British Empire Leader Profile: Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill was born on November 30^th, 1874 at his family estate near Oxford. He performed so bad at school that he didn’t even bother to apply for Oxford or Cambridge. Instead, he went to military school.

After military school, he traveled all around the British Empire as a soldier and a journalist. In 1896, he traveled to India and published a book in 1898 about his travels. In 1899, the London Morning Post sent him to South Africa, but he was captured by enemy soldiers as soon as he arrived.

He managed to escape through a bathroom window, and by the time he returned to England in 1900, he had published 5 books. He became a Liberal in 1904, but his colleagues complained that he was becoming a traitor to his class.

In 1911, Winston Churchill started turning away from domestic politics and instead started focusing on preparing Great Britain for war. He established the Royal Naval Air Service and invented one of the earliest books.

When the Nazis came to power in 1933, he spent a great deal of time warning his fellow countrymen about the German Nationalism, but Britons were wary of war and reluctant to get involved.

A year later, Hitler broke his promise and invaded Poland. Britain and France declared war, Chamberlain was pushed out of office, and Churchill took his place as the Prime Minister in May 1940.

World War II was difficult, France fell in 1940 June, and in July, German fighter planes rained bombs on Britain for 3 long months. Churchill tried to keep British spirits high. He made speeches in Parliament and on the radio, and even persuaded American President Roosevelt to provide war supplied before the Americans even entered the war.

British voters kicked the Conservatives and their Prime Minister from office 2 months after Germany’s surrender in 1945.

In 1951, 77-year-old Winston Churchill was once again elected as Prime Minister for the 2^nd time. He (unsuccessfully) spent most of his term trying to create peace between the East and the West. He resigned from his post in 1955. He died 1965, one year after retiring from Parliament.