On this day in 1965, Winston Churchill, aged 90, dies of complications from a stroke. “The great figure who embodied man’s will to resist tyranny passed into history this morning,” reports the New York Times.

41 comments

  1. >When Napoleon lay at Boulogne for a year with his flat-bottomed boats and his Grand Army, he was told by someone, “There are bitter weeds in England.” There are certainly a great many more of them since the British Expeditionary Force returned.[…]
    >
    >Turning once again, and this time more generally, to the question of invasion, I would observe that there has never been a period in all these long centuries of which we boast when an absolute guarantee against invasion, still less against serious raids, could have been given to our people.
    >
    >In the days of Napoleon the same wind which would have carried his transports across the Channel might have driven away the blockading fleet. There was always the chance, and it is that chance which has excited and befooled the imaginations of many Continental tyrants. Many are the tales that are told. We are assured that novel methods will be adopted, and when we see the originality of malice, the ingenuity of aggression, which our enemy displays, we may certainly prepare ourselves for every kind of novel stratagem and every kind of brutal and treacherous maneuver.
    >
    >I think that no idea is so outlandish that it should not be considered and viewed with a searching, but at the same time, I hope, with a steady eye. We must never forget the solid assurances of sea power and those which belong to air power if it can be locally exercised.
    >
    >I have, myself, full confidence that if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected, and if the best arrangements are made, as they are being made, we shall prove ourselves once again able to defend our Island home, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if necessary alone.
    >
    >At any rate, that is what we are going to try to do. That is the resolve of His Majesty’s Government-every man of them. That is the will of Parliament and the nation. The British Empire and the French Republic, linked together in their cause and in their need, will defend to the death their native soil, aiding each other like good comrades to the utmost of their strength.
    >
    >Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a 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, would 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 the liberation of the old.

  2. Europe now needs such politicians, and not these corrupted spineless quasi-politicians who will sell everything to tyrannies.

  7. The story behind that iconic photograph is a good one. Here is the photographer’s account… **‟My portrait of Winston Churchill changed my life. I knew after I had taken it that it was an important picture, but I could hardly have dreamed that it’d become one of the most widely reproduced images in the history of photography.

    In 1941, Churchill visited first Washington and then Ottawa. The Prime Minister, Mackenzie King, invited me to be present. After the electrifying speech, I waited in the Speaker’s Chamber where, the evening before, I had set up my lights and camera. The Prime Minister, arm-in-arm with Churchill and followed by his entourage, started to lead him into the room. I switched on my floodlights; a surprised Churchill growled, ‘What’s this, what’s this?’ No one had the courage to explain. I timorously stepped forward and said, ‘Sir, I hope I’ll be fortunate enough to make a portrait worthy of this historic occasion.’ He glanced at me and demanded, ‘Why was I not told?’ When his entourage began to laugh, this hardly helped matters for me. Churchill lit a frsh cigar, puffed at it with a mischievous air, and then magnanimously relented. ‘You may take one.’ Churchill’s cigar was ever present. I held out an ashtray, but he would not dispose of it. I went back to my camera and made sure that everything was all right technically. I waited; he continued to chomp vigorously at his cigar. I waited. Then I stepped toward him and, without premeditation, but ever so respectfully, I said, ‘Forgive me, sir,’ and plucked the cigar out of his mouth. By the time I got back to my camera, he looked so belligerent he could have devoured me. It was at that instant that I took the photograph.”** -Yousuf Karsh

  8. On this day let us remember that he contributed to the Bengal famine of 1943 where 2 to 3 million people died.

  9. From cavalrymen charging enemy with sabre in hand to the leader of a country involved in most terrible, technical war in human history.

  10. Sir Winston Churchill was given one of the rare state funeral for a non-royal family member, in recognition of his service to the United Kingdom.

    It was attended by representatives from 120 countries, 6,000 people, and witnessed by over 350 million people. It is considered to be one of the the largest state funeral in history.

    Here is a [video of the funeral](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87Xkr8z3lEo), which bears witness to the magnitude of this event.

  12. >who embodied man’s will to resist tyranny

    Wasn’t he a strong supporter of British imperialism and is, directly or indirectly, responsible for e.g. the Bengal famine?

    Same as many other major historical figures – why do we deify and whitewash such people, attributing virtues they did not have? He fought against Hitler not because of a principled stance against imperialism or expansionism – he was British after all – but because of geopolitics and alliances. Under his watch tyranny by men such as Bomber Harris was brought to the continent, mass murdering German civilians in a misguided campaign of strategic terror bombing that did not at all reach the goal of ”forcing German populace to rise up against the war”. Then you also have the post-war aspects in the e.g. Potsdam conference where he himself just willy nilly divided up the continent under British geopolitical considerations rather than an actual virtuous perspective.

    The man was a conservative – a British imperialist. Him being the leader of the UK during WW2 means jack shit to me since his politics and values were abhorrent – just because they weren’t as bad as Stalin or Hitler is small comfort.

  15. The fact that this guy managed to get this old is making me less nervous about the long-term effects of alcoholism…

  17. guy who sold easteurope at yalta conference. and then gallipoli, lusitania, forgot napalm bombing of german cities, shooting down rescue redcross planes over the channel.

