People must have noticed Churchill’s remarkable talents, as in 1910 he was given the position of Home Secretary, and only a year later, he was given the highly prestigious title of First Lord of the Admiralty. This was a major step upwards in Churchill’s career. The British navy was central to the power of the nation, and it was he who would be at the head of it, politically. Churchill was very proud of the role he had acquired, and poured out all of his ideas to the senior commanders, with their lifetime experience. He was ready to hold the position and he demonstrated the adoration. This was a major high point in his political career, and it was with great excitement that he entered the First World War.
An enthusiastic man, Churchill was ready to demonstrate his ability in the role of First Lord of the Admiralty during World War One. However, it was here where people began to question his ability. This stemmed from the huge failure of Gallipoli, in 1915, the same year in which Churchill lost his impressive title. The Gallipoli expedition was meant to result in the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, but the Turkish had the backing of the Germans. They were more prepared than Britain could expect. Although, an argument to support Churchill would be that Lord Kitchener did not give Churchill the resources the expedition needed. He also had Sir Ian Hamilton as commander, who was highly incompetent. He failed to give orders as soon as the troops had landed, and was considered unable to take the initiative when things went wrong. But this was a plan that was associated with Churchill, and as a politician, he was blamed. It could be argued that actually, it was Hamilton who ‘butchered’ the Dardanelles with his incompetence, but it was down to Churchill to set the affair in motion, and he received the blame for the high death toll and the eminent failure that was Gallipoli. It was a distraction from the war being fought on the western front; not something anyone took very seriously, until the death toll rose higher and higher. It was an over-ambitious plan that failed, and was later known as a pursuit “of unrealistic schemes that were more about his own egoism than any realistic strategy.”[1]
To say Churchill was a complete failure would be wrong, looking at what he has done for our country, but this period of his career was darkened by the Gallipoli expedition, which resulted in the loss of his title; something that caused Churchill great pain. However, the fact he received this title in the first place is enough to suggest he was actually a highly competent politician, and it would be wrong to let one, albeit large, mistake darken his entire career. As for being the ‘butcher’ of the Dardanelles, it wasn’t Churchill’s fault entirely. He wasn’t given good enough resources for the attack, and he had an incompetent commander in charge, overseas. Also, the Turks had the backing of Germany, therefore they were more prepared than Britain had realised. This failure helped Churchill in the long run, with the D Day victory in World War Two going well because Churchill now knew how not to make an attack.
[1]- OCR History A Churchill 1920-45, page 7
