Churchill: From Political Wilderness to Wartime Prime Minister

History

Churchill's wilderness years

For most of the 1930s, the British politician Churchill was shut out of power. He later called them his wilderness years. And the phrase is honest. No office, no department, no authority. What he did have was a warning. Nazi Germany was growing stronger, and Churchill took the lead in urging Britain to rearm.

He was not an obvious choice for the top job. Years earlier, as First Lord of the Admiralty in the First World War, he had overseen the disastrous naval attack on the Dardanelles. He was demoted, resigned from government, and went to fight on the Western Front with the Royal Scots Fusiliers. A career like that normally ends quietly.

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Winston Churchill

Planner: Mila Scott

2 hours ago

Becoming Prime Minister in 1940

Then came May 1940 Neville Chamberlain stepped down, and Churchill became Prime Minister. Think about what that meant at that precise moment. France was about to fall. Britain's military position was desperate. The question was not simply whether the country could win, but whether it would keep fighting at all.

Churchill formed a national government, drawing in his political opponents, and set about holding the country together. On the 19th of May, he sat down in front of a microphone and spoke to the nation directly. Five years later, in 1945 the Allies had won.

Why it still matters

Why does this still matter? Because it is a reminder that the moment nobody wants can arrive for the person nobody expected. Historians rank Churchill among the greatest British prime ministers, and he is generally seen as the leader who helped defend liberal democracy against fascism.

He is also criticized today for his views on race and for wartime decisions such as area bombing. Both of those things are part of the record.