  19. A capable, but a very flawed man whose greatest quality was the iron will to destroy the nazis no matter what.

  24. “mans will to resist tyranny” wasnt he like one of the biggest defenders of british colonialism in his time? I support the dude for his deed is ww2 but come on lets not pretend he is something hes not.

  25. He purposely created a man made famine in Bengal during the 1940s by allocating food supplies to British soldiers instead of poor natives of bengal.
    More than 3 million Bengalis died due to starvation that includes most of the family members of my great grandfather.
    Bengal will never forgive & never forget this guy.

  26. He himself imposed tyranny. Sent gunboats down the mersey to frighten the Liverpudlian dockers who were on strike for better work conditions to end their strike (it failed), sent in the black and tans to Ireland and backed their deployment again against strikers in the 1926 general strike this time it was the coal miners who were on strike against his stupid policy to peg the pound to the gold standard which caused the economy issues and the mining industry never really recovered from this.

    He confined the Glasgow garrison to their barracks while the government (In a cabinet meeting he attended) sent tanks in to supress strikes for a 40 hour week and more holiday at work in 1919. In the 1930s was a strong supporter of fascists praising Mussolini to the end and fought against sanctions on the Nationalist side of the Spanish civil war arguing they were saving Spain from godless bolsheviks. He even had positive views of Hitler for a few years.

    The reason Britain couldn’t fight against Germany at first was because the Conservatives with him as chancellor created the 10 year policy where there would be cuts to the military for 10 years and no war for the same period. He only got into power because Labour refused to go into coalition with anyone who would sign a peace deal with Germany such as Lord Halifax.

    Gallipoli was his idea although it can be argued rather than the planning it was the execution of it being why it failed. Labour PM after Churchill, Clement Attlee was at Gallipoli believed it to be a good idea but bot executed properly. There was also the Norway campaign which failed.

    There was Bengal where grain was withheld for the war effort killing 4 million Bengalis and he argued they bred like rabbits. Dresden was an embarassment for him and he tried to sweep it under the carpet as he knew there was no military value in bombing the city. Tried to stop D-day from happening arguing it was better to invade through Italy and the Balkans as he believed it to be the soft underbelly in Europe.

    He was voted out of power in 1945 because the British people didn’t trust him as a peace time PM and he was opposed to a welfare state, free at the point of use healthcare system, nationalisation and strong unions. He only got back into power thanks to the first past the post system and middle class seats going from Labour to Conservative. In 1951 when he got back into power Labour won 200,000 more votes than the Conservatives did.

    In the end when his funeral occured, the crane operators refused to lower the cranes until they got a bribe to do it because they remembered his actions against the working class.

  27. Ridiculous, the red brigades attacking a man, who was vital for defeating Nazism.

    What’s next? Stating that special camps for Jews (sorry, “Zionists”) wasn’t a bad idea after all?

  31. Extraordinary man, not without flaws & not without mistakes….Hitler was happy for Britain to remain outside of the European contintal conflict & keep its Empire intact.

    With the quick capitulation of France & the lack of enthusiasm in the US to enter another European war, the Nazi s looked set to turn back eastwards to their main goal of the expansion into Russia.

    Who knows if the third Reich would have lasted a 1000 years, but it look set to be the dominant European power for the foreseeable future.

    Plenty of apeasers in Britain & plenty of fascists, Churchill was resolute in the need to take Hitler on
    ,he almost single handedly change the national attitude to one of resistance in 1940.

    He instinctively also knew that without the US, Britain could not defeat the Nazi s, he used every bit of diplomatic & personal skill to develop his relationship with FDR to gain his support for the the war effort against the Nazis, Britain gave every bit research it had to the US & entered into the lend lease agreement , that brought it close to bankruptcy.
    The last war loan was repaid to the US in 2006.

    So he nearly bankrupted the nation & left it so weakened at the end of the war that it saw the break up of the Empire he had served all his life.

    Had he not led the country on this path, the Nazis would have decimated Europe & killed many tens of millions more & would still likely be a dominant Orwellian European Empire.

    He had his faults & it’s trendy to quote them in snidey snippets, just because he is so revered & the academic left has a hatred of its own history, but western Europe has enjoyed democracy for the last 80 years probably as a result of this one man.

    I can’t think of a British politician since who has had close to his impact, vision or courage.

  32. “History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it” is my favorite Churchill quote.

  33. Cool story about that photo.
    It was taken at the Canadian parliament and the photographer asked Churchill to snuff out his cigar so the smoke wouldn’t mess with the image. When Churchill refused, the photographer just took the cigar out of his mouth and this was the facial expression that resulted.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Roaring_Lion

  35. Reddit has one of these weird things with Churchill where people say “he did loads of terrible things but thank fuck he was around to defeat the nazis” and every responce will be “yeah but what about the bengal famine”.

    And yet you wont see people saying the same things about Indian leaders who have overseen countless famines in India since.

  36. Of course this sub gets upset at a picture of Churchill, it must remind you of how useless your countries were during the conflict.

  38. On this day in 1965 ,”The great figure who embodied tyranny passed into history this morning” say over 450,100,000 Indian citizens.

  41. The amount of redditors who learned about the Bengal famine from r/historymemes and then accuse Churchill of genocide in any picture of his is amazing. Reddit is just as bad as Facebook.

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