’s attention (Queen Victoria) unless he acted up.
So here is Winston, practically being choked by the enormity of fulfilling his own idea of who he is supposed to be, fervently praying that the brimming war with the Boers in South Africa becomes a reality.
He needs a means to prove his bravery, which will be the first step in obtaining all his other ambitions.
He gets his wish. He quickly obtains a position with a newspaper and heads to South Africa as a correspondent. Not, of course, before spending a small fortune on alcohol and other certain amenities that would insure a certain level of comfort for the young aristocrat. The Boer War, which this is technically the second Boer War, is being fought over some very lucrative gold and diamond mines the Boers control that Britain would like to obtain. The other underlying issue is that, since Great Britain disapproves of slavery, the "slave holding" Dutch Boers in the North do not want to become part of the British Empire.
The Boers are not soldiers, just farmers and businessmen. They disdain the thought of wearing a uniform. They are very disappointed to find the British soldiers dressed in a much more prudent khaki than the lobster red uniforms for which they are famous. While the British still march in formation, this is 1899; you would have thought they’d have learned something from 1776, and the Boers, like the American Revolutionaries, fought a guerilla style war from cover. They approach war like a business. They aren’t there for glory or to be remembered for dying valiantly. They are there to win, and the only way they can win is by killing as many British soldiers as they can. They prefer to live to talk about their exploits.
One of Winston Churchill’s favorite mottos was ”Toujours de l’audance.” The famous quote of ”Georges Danton, a leader of the French Revolution who was eventually guillotined” translates as ”Always more audacity.”
If Winston were to die, which is a ridiculous thought... remember his destiny, then he wants to make sure he dies bravely and oh so spectacularly.
Now, I’m not going to go into any detail on Churchill’s capture and escape because that is why you all need to read the book. The only thing that I want to mention about that part is that there is a moment when he is reading Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped and, given his circumstances, he identifies quite strongly with the main character, David Balfour. RLS shows up everywhere!
Candice Millard, as always, does an incredible job taking a slice of history and filling in enough details before and after to give the reader what they need to know to understand the significance of the moment. If you don’t know very much about Churchill, this is a great place to start. If you know quite a lot about Churchill, you will still find nuggets of information that you didn’t know before. Millard does a thorough job of researching her subject matter. She puts out a book about every five years, and that is because of the time she spends sifting through original documentation to insure that she has her information as correct as history can be. She has a fluid writing style that had me flipping pages like I was reading a novel.
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There were these very bright lights shining on her face so I wasn’t able to get a clear picture with my iphone, but as you can see behind Millard, she gives a picture slide with her presentation.
I was fortunate to finally meet her at an event at the Watermark Bookstore in Wichita. She lives in Kansas, so I knew it was only a matter of time before I finally caught up with her. I asked her several questions about President Garfield. Her book Destiny of the Republic, about the assassination of the president, was superb. She told me that she was convinced that, had he lived, he would have been one of our greatest presidents. There are a lot parallels between President Theodore Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, so it is no surprise that her first book The River of Doubt was about Roosevelt’s journey through the Amazon. Men like Roosevelt and Churchill are fascinating, and writers have written many comprehensive books about them. I think what makes Millard a special writer is that she takes an event in time and defines the person by how they reacted to that event.
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And here is Candice Millard about to sign the books that are now permanently residing in the stately Keeten Library.
So don’t hesitate to meet Winston Churchill or Theodore Roosevelt or James Garfield under the deft guidance of this talented historian. Pamela Plowden, Winston’s first real girlfriend and lifetime friend offered some great advice about Churchill. ”The first time you meet Winston you see all of his faults, and the rest of your life you spend in discovering his virtues.”
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