Still Celebrating Winston Churchill's Birthday

It was Churchill who warned of Hitler's military buildup in a series of speeches that proved prophetic. He made these predictions as a conservative in the 1930s. It was Churchill the liberal who, during the 20 years after 1904, had experimented with some progressive social ideas.

When Hitler sent troops into Poland in September, 1939, Great Britain declared war on Germany. Ireland, Spain, Norway, the United States, and a number of other countries declared neutrality. The Germans drove the British off the continent in the Battle of Dunkirk, and Hitler invaded France. Churchill promised an uncompromising struggle:

"We shall fight on the beaches,
we shall fight on the landing grounds,
we shall fight in the fields and in the streets,
we shall fight in the hills;
we shall never surrender..."

With some wit and tremendous presence of mind, Churchill addressed the Parliament in summer, 1940: "What General Weygand called the Battle of France is over. I expect that the battle of Britain is about to begin." Germany attacked with its Air Force and the V-2 rocket. Much of London was destroyed, but the attack failed. Britain continued to stand alone with Australia, what was left of Free France, New Zealand and the Jews.

It was important to keep open supply lines from the U.S. in the Atlantic. Although the U.S. was still neutral, it was still supplying England. The Germans attempted to interrupt the supply lines with submarine attacks, and on May 19, 1941, Hitler sent the renowned battleship Bismarck to assist. After leaving from Northern Europe, it sank the British warship HMS Hood after a short encounter, prompting Churchill to issue his famous decree, "Sink the Bismarck." The British Navy pursued the Bismarck and sank it on May 27, 1941; it took approximately 2,000 dead Nazis with it to the bottom of the Atlantic.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, America entered the war. The allied victory in 1945 proved Churchill's adage about Democracy to be true: Democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.

Allied forces were merciful: They could have nuked the Germans. Instead, the war was fought with conventional weapons, and Germany surrendered in May, 1945. England was victorious.

The anniversary of Churchill's birthday just passed on November 30th; some are still celebrating.