Winston Churchill

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[[File:Churchill_at_School_in_Hove_C._1884_s.jpg|thumb|You were expecting something different?]]
 
[[File:Churchill_at_School_in_Hove_C._1884_s.jpg|thumb|You were expecting something different?]]
  
'''Winston Churchill''' was a British aristocrat and politician who served as the First Lord of the Admiralty from 1911-1917 and [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]] in 1940-45 and 1951-55. He is remembered, if inaccurately, primarily for his leadership during the [[World War II]].  Despite worship by neo-conservatives and naive Americans, Churchill remains a controversial figure because of incompetent or brutal decisions made during the two world wars.  He played a central role in planning the disastrous military campaign at [[wp:Gallipoli Campaign|Gallipoli]] during the [[World War I|First World War]].  Worse, his decisions during the Second World War led to the the Great Bengal Famine of 1943, the fire-bombing of German cities (the bombing of Dresden, and the restoration of French colonial rule in Indochina using British troops.<ref>[http://likethedew.com/2012/08/03/bustgate/ Bustgate] John Hickman. ''Like the Dew'' August 3, 2012</ref>
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'''Winston Churchill''' was a British aristocrat and politician who served as the First Lord of the Admiralty from 1911-1917 and [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]] in 1940-45 and 1951-55. He is remembered, if inaccurately, primarily for his leadership during the [[World War II]].  Despite worship by neo-conservatives and naive Americans, Churchill remains a controversial figure because of incompetent or brutal decisions made during the two world wars.  He played a central role in planning the disastrous military campaign at [[wp:Gallipoli Campaign|Gallipoli]] during the [[World War I|First World War]].  Worse, his decisions during the Second World War led to the the Great Bengal Famine of 1943, the fire-bombing of German cities by the Royal Air Force (the bombing of Dresden is one of the rare examples in which the American Army Air Corps joined the RAF in the purposeful incineration of German civilians), and the restoration of French colonial rule in Indochina using British troops.<ref>[http://likethedew.com/2012/08/03/bustgate/ Bustgate] John Hickman. ''Like the Dew'' August 3, 2012</ref>
  
 
He is remembered in [[India]] for not only the [[Great Bengal Famine of 1943|little famine in Bengal]], and also for calling [[Gandhi]] a "half naked lunatic fakir."  While in power, Churchill had every intention of holding onto India as a British colony.   
 
He is remembered in [[India]] for not only the [[Great Bengal Famine of 1943|little famine in Bengal]], and also for calling [[Gandhi]] a "half naked lunatic fakir."  While in power, Churchill had every intention of holding onto India as a British colony.   

Revision as of 16:46, 4 August 2012

You were expecting something different?

Winston Churchill was a British aristocrat and politician who served as the First Lord of the Admiralty from 1911-1917 and Prime Minister in 1940-45 and 1951-55. He is remembered, if inaccurately, primarily for his leadership during the World War II. Despite worship by neo-conservatives and naive Americans, Churchill remains a controversial figure because of incompetent or brutal decisions made during the two world wars. He played a central role in planning the disastrous military campaign at Gallipoli during the First World War. Worse, his decisions during the Second World War led to the the Great Bengal Famine of 1943, the fire-bombing of German cities by the Royal Air Force (the bombing of Dresden is one of the rare examples in which the American Army Air Corps joined the RAF in the purposeful incineration of German civilians), and the restoration of French colonial rule in Indochina using British troops.[1]

He is remembered in India for not only the little famine in Bengal, and also for calling Gandhi a "half naked lunatic fakir." While in power, Churchill had every intention of holding onto India as a British colony.

Churchill was a racist and eugenicist, he responded to the creation of the Jewish state of Israel: "I do not apologize for the takeover of the region by the Jews from the Palestinians in the same way I don't apologize for the takeover of America by the whites from the Red Indians or the takeover of Australia from the blacks. It is natural for a superior race to dominate an inferior one." His inability to accept the decline of the British Empire resulted a flurry of near-disasterous political games, most especially conspiring with Eisenhower and the CIA to depose Mohammad Mosaddegh and install the Shah (leading to the anti-Western blowback that created the Islamic Republic of Iran).

Contents

Mental health

It has been widely suggested that Churchill suffered from bipolar disorder[2] or ADHD,[3] and thus it is not surprising that he was given to hellish bouts of depression. He referred to it as "the Black Dog" and was able to fend it off by painting, drinking copious quantities of alcohol (approved by his doctor), and consuming voracious quantities of his favourite stilton cheese, rich desserts and imported cigars which he developed a taste for as a teenager. Churchill is alleged to have slept only four hours, drunk an entire bottle of Port before retiring and three scotch and sodas before lunch alone. Upon the subject of his alcoholism, Churchill remarked with characteristic dryness "I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me."

Wit

Churchill is also well known for his scathing wit and hilariously caustic remarks. A famous story tells of Labour Party MP Bessie Braddock telling him at a party "Winston, you are drunk and what is more, you are disgustingly drunk." Churchill's response was: "Yes madam and you are ugly and what is more, you are disgustingly ugly but tomorrow morning, I will be sober and you will still be disgustingly ugly."

A similar story tells of Churchill asking an unnamed socialite to sleep with him for five hundred pounds. The socialite allegedly answered "Well, I don't know Mr. Churchill", causing Churchill to change the price to fifty, to which the socialite indignantly demanded "What sort of woman do you take me for" and Churchill retorted "Madam, I think we have already established that, now we are merely haggling over the price."

Churchill is also known for having told Joseph Stalin that he deserved a medal for training his troops to fight so well through the intervention at Archangel.

here is an anecdote that conservatives find amusing. Clement Attlee and Winston Churchill were once using the urinals when Atlee said "Winston, despite our being opponents within the house, I hope we can be friends outside of it" to which Churchill responded "Ah, Clement, I have no quarrel with you, I just find that when you see something that's big and works well you tend to want to nationalise it."

Other quotes

  • Tell the Lord Privy Seal I am sealed to the Privy and can only deal with one shit at a time. (on the Lord Privy Seal)
  • Lady Astor: Winston, if you were my husband I'd put poison in your coffee.
  • Churchill: Madam, if you were my wife, I'd drink it.
  • Junior: At Eton they taught us to wash our hands before eating.
  • Churchill: At Harrow they taught us not to piss on our hands.
  • I think he looks like a female llama surprised in the bath. (on Charles de Gaulle)
  • So you see Mr. President, I have no secrets from you. (on being walked in on in the nude by Franklin Delano Roosevelt)

See also

Footnotes

  1. Bustgate John Hickman. Like the Dew August 3, 2012
  2. Bipolar Disorder
  3. [1] Depression Guide: Winston Churchill
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