"Why did Winston Churchill become so important as Prime Minister of Britain between 1940 and 1945".

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Sara Stubbs                                                                February 2002

                                History Coursework

                AO2 - “Why did Winston Churchill become so important as

   Prime Minister of Britain between 1940 and 1945”

        Winston Churchill became Prime Minister on May 10th 1940. His many previous experiences within the political aspect of society, contributed to his great success as Prime Minister, however there are many people that would criticise Churchill and condemn him. Throughout his career, there were many quotes made by people to describe him. These include;“The largest human being of our time” and “Britain’s greatest wartime leader”. However the most controversial is said to be, ”The Man who saved western civilisation”

        Churchill began his political career by becoming a Member of Parliament for the Conservative Party and after three years changed his side to the Liberal Party. He asserted himself as President of the Board of trade from 1908 to 1910. He was immediately successful within this position, setting up labour exchanges that helped people who were out of work to find jobs. This reduced the number of unemployed and led him to his next position as Home Secretary, 1910-1911. Within this post he gained the reputation of being an enemy of the working people due to him sending 300 policeman to South Wales when minors rioted during a strike at Tonypandy. Furthermore, he went on to become First Lord of the Admiralty, 1911-1915. This was seen to be both a successful and unsuccessful move. Although he modernised the Royal navy with new battleships and a naval air service to ensure they were ready when the First World War began, he planned an attack on Gallipoli, using the navy, which failed. This was seen to be his biggest failure as 200,000 soldiers were killed or wounded. Churchill was blamed for this disaster and consequently moved to a less important position in the government, Minister for Munitions and then onto Secretary for War and Air from 1918-1920. This post awarded him favorable publicity by bringing millions of soldiers home at the end of the war, and returning them to civilian life. However this was soon to be lost by an unsuccessful war plan in which he sent British troops to Russia to help enemies of the communists (Churchill was anti-Communist) during the Russian revolution. They took over a few towns but never fought the communists in battle. The troops were brought back to Britain a year later after achieving nothing.

In 1922 Churchill was beaten in an election and subsequently forced to leave Parliament and his government job. He was soon back standing as an independent candidate, and then won the by-election, rejoining the Conservative Party. He became Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1924 which requiring him to look after the nation’s finances. Yet again he failed in this position by putting the British pound back on the ‘gold standard’. He gave the pound a fixed value against other currencies, however it was too high. This weakened an already weak economy and millions of workers came out on a General Strike in 1926. This strike reminded people of his previous actions in South Wales and added to his reputation as an enemy of ordinary working people.

        In the general election of 1929, the Conservative Party lost and Labour took power, compelling Churchill out of government. He spent the next ten years as an ordinary MP, making speeches and writing for the newspapers. These were known as his Wilderness Years and he built his character up this way by proving to be a solicited orator.  

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        By March 1940, Churchill had regained a higher status within the government by becoming a member of Chamberlains War Cabinet. Churchill came up with the Norway Plan, which was drawn up to help Finland fight the Soviet Army and simultaneously stop Germany building up their armaments by preventing them from getting iron ore. Although the plan failed, Churchill wasn’t the one blamed but Chamberlain was condemned. This was down to previous mistakes, starting with his policy of appeasement towards Hitler. He gave in to Hitler’s demands in return of the assurance that Hitler would not take any more land from ...

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