Official winston churchill biography world war 2

David Cameron’s Favourite Past Prime Minister

Winston Churchill was born on 30 November 1874, in Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire and was of rich, aristocratic ancestry. Although achieving poor grades at school, his early fascination with militarism saw him join the Royal Cavalry in 1895. As a soldier and part-time journalist, Churchill travelled widely, including trips to Cuba, Afghanistan, Egypt and South Africa.

Churchill was elected as Conservative MP for Oldham in 1900, before defecting to the Liberal Party in 1904 and spending the next decade climbing the ranks of the Liberal government. He was First Lord of the Admiralty (the civil/political head of the Royal Navy) by the time of the disastrous Gallipoli campaign, which he created. Heavily criticised for this error, he resigned from this position and travelled to the Western Front to fight himself.

The interwar years saw Churchill again ‘cross the floor’ from the Liberals, back to the Conservative Party. He served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1924, when he controversially opted for Britain to re-join the Gold Standard. Following the Tory electoral defeat in 1929, Churchill lost his seat and spent much of the next 11 years out of office, mainly writing and making speeches. Although he was alone in his firm opposition to Indian Independence, his warnings against the Appeasement of Nazi Germany were proven correct when the Second World War broke out in 1939.

Following Neville Chamberlain’s resignation in 1940, Churchill was chosen to succeed him as Prime Minister of an all-party coalition government.

Churchill, who also adopted the self-created position of Minister for Defence, was active both in administrative and diplomatic functions in prosecuting the British war effort. Some of his most memorable speeches were given in this period, and are credited with stimulating British morale during periods of great hardship. However, Labour leader Clement Attlee’s unexpected General E

June 18, 2008

About The Official Biography

WINSTON S. CHURCHILL
by Randolph Churchill & Martin Gilbert

Churchill had long wished to write his father’s biography, and by the end of the 1950’s was making strong efforts to win his father’s confidence. In May 1960 Winston Churchill wrote to his son:

‘My dear Randolph, I have reflected carefully on what you said. I think that your biography of Derby [Lord Derby, by Randolph Churchill, Cassell: London 1959] is a remarkable work, and I should be happy that you should write my official biography when the time comes. But I must ask you to defer this until after my death. I would not like to release my papers piecemeal, and I think that you should wait for the time being and then get all your material from my own Archives and from the Trust. In any case, I do not want anything to be published until at least five years after my death. — Your loving father, Winston S. Churchill’

The first volume of Winston S. Churchill was published in 1966, the year after Sir Winston died. After Randolph’s death in 1968 Martin Gilbert, who had joined Randolph as a research assistant in 1962, was appointed by the Churchill family to be the official biographer.

Sir Martin died in 2015 and since that time his former assistant, Dr Larry Arnn now of Hillsdale College is working to complete the biography companion volumes, known as The Churchill Documents. Sir Martin included the following acknowledgement: ‘The publication of [The War Papers] was made possible by the exceptional generosity of Wendy Reves, and by the determination of the International Churchill Society… to bring the Churchill document series, known as the Companion Volumes, back into production.’

The following volumes of the Official Biography have been published to date:

Narrative Volumes

Volume I. Youth, 1874-1900 by Randolph S. Churchill
Volume II. Young St

British statesman and author (1874–1965)

"Churchill" redirects here. For other uses, see Churchill (disambiguation) and Winston Churchill (disambiguation).

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (during th

History of World War II written by Winston Churchill

For the book by Antony Beevor, see The Second World War (book).

"Triumph and Tragedy" redirects here. For the 1999 punk EP by Grade, see Triumph & Tragedy.

The Second World War is a history of the period from the end of the First World War to July 1945, written by Winston Churchill. Churchill labelled the "moral of the work" as follows: "In War: Resolution, In Defeat: Defiance, In Victory: Magnanimity, In Peace: Goodwill". These had been the words which he had suggested for the First World War memorial for a French municipality. His suggestion had not been accepted on that occasion.

Churchill compiled the book, with a team of assistants, using both his own notes and privileged access to official documents while still serving as Leader of the Opposition; the text was vetted by the Cabinet Secretary. Churchill was largely fair in his treatment, but wrote the history from his personal point of view. He was unable to reveal all the facts, as some, such as the use of Ultra electronic intelligence, had to remain secret. From a historical point of view the book is therefore an incomplete memoir by a leading participant in the direction of the war.

The book was a major commercial success in Britain and the United States. The first edition appeared in six volumes; later editions appeared in twelve and four volumes, and furthermore there is also a single-volume abridged version.

Finance

Churchill received the first offer for his War Memoirs from a US newspaper syndicate, King Features, at 6.36pm on the day of his resignation as Prime Minister. He initially declined as it would have meant losing his tax status as a "retired author" which exempted his earnings from previous books from the then 90% rate of income tax.

Churchill was eventually tempted in November 1945 by a suggestion from Marshall Field III of the Chicago Sun that he dona