History UsefulNotes / WinstonChurchill

By mid-1943, Churchill had correctly (in a pragmatic and self-interested sense) decided that acting to save Europe's Roma and Jews from destruction by the Axis powers was against Britain's national self-interest. Military historians maintain that this was the correct Realpolitik decision for Britain, though they do not argue about the moral price of non-intervention. Churchill astutely kept the paper-trail on this and all other similarly controversial matters to an absolute minimum by discussing them verbally in meetings with trusted associates. In early 1944 British efforts to prevent the destruction of the European Jews from becoming common knowledge among the British people began failing, whereupon Churchill astutely created a paper trail which implied that his attempts to save the Jews had been stymied by a callous RAF. In his memoirs he claimed that he had not known of The Holocaust until mid-1944, and claimed that the RAF had opposed his efforts to save the Jews because they said that they were physically incapable of disabling the Auschwitz-II/Birkenau facility.

For example, the famous "We shall fight them on the beaches" speech, after the Dunkirk evacuation, was received far more warmly in the USA than it was in Britain, which reflects the fact that the speech was crafted to assure US listeners that Britain would not be seeking peace terms with Germany. Many of Churchill's colleagues considered it depressing, rather than stimulating. Conversely, Churchill's speech of July 4 1940, in which he reported the destruction of much of the French Fleet by the Royal Navy at Mers-el-Kébir, was received with much more enthusiasm at the time, even though nowadays it's hardly his most famous speech, because the mood of the House and the public had changed in the meantime and people felt encouraged by this concrete sign of Britain's willingness to fight on. In general, though, Churchill's speeches served to frame British intentions in 1940 and focus attention on why the country was at war; but it would be wrong to think that he single-handedly won the war with the sheer power of his oratory. As always with history, it's more complicated than that.

* Creator/CaryElwes portrays Churchill in ''Film/TheMinistryOfUngentlemanlyWarfare'', which is loosely based on the creation of the Special Operations Executive.

He was also a notorious [[TheAlcoholic drunkard]], [[CigarChomper smoker]], and [[CloudCuckoolander eccentric]], having once ostensibly met [[UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt FDR]] whilst [[NakedPeopleAreFunny buck-naked in the bathtub]], declaring [[https://richardlangworth.com/churchills-naked-encounter "You see, Mr. President, I have nothing to hide."]]

[[caption-width-right:325:[[Film/TheDarkKnight Not the Prime Minister we deserved, but the Prime Minister we needed]] [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII right then.]][[note]]Yousuf Karsh (the photographer) intentionally got Churchill to scowl by snatching the man's cigar right out of his mouth. Karsh also took [[http://acurator.com/blog/2015/01/winston-churchill-by-yousuf-karsh-the-smiling-portrait.html another (less famous) photo at the same occasion]], which showed Churchill smiling. Indeed, Lady Churchill detested the scowling photo, as she knew that it did not reflect her husband's actual mood at the time, having just delivered a very well-received speech.[[/note]]]]

However, he also had a dark side, frequently overlooked in British popular history. [[TheSocialDarwinist He supported eugenics (at one time suggesting 100,000 Britons should be sterilized)]], concentration camps in Kenya (with up to a million Kenyans detained), and massacres in Sudan and Afghanistan, and his bellicosity included ill-conceived plans to try to reconstitute the Wehrmacht and continue WWII to destroy the Soviet Union.[[note]]Although he wasn't really serious about that, which was why the plan was code-named "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Unthinkable Operation Unthinkable]]"[[/note]] In former British colonies, particularly those of the Indian subcontinent, Churchill is remembered in a negative light, in contrast to his positive reputation in Britain. He topped a BBC poll of history's [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/100_Greatest_Britons 100 Greatest Britons]], and is generally regarded as a great wartime leader - just [[WonTheWarLostThePeace not a particularly great Prime Minister]].

* A recurring character in the [[Franchise/SherlockHolmes Dr. Watson At War]] series, set during World War One. As befits the {{Reconstruction}} nature of the novels he's presented in an ambiguous manner--a brave and inspirational leader, but also a manipulative and ruthless politician.

* A recurring character in the [[Franchise/SherlockHolmes Dr. Watson At War]] series, set during World War One